Transport company apologises to parents and students over Saturday’s attack

Ekene Dili Chukwu transport company, on Thursday, issued a formal apology to the parents and students of Holy Rosary College Enugu over last Saturday’s robbery attack, however, the transport firm still maintains that the students were neither hurt nor sexually molested.

Female students on the Lagos-bound bus claim say the assailants, robbers who had attacked the bus, had done more than fleece them for petty change, alleging that they had been gang raped along the Ijebu Ode expressway in Ogun state.

However, police officers on the scene claim that neither the female students of Holy Rosary College nor the driver had filed a rape or sexual assault report.

Speaking to newsmen on the robbery attack, the transport company’s legal adviser, Mr. Frank Obayagbona, said the sole focus of the EDC transport firm is ensuring the students overcome the trauma of being robbed by armed men.

“Our company sympathises with the students and their parents for the inconvenience, emotional and psychological trauma they may have subjected to as a result of the unfortunate incident,” Obayagbona said.

“We are ready as a responsible corporate entity to work with parents of the children with a view of helping them overcome the traumatic experience medically and otherwise to the best of our ability.”

He, however, refuted wide reports in the press that the students had been raped, insisting that at the time of the attack, none of the females on the bus had made the claim.

“At the time students were rescued and a head count conducted, we inquired whether any of them (students) was hurt or sexually molested but they all confirmed they were fine and not molested.

“Even the woman who was a representative of the Parent Teachers’Association in the bus at the time they were all rescued confirmed that non of them was sexually molested.”

He added that no reports of rape or sexual assaults were filed by the female students or representatives on the bus, and was surprised when the shocking allegations surfaced in the media.

In the mean time, police have arrested the bus driver, aged 52, who had failed to listen to warnings by other motorists that robbers were operating ahead; he is being detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department in Abeokuta.