That murder inside Benin RCCG church

On Tuesday afternoon, June 2, 2020, news filtered into the newsroom that operatives of the Edo State Police Command had arrested one of the four men suspected to have raped a 22-year old 100-level Microbiology student of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Miss Vera Omozuwa, in a church belonging to the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Benin.
According to reports, the four men after taking their turns to satisfy their ‘satanic’ urge sent the hapless young girl to coma by hitting her head with fire extinguisher and fled the scene, leaving her ‘lifeless’ body on the floor of the church.
The incident occurred on May 27, this year.
Although doctors battled for days to save Vera’s life, she gave up the ghost on May 31.
The police detectives that succeeded in arresting one of the suspected four men who sent Vera to her early grave are guarding jealously the identity of the suspect in their net as they are still trailing his accomplices who are presently at large.
Multiple accounts including that of the Ikpoba RCCG church where the incident happened explained that the undergraduate was said to have gone to her church, as usual, to study when the culprits attacked, raped and beat her to a pulp.
She was found hours later by the church’s security guard, who had earlier visited the key-keeper to get the church keys but was told Vera was with it.
On getting to the church where Vera was supposed to be studying, he saw the undergraduate in a pool of her blood and quickly raised the alarm.
In the exact words of the Ikpoba RCCG church, it said the deceased had collected keys to the parish on Wednesday May 27, 2020 “as she had been doing since the lockdown began, for use for her private educational studies.
“On the said date, when the night guard at the church resumed duties a little after 7 pm, he found the lady on the floor in the church hall, half-naked and in a pool of her blood
“He ran back to inform the keeper and his wife, who went to the church to meet her lifeless.
“After careful observation, it was noticed that she moved her hand and she was immediately rushed to the hospital.”
Although she was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital where she managed to narrate her ordeal after she slightly regained her consciousness, the victim eventually died on Saturday after all frantic efforts to save her failed.
A source who heard her narrate her ordeal said late Vera had recounted she was reading alone that day when the unknown men came into the church, beat her, raped her and hit her head with a fire extinguisher which made her to pass out.
The case, which was reported at the Oregbeni Police Station, Benin, has elicited outrage with Justice for UWA trending on all social media platforms throughout.
From politicians to showbiz personalities, Twitter has been awash with calls for justice and support for women.
Friends and all those who knew her closely have been paying tribute and calling for the perpetrators of the crime to be brought to justice.
The General Overseer of the RCCG, Pastor Adejare Adeboye, in a terse statement on his official Instagram page, condemned the tragedy.
“All I can do at this time is to pray for the family of Omozuwa and do everything possible, working with relevant authorities to bring the perpetrators to book.
“I and members of my family condemn this act strongly and urge everyone to stay calm, as we are already looking into the matter and cooperating with the police to establish the facts of the shocking situation.”
The Vice-Chancellor of UNIBEN, Prof. Lilian Salami, in a statement through the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Dr. Benedicta Ehanire, described the news as shocking.
The university said it shared in the pain of the family of the victim and prayed God to grant her soul peaceful rest.
Edo State Governor expressed sadness over the death of Miss Vera Uwaila Omozuwa even as he mandated the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and other relevant security agencies to fish out the culprits, who perpetrated the dastardly act and bring them to justice.
The Nigeria Police Force itself has promised to do its best to apprehend those behind the crime and its operatives have since got one of the suspects on June 2.
The reports of the rape and murder of the 22-year old undergraduate of the University of Benin, Uwa Omozuwa, inside a church in Benin City are not only shocking but also saddening.
Although rape is a serious crime in Nigeria, the rising cases of the crime give the impression that government’s response to it is still woefully inadequate.
We strongly condemn the dastardly act and urge the Nigeria Police to do everything possible to apprehend all the criminals involved for immediate prosecution even as we strongly advocate a radical review of our laws for a stiffer penalty for the crime.

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Ise-Oluwa Ige, PhD