Miss Patricia Youmgbo, has
been declared missing by
family members after she
reportedly fled home to
avoid circumcision.
It was learnt that the girl’s
decision to run away from
home followed the death of
her younger sister, Joy after
she was forced to undergo
circumcision on Jan. 15.
An uncle to the missing girl,
Mr Jonah Youmgbo, said that
Patricia had fled the family
home in Amassoma,
Southern Ijaw Local
Government Area of Bayelsa
since Feb. 14.
Youmgbo said that the two
sisters, who lived in Lagos,
had came home in December
2012 to spend the Christmas
with their grandmother in
Amassoma.
He said that the girls’
grandmother and some
extended family members
had ordered the girls to be
circumcised before returning
to Lagos.
The decision of the family led
to the forced circumcision of
Joy, a development that
triggered the excessive
bleeding that eventually led
to her death.
Youmgbo, who lamented the
death of the teenager, said
that Joy, who was full of life
before the forced
circumcision, died from
injuries as a result of the
crude traditional practice of
female genital mutilation.
He explained that the victim,
suffered severe excruciating
pains for days after the
mutilation of her genital
before her death.
Youmgbo said that medical
reports obtained after the
death of Joy, showed that
the 15-year-old died of “Post
Circumcision haemorrhage”.
It was the fear of falling
victim of the same
circumcision that made the
elder sister, Patricia to flee
the community since Feb. 14.
Youmgbo, who is a brother
to the girls’ father, said that
a case of missing person had
since been reported at the
Amassoma Divisional Police
headquarters.
He used the opportunity to
call on Nigerians and Ijaw
people in particular to desist
from the “obnoxious”
tradition of female genital
mutilation.
When contacted, the Bayelsa
Police Public Relations
Officer, Mr Eguavoen
Emokpai, (ASP), who
expressed shock at the
development, however, said
he had not received any
report on the incident.
Emokpai said he had been
unable to reach the Divisional
Police Officer in charge of the
Amassoma Police Division for
confirmation due to poor
telephone network.
WHO, an organisation that
had been in the forefront of
global campaign to stop the
female genital mutilation,
had described the act as
procedures that involve the
partial or total mutilation of
the external female genitalia.
The practice has been
described globally as illegal
and an infringement on the
rights of women and should,
therefore, be rejected in its
entirety.
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