Human rights lawyer and counsel to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has condemned the assault on a female National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Miss Jennifer Elohor, in Oba, Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State, describing it as a “national shame” and “the very definition of excessive lawlessness.”
In a statement issued on Thursday, Ejiofor said the degrading treatment of Elohor, who was stripped naked by operatives of a local security outfit, was not only a personal tragedy but also a direct affront to the integrity of the NYSC scheme, which was created to promote unity, service, and nationhood.
“No conceivable offence could warrant the stripping naked of an unarmed young lady in her own Corpers’ Lodge – a sanctuary that ought to be a safe haven, not a theatre of humiliation,” he stated.
Ejiofor stressed that such brutality could not be justified in any decent society and warned against sweeping the matter under the carpet like other past cases of human rights abuse.
He commended Governor Chukwuma Soludo for reportedly ordering the arrest and dismissal of those involved but insisted that dismissal alone was not justice. “These individuals must be subjected to the full weight of the law. Anything short of this will embolden others,” he said.
The lawyer also urged the Anambra State Government to provide Elohor with comprehensive support, including medical care, post-trauma counselling, and rehabilitation, insisting that no victim should be left to bear such scars alone.
Ejiofor further recommended routine training and retraining for members of the Udo-ga-Achi security outfit to prevent a repeat of the incident.
He called for the establishment of an independent advisory body of credible persons to periodically audit and review the activities of local security groups in the state.
“Security is not merely the absence of violence and crime; it is the presence of trust, dignity, and justice.
When those tasked with protecting us become agents of humiliation, the very foundation of our society trembles.
As a nation, we must rise and declare: Never again,” Ejiofor said.