The Police in Benue State have arrested four people on suspicion of their alleged involvements in the rape of several minors at different locations in the state.

It was gathered that the suspects; Fidelis Iorapuu, 50, Samuel Ene, 53, Uwanyi Kenneth, 29 and Shuaibu Haruna, 35, on different occasions allegedly committed the crime at their businesses or duty environment.

Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Moses Joel Yamu, who paraded the suspects yesterday at the command’s headquarters in Makurdi, said the arrest was made possible following the recent public awareness created by protesters in the case of 13-year-old Elizabeth Ochanya Ogbanje allegedly raped to death.

Yamu said the outrage which the late teenager’s death generated among Nigerians led some activists to schools and other public places where they educated as well as encouraged children suffering sexual molestation to speak out, adding that the outcome of such awareness creation resulted in the apprehension of the four suspects fingered by some minors from different areas of the state.

Speaking in an interview with our correspondent, one of the suspects, Iorapuu, a father of four kids from Kastina Ala LGA of the state admitted to the crime, saying, he made three unsuccessful attempt on a 12-year-old at his place of work in Makurdi but that the matter was settled at a family level after the girl reported him to her elder sister.

“Yes, I committed the crime but it is not actually true. I attempted three times but the girl refused, I only succeeded in touching her breasts. She reported to her sister and we later settled the matter in the house.

“Few days ago, I was arrested after she (girl) told her teacher in school that I was raping her. But I never went beyond those attempts I made thrice. What I did was bad and my conscience judged me so I stayed away, especially after I was cautioned,” Iorapuu said.

The other three suspects all denied the allegations against them, claiming that they do not even know the children who brought such weighty accusations against them.

Ene, a business man from Enugu State who based in Zakibiam town of Ukum LGA of the state, said he was at his home with his family of seven children on Sunday after close of Church service when suddenly a crowd besieged his house on allegation that he raped a little girl at his business place.

The 53-year-old added that he was thoroughly beaten before some persons rescued him to the nearest police station just as he consistently pleaded not guilty to the accusation laid on him.

Similarly, Kenneth, a native of Enugu State, who lives in Okpoga in Okpokwu LGA of the state, stressed his innocence of the alleged crime as he blamed some of his tribal people for maliciously heaping an allegation on him and insisting that he raped a one mama Precious’s seven year old daughter, an accusation he claimed to know nothing about.

Also, Haruna, a Sugar cane farmer in Makurdi who hails from Kano State, simply said he was not responsible for the rape of a five year old now hospitalized that he was being accused of.

Meanwhile the police spokesman, said the suspects would be charged to court as he urged other minors who are secretly being sexually violated to speak out so that the law would catch up with the offenders while he called on parents to report such matters to the police so as to nib children abuses in the bud rather than settling the issues quietly at family level.

In another development, a peaceful protest march yesterday led by the International Federation of Women Lawyers, Nigeria (FIDA) in Benue State was held in Makurdi to demand justice for the late Ochanya and to also educate the public about the seriousness of rape.

The Benue FIDA chairperson, Dr. Magdalene Dura, said the association in collaboration with the women wing of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and other non-governmental organisations in the state are committed to ensure justice for the late Ochanya who was allegedly sexually violated by her uncle and cousin as she called on the state assembly as well government to expedite action on the passage of the bill which seeks to end violence against women.