Akwa Ibom State Government says it has withdrawn itself from investigating the alleged sexual abuse on a student Don Davis of the Deeper Life High School in Uyo.
Commissioner for Information Ini Ememobong, on Thursday, said in a statement that the government received the report of a concurrent investigation of the same matter by the police and therefore decided to withdraw and allow the police to carry on with the investigation.
However, the government said that it was committed to the determination of the truth on the matter and appealed to the public to exercise patience for a thorough investigation to be carried out.
In the statement, the government said the Commissioner for Education Enobong Mbobo had followed the governor’s instruction to investigate the case until she learnt the police were on it.
The statement reads: “While the investigation was on going, the Attorney-General of the state notified the Commissioner for Education of the concurrent investigation of the same matter by the police and the interest of several international organisations like the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Trafficking, the Mirabel Centre, FIDA Akwa Ibom, and the Sexual and Gender-based Violence Response Unit of the Ministry of Justice, Akwa Ibom State, among others.
“It was therefore advisable for the Commissioner for Education to hands off the investigation and allow the police force, which is the proper government agency to handle allegations of crime, to take over.
“The state government is committed to the revelation of the truth of the circumstances and is determined to prosecute anybody found culpable of any wrongdoing.”
The government denied allegations that the education commissioner harassed or intimidated the parents of the boy, the victim himself or anybody connected to the matter.
