Nat Bayjay’s Daughter Raped in Nigeria -Cries Out President Weah For Intervention

The Minister Counselor for Press and Public Affairs at the Embassy of Liberia in Abuja, Nat Bayjay has spoken out about the inhumane sexual abuse of his 7-year-old daughter which was perpetrated within the premises of the Embassy of Liberia in Abuja, Nigeria over a period of 7 months by two different individuals. Bayjay is calling on President George Manneh Weah for his timely intervention in the situation.

Mr. Bayjay in a very stressful mood, spoke yesterday, Monday, December 6, 2021 to a number of media institutions to vent out his displeasure and the deplorable health condition and trauma his daughter has been subjected to by the acts of the rapists whom he said were under the guidance of a colleague diplomat also assigned at the Abuja Mission who himself up to today’s date shows no remorse for the acts carried out by the wards of the diplomat against his daughter.

“I have come to use this medium to appeal to His Excellency President George Manneh Weah to personally intervene in that very stressful situation that happened to my family while on national duty in Abuja, the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I’m constrained to use this public space because all efforts that I have applied diplomatically to get the attention of relevant authorities here to particularly care for the welfare of my sexually abused baby have only produced no response, making closure on such a traumatizing incident to be yet far off and continues to haunt my family”.

Bayjay said he was constrained to go public with the issue because every attempt to get a favorable response with respect to the alarming condition of his daughter has not yielded results including formal communications written to the appropriate quarters. He said while the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Information, and Justice have taken steps to forward the matter to court following his insistence, it is not enough in helping to cater to the welfare of his abused child. “While I’m in Monrovia for the past two months to pursue the justice aspect to this matter, I keep getting calls from my family over our young daughter’s declining health back in Abuja, causing her to miss out on school for several days. As we are aware of the long process of litigation, why can’t cater to the welfare of this innocent child solely on humanitarian grounds? Why if this litigation lingers for a year, we the family remains the only one to be going through the financial stress of her health which is already in a poor state?” he lamented.

He said for the past 8 months, he has been asking the Government to take full responsibility of catering to the child’s well-being while pursuing justice but unfortunately that has been completely ignored right from when such an alarming matter finally came to his family’s attention since April 17, 2021.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the media, it’s very much disappointing that eight months down the line there have been absolutely no concerns over my baby daughter’s health which continues to deteriorate. Only my family continues to single-handedly pay for her routine and regular medical checkups and her post-traumatic and other forms of psychosocial counselling as should be done for such an innocent traumatized child”.

He said the situation compelled him to move his family out of the government assigned apartment based on Ambassador Al-Hassan Conteh’s unnecessary biases over his “intervention” that convinced him that his family was not safe any longer under Conteh’s leadership. He said when he only asked him to show leadership in such a grave case which according to Bayjay, Conteh had deceptively described as a ‘red line crossed’, the Ambassador’s ego would not any common sense in the sense of sympathy for the victim to prevail but would only ensure that both their personal and professional relationships are erased on account on him(Bayjay), the father of a young victim taking stance against his biased approach that only protected the perpetrators rather than the victim.

As if not enough, my family got confronted with the urgent need to personally pay for an apartment out of the Embassy’s premises after it became very prudent to do so in the aftermath of the Ambassador’s biased intervention, coupled with the need for a change of environment for the victim in particular and the family in general.

“I have come here today as a very last resort to gain the attention of President Weah who heads this  government, a government that is my direct employer for which I have diligently served with so much passion and commitment in helping to foster the bilateral relations between our country and Nigeria, a very strategic bilateral partner of ours.

“I am seeking the attention of particularly the President, the ‘Feminist In Chief’ because he is so resolved on protecting the rights of the girl child.  So, I am using this means to bring to the attention of President Weah over the deteriorating health condition of my eight years old daughter. He is a father and a chief protector of child’s rights and I am very sure that when this reaches him, he will listen”, he said.

He said his appeal to President Weah comes in the wake of the ongoing 16 Days of Activism, with the country’s national theme being “Enough is Enough! Let’s Act Now To End Violence Against Women, Girls, Children and Other Marginalized Groups”, adding that this ties with the global theme “End Violence Against Women Now”!

“I also in the same vein extend same appeal to the Vice President of the Republic of Liberia, Her Excellency (Chief) Dr. Jewel Howard-Taylor and the First Lady of the Republic of Liberia, Her Excellency Madam Clar Marie Weah, both of whom are not only national but known international female advocates as well as the Ministry of Gender and Social Protection. The attention of all female advocacy groups, including the Association of Female Lawyers Association of Liberia (AFELL) and the Female Journalists Association of Liberia (FeJaL) are also being sought here”, he said.

He said he would have thought that as a diplomat serving the country in a foreign country, this situation would have the fullest attention of the government on the welfare aspect of the abused child whenever such an unfortunate incident happens to any diplomat while on national duty. “This is like sending a soldier to the battlefield to represent your country but getting wounded on the battlefield in the line of national duty. But you can’t get attended to while in your pains, pains you acquired not on your personal vacation but on an international assignment, helping to bolster your country’s prestigious image”, he said.

Bayjay, who described the helpless situation he and his family has been subjected to since the incident said it is not enough that the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Information and Justice have forwarded to court the issue while the very young and unfortunate victim lingers in mental and physical pains. He said as the medical result reveals, the baby’s sexual torture at the hands of these perpetrators have caused substantial damages to her womanhood which if not corrected medically at this very moment, would just ruin her future. “And all I have asked from my government is at least some form of attention for this young victim, someone who suffered repeated abuse from these rapists. But all I have gotten in response from my government in this aspect of welfare for the child is ‘cold-shoulder’ with no concern at all for my daughter’s deteriorating health which is affecting her so gravely in particular and my entire family in general. This is hurting our once brilliant and intelligent daughter’s schooling, including her academic performances due to her ‘on and off’ health situation”, he lamented.

“Upon being briefed over the deteriorating health of our baby, I wrote a personal letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Dee Maxwell Saah Kemayah, Sir but with up to date there is response or even any courtesy at all to even acknowledge receipt of said letter. I copied on that letter my own Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism which seconded me to the Liberian Embassy in Abuja. I also shared copies with the Offices of the Vice President, Her Excellency Dr (Chief) Jewel Howard-Taylor and the Honorable Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Nathaniel Farlo McGill respectively for their attention.

“Again and again, as a last resort to get help for my victimized child, I am using this medium to appeal to President Weah to look my direction, to save an innocent child’s health from further decline, an innocent child whose only “crime” would be being the daughter of a committed diplomat whose track record of his service to his country are all written in bold letters. President Weah, this deserves your immediate attention as this has the potential to damage our country’s international representation in Nigeria. President Weah, please look the direction of a very potential young Liberian citizen whose future is at risk based on no interest from relevant government officials here to help protect this child, a child who got sexually abused repeatedly as her dad serves her country in a foreign country”, Bayjay said.

Narrating further how his family has never gotten any fair dealing since the incident, he said the three man investigative panel sent from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with respect of the case, in spite of acknowledging that his daughter was actually abused was so tailored in protecting the role of the Ambassador whose mishandling of the situation got the government to even commit already scarce financial resources to do an investigation of the three officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He said that the Ambassador Jarjar Kamara Report only amounted to nothing more than a diplomatic appeasement, all aimed at protecting Ambassador Conteh at the expense of his family being the victim.

“The honest and hard truth is that the likes of Ambassador Jarjar Kamara are only concerned about protecting their own clique at the expense of any victimized situation. Is this because this child is not one of their own? After the government spent already limited resources on his team to travel to and fro Abuja to conduct an impartial report, Ambassador Kamara would have his team connive with Ambassador Conteh to protect the terrible handling of this matter that compelled me to have the Nigerian police involved”, he said.

Mr. Bayjay said it remains very puzzling that an aggrieved family experiencing psychological anguish resulting from child abuse while choosing to remain quiet for a while would be seen as disrespectful to an Ambassador simply on account of refusal to take a telephone call from the Ambassador.” At least this is what the Ambassador Jarjar Kamara Committee’s report was bent on rather than emphasizing the needs of this innocent child who found herself at the mercy of two ruthless perpetrators’ sexual assault at will right on the premises of our own Liberian Embassy in Abuja. As I know that the Jarjar Kamara Report was intended to protect and appease the Ambassador apparently for his status as well as to minimize the level of his mishandling of the matter, I had since responded to that report that it should never be done in this matter where all concerns should rather be directed at the welfare of the victimized child”, he said.

“Finally, as I close this press statement which is likely the first of series of actions until I get attention, I am again using this press briefing to bring to the attention of President Weah, the ‘Feminist-In-Chief’ of our dear country, the deteriorating health condition of my eight years old daughter.

“Let this also claim the attention of the First Lady of the Republic of Liberia, Her Excellency Clar Weah and also the Vice President of the Republic of Liberia, both of whom are not only national but known international female advocates as well as the Ministry of Gender and Social Protection. The attention of all female advocacy groups, including the Association of Female Lawyers Association of Liberia (AFELL) and the Female Journalists Association of Liberia (FeJaL) are also being sought here.

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