Virginity test principal had hidden agenda – Parent

Femi, father of 14-year-old Esther (not real name) one of the victims of the virginity test conducted on pupils of Ajuwon Senior High School, Ajuwon, Ogun State, has accused the principal, Rev. Olufunke Aladeojobi, of pursuing a hidden agenda.

Femi said the way Aladeojobi conducted the virginity test on her daughter and nine others without their parents’ consent was fishy.

He said, “When my daughter related the incident to me, I was shocked, to say the least. It is the height of sexual abuse and assault on those poor children. And the question that readily comes to my mind is if she can allow such a test to be conducted on her biological children. She should put herself in our shoes.

“But for crying out loud, many of these pupils would have lost their virginity as a result of her callous act. I’m more worried that she didn’t inform parents despite the fact that there are many fora through which such issues could be tabled. Then all fingers point to the fact that there is a hidden agenda she is pursuing.”

Femi said if he had the opportunity, he had many questions to ask Aladeojobi for conducting the test on her daughter without “his express approval.”

“Even if she is dismissed from service or charged to court, I will still really want to hear from her why she embarked on a mission to ruin the life of my precious daughter. She has serious questions to answer from me,” he said.

Asked if members of the panel set up by the Ogun State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology or the police have visited him as part of their investigation, Femi said he had yet to see any of them.

He said, “I’m still waiting for them to come around and I strongly wish both bodies investigating the incident do a thorough job. I will release my daughter if she is invited by any of the investigating bodies.”

Esther’s mother, Deborah, said she noticed that her daughter’s private part had been “tampered” with when she observed it after the incident.

She said, “What Aladeojobi did to my daughter is an aberration and I have never heard of such all my life.

“When I observed my daughter’s private part with my eyes after she related the incident to me, I noticed that it had been tampered with. I immediately embarked on a three-day fasting and prayer session because I don’t know if her motives were sinister.”

Aladeojobi was said to have on December 10 invited a nurse to the school to carry out virginity test on a group of 10 pupils.

During the test, it was alleged that the principal, the school’s nurse, Mrs. M.B. Makinde, and another nurse whose name could not be ascertained dipped their fingers into the pupils’ private parts.

But the matter got out of hand when one of the pupils started bleeding after she had been ‘tested.’

Parents of the pupils later stormed the school in protest resulting in the invitation of policemen from Ajuwon Division.

Last Friday, the Ogun State Police Command transferred the case from the police division to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Eleweran, Abeokuta, for “discrete investigation.”