Ogun govt, police disagree on virginity test

The Ogun State Government and the police on Sunday disagreed over the delay in police investigation of the principal of Ajuwon Senior High School, Ajuwon, Rev. Olufunke Aladeojobi, who allegedly conducted virginity tests on pupils of the school.

A senior police officer attached to the Ogun State Police Command, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told our correspondent on Sunday that the government had yet to hand over  Aladeojobi to them.

He said, “It is amazing that Ogun State government has yet to hand her (Aladeojobi) over to us despite the fact that we had an understanding that they would release her to us after they might have concluded their inquiry into the incident.

“We (the police) are threading softly because the woman in question is a civil servant and that is why we followed due process again and wrote a strongly worded letter to officials of the state government to release her. They have yet to respond and this development is frustrating our investigation.”

However, the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mr. Segun Odubela, who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone, denied the allegation that the state government was impeding police investigation.

Odubela, who confirmed that the police wrote them on the issue, said the government had replied the letter.

Odubela said, “The government is not in any way hindering the work of the police.  The police actually wrote us on this issue and we responded accordingly. The government has finished its inquiry into the incident and decisions have already being made.

“The phase we are now is to implement the decisions we made which involves rehabilitating the affected pupils, meeting with the Parent-Teacher Association of the school and the other recommendations. In fact we have put the incident behind us. If the police want her (Aladeojobi), they know where to get her.”

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer of the state, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, said he would not give an official comment on the issue until police concluded its investigation.

He said, “The police are working with all stakeholders involved in the incident and investigation is still ongoing. The public will be duly informed of the outcome of our findings and decisions when concluded.

Aladeojobi was said to have on December 10, 2012, carried out virginity test on a group of 10 pupils.

During the test, it was alleged that Aladeojobi, 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’

PUNCH