NSCDC Lagos Commandant, Gabriel
Abafi gave the abused sisters’ ages five and three.
Abafi, who paraded the suspects
at the command’s office in Alausa, Ikeja, said: “We received a distress call
around 9.15pm on Sunday that some men sexually abused toddlers between ages 3
and 5. During our investigation, the girls themselves pointed at the suspects.
What do they know? Why were they harassed by these men?
“The government should come to
our aid so cases like this do not escalate. We appreciate the human rights
activist who informed us about this incident. The public also needs to
sensitise us. If some parents are busy to take care of their children, they
should take them to crèche. There are bruises on their private parts. They have
been taken to Lagos State University Teaching hospital (LASUTH) for medical
checkup but the results are not yet out. We will not rest until justice is
done.”
The suspects are Deji Adenekan,
39; Taiye Ojo, 32; Peter Arabu, 33 and John Mahason, 24.
The victims’ father, Ayodele
Ekundayo, a labourer, said he became aware of the incident five days ago when
his second child kept shouting pepper.
He said his children had been in
his custody since the second child was eight months old.
He said: “When I didn’t answer
her, she removed her pants in tears and spread her legs for breeze to blow her
private parts. That was when I became curious. I called her elder sister, who
will clock five in two months what has been happening whenever I wasn’t around,
then she pointed at Peter. I met them few months ago where they offloaded
cement. Whenever we wanted to travel to deliver cement in other states, these
colleagues advised me to leave my children behind since I was given a room. If
I didn’t take them along, I leave them with the security guard.
“My daughter told me that
whenever I was behind the trailer offloading cement, the driver (Adenekan) was
always fingering them. She also said after he does, Ojo enters the trailer and
does the same. She also said that whenever I left them with the security guard
(Mahason), he puts on the company’s generator, gives them a phone to watch a
blue film and sleeps with them. She said Arabu fingered her and slept with her.
When I asked my colleagues, they didn’t say anything. When Arabu came, he
threatened to kill me if I said anything about it. . For two days, he
threatened me and that was how people heard.”
Adenekan, a driver, who’s married
and has three children, said he didn’t do anything.
He said: “I met the children
through their father. Their father brought them to our yard. He told us that
their mother left them and he didn’t have a place to keep them. It was Ojo that
brought their father to our yard. I don’t know him before. I didn’t touch her.
I was even at home on the day the father came to meet us in our yard. They
should look for Segun that was the first name the girl mentioned. I will never
help anyone again.”
Ojo, 32, a native of Ondo State,
said he only assisted their father, adding: “He said since his wife left him,
he has been single-handedly taking care of them. He called me on Friday, saying
some people did something to his children. I only assisted him; I don’t know
anything about it. I also have my own child.”
Mahason, a security guard at
Kazmus Nigeria Enterprises, said the father usually left them severally
whenever he went to work.
He said: “There is no
relationship between me and their father. He only came and said he had no place
to stay.”
Arabu also said he knew nothing
about it, adding that the victims’ father was his best friend and he couldn’t
have done such to his daughters.
SOURCE: The Nation
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