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There was a mild drama at the Ojodu Police Division, Lagos State on Saturday over the arrest of a woman, Mrs. Joy Idenyi, by policemen from far away Bauchi State Police Command.
Idenyi’s arrest was prompted by a warrant from a Bauchi Magistrate’s Court B for the alleged abduction of her niece, Patience Joseph. Patience’s father, Joseph, made the application that led to her arrest.
Reacting to her arrest, Joy said “When I got the call that my husband had been taken to the Ojodu Police Station. I rushed down there to discover that Patience’s father was there. The policemen had come with a warrant for my arrest – for allegedly abducting Patience.”
Denying the claim that she abducted Patience, Joy said:
“Patience came to me because she did not want to marry the man that her parents had arranged for her and I tried to help as best as I could.” Patience is not even up to 18 years…
Programme Officer for the Project Alert on Violence Against Women, a non-governmental organisation, Tobi Ashekun, told Punch that the body was aware of the matter.She said, “We have been on this case for almost a year. The first time we met Patience was in March 2013. After fleeing her home in Bauchi, her aunt, Joy, brought her to our office. She told us that she had not turned 18 and that she was being forced to marry someone her father had picked out for her.
Programme Officer for the Project Alert on Violence Against Women, a non-governmental organisation, Tobi Ashekun, told Punch that the body was aware of the matter.She said, “We have been on this case for almost a year. The first time we met Patience was in March 2013. After fleeing her home in Bauchi, her aunt, Joy, brought her to our office. She told us that she had not turned 18 and that she was being forced to marry someone her father had picked out for her.
“The matter was reported at the Ojodu Police Division, but while Patience was still with Joy, her mother travelled down from Bauchi and took Patience away.”
Patience eventually married the man picked for her. However, a few days after the marriage, Patience is said to have fled her matrimonial home again to Lagos.
Ashekun said, “We invited Patience’s parents and her husband for a meeting in Lagos. Patience told them she had no interest in the marriage. She said she wanted to further her education instead.
“Her parents wanted her to go back with them, but she refused. So we told the parents that until they could sign an undertaking with Lagos State Child Welfare, promising not to force her to marry the man, Patience would not be released to them. Presently Patience is at a safe location; she has not been abducted.”
However, the policemen from Bauchi insisted on arrested Joy. She left with them, carrying her little baby.
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