oh you’re “brutally honest” but are you ever honest about the good stuff? do you compliment people’s positive traits and behaviors? or do you only open your mouth or fix your fingers to be “honest” when you’ve got something negative on your mind
Dear @kemakillzz
I am in pain as I write this. Ochanya will forever remind me of my failures as a Nigerian adult. I failed her and many others. As I write this I have a a lump on my chest that hurts so badly. When the issue broke so many years ago we carried it even though we couldn’t save her. We didn’t protect her and prevent the pain her family has had to live with.
Do you know what makes me elated inspite of the harrowing story? It is young Nigerians like you who have their voices and agencies and speaking on the injustices.
I have said in many interviews that many Nigerians especially the youth now own their voices and using their voices and that even without my voice, many issues are heard much louder than I could ever make them.
I remember a time when I had to literally take on issues and spend hours daily to ensure that the issues are put at the front burner. Not anymore with Nigerians like you championing issues. It might sound selfish but it makes me so proud. Like watching your children grow up and be greater than you ever were.
I have not been as vocal not because I don’t want to champion the issue but because I am in awe at how far your voices have gone, your messages have resonated and you all have taken charge of the civic space and I could die today happy. It is no longer just one Aisha Yesufu but thousand Aisha Yesufus and doing so much better.
Just like during #EndSars when I stayed in the background and cheered the youth who took charge of the protest and only came forward when the lives of the protesters were threatened I am here rooting for you and cheering you on and allowing you own the space and take charge. There are new sheriffs in town and they will deliver a new Nigeria for us all.
I am honoured and humbled and I promise you that instead of cheering by the side and being in awe of all you have accomplished in ensuring Ochanya’s case is revived, I will walk with you in demanding #JusticeForOchanya once again!
We failed her once. We cannot fail her again
Regards
Aisha Yesufu
Still about that poor girl who was raped to death by a father and son…
You see, like I said the other day, if you’re someone who thinks deeply about rape and femicide cases that make it to the internet, and you truly fear God, the Nigerian justice system will shake you to your core.
Because you’ll realize that it could happen to anyone, your sister, your daughter, your mother, or any woman you hold dear and chances are, you’ll never get justice.
The saddest part isn’t just the horror of what that girl went through, but the fact that the family who destroyed her life are still living theirs normally, almost a decade later.
The mother of the house, who should have been her protector, hid her medical test results from the doctors who tried to save her. And when she was finally exposed, she spent barely five months in jail.
The father, a pastor and lecturer as at 2018 when the incident happened, still holds both positions today–in 2025.
Students still attend his lectures, people still sit in front of him every weekend, listening to him preach about righteousness, about the Jesus he betrayed in his own home.
And the son, who was equally involved, walks freely today, even pursuing a music career, singing to a world that doesn’t know the blood his hands once touched.
A whole family conspired in the torture and death of a helpless girl, a child who lived under their care for four long years and they are still walking free.
Sometimes, it’s not the crime that breaks you, it’s the silence of a system that protects the criminals.
A system that preaches morality on paper but practices selective justice in reality.
Let’s not be quiet.
Let’s continue to lend our voices for this girl and for every other girl whose life was stolen by cruelty, silenced by fear, and forgotten by a system that never cared.
Because if we stop speaking, we become part of the silence that protects evil. May the soul of Ochanyan rest in peace and many other girls like her who had died in this horrible manner.
#JUSTICEFOROCHANYAN
Frame 1 and 2, The Ogbuja family (the rapists).
Frame 3 and 4, Ogbaje Ochanyan, the victim.