What happened to a 16-year-old girl simply called Ibukun is simply scandalous. At the centre of the ugly happening is Mr. Adewale Fajemiroye, a 43-year-old businessman. According to a report, Ibukun, a student at Ikorodu Junior Grammar School in Lagos, “was living with her parents in Ilaro, Ogun State, when her aunt, one Amina, took her to live with the Fajemiroyes at their house on Kabiru Jokonba Street, Eruwe, Ikorodu.”
Her story is deeply disturbing: “I started living with them in March 2016. I was given a room to stay and every morning, I prepared their children for school… The man is a businessman, while the wife works in an office. She leaves home by 5am and returns around 9pm. Six months after I got to the house, the man called me and said he wanted to take me as his daughter and I said it was ok.”
But what followed wasn’t okay: ”The next day, I dressed up the children for school and prepared to leave for school as well. I was in my room when he came and started touching my body. I threw his hands away. He told me to calm down… He dragged me and hit my head against the wall. He didn’t care if I got injured. He pushed me to the bed… He removed my clothes. I had no more power to stop him. After he was done, he told me that if I told anybody, he would kill me and I would not go to school again…” She explained that from that point, the suspect raped her regularly while the wife and children were away.
Then Ibukun got pregnant, which was bad enough. What followed compounded the mess. Her account: “One day, he called me and asked if I didn’t know that I was pregnant. I was shocked because I never noticed. He took me to a hospital along Ijegun Road… I was given an injection… At a point, blood started gushing out of my private parts and a nurse injected me again. I was given about three injections. This happened on November 28, 2017.”
This abortion did not end the sexual abuse. According to the report, “Ibukun said matters got to a head about two weeks later when the suspect sneaked into her room and raped her again while she was still hurting from the abortion. She said she informed a schoolmate, who informed her mother. ‘My friend’s mother called the police at the Ijede division. I was asked to see a policeman who listened to my story.’ “
Fajemiroye was arrested but the police reportedly handled the case unprofessionally. That is how the Office of Public Defender (OPD), Lagos State, got involved. Ibukun is said to be “undergoing psychological and medical treatment in a shelter of the Lagos State Government.” It is troubling that the police allegedly trivialised the case by asking the victim to return to the house where she was sexually abused after a perfunctory mediation.
The OPD should be commended for its intervention when the matter was brought to its attention. It is reassuring that the agency’s director, Mrs. Olubukola Salami, was quoted as saying that the agency would follow the case to the end. She declared: “OPD condemns the act of child abuse in its entirety and will continue to ensure that perpetrators are brought to book. We affirm our stand with the Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, that there will be no room for offenders in the state.”
These particular offences, sexually abusing a vulnerable teenager, impregnating her and then arranging an abortion for her, must be treated with seriousness, and the offender must be severely punished. This drama of rape, abortion and more rape violates decency.