In the wake of the abduction and release of 14 year-old Ese Oruru, Nollywood star actress Stephanie Linus is raising her voice against sexual abuse of the girl child. Using the hashtags #EseOruru, #ChildNotBride and #GirlChildEducation, the actress who has always had a strong voice advocating for proper rights for the Girl Child recently sent out a series of tweets to speak out for Ese.
Ese Oruru, a young girl from Bayelsa state was recently reunited with her family after she was found in Kano state. Her family had been searching for her since she was abducted in August 2015. She was discovered pregnant and in a state of poor health.
She shared her views on her Twitter Page@StephanieLinus as well as on her blogStephanieDaily.com
Here is her blog post:
She Is Still A Child! #EseOruru
I’ve been keenly following Ese Oruru‘s story on the news for some time now and the turn of events is really shocking, I must say!
Different versions of her story keep creeping up in the news. It’s hard to know what to believe anymore.
What I find most appalling is some people are blaming her for her predicament. Blaming a 14 year-old girl! For what! She is still a child!!
It’s even more sad that there are still lots of girls taken from their parents care across the country and sexually abused everyday!
Kudos to PUNCH for bringing Ese’s story to the fore. There are many more Ese’s out there who have been turned to sex slaves as young girls.
If we must learn anything from Ese’s story, it is that we must put more efforts into protecting the girl child.
Ese is just a child. The conditions under which she was abducted or left her parent’s home is not the issue. She is a minor who was abused.
Now she is bearing a child and her life has taken on a whole new path.
She needs counselling and our prayers. But most of all, we all have a collective responsibility to ensure this doesn’t repeat itself again.
My prayers go out to Ese and her family I pray they find the strength to recover from this shocking experience
I also pray for the young girls who were kidnapped from a secondary school in Lagos. May they be found safely and reunited with their families.
#EseOruru, #ChildNotBride, #GirlChildEducation