Teachers, school owners turned paedophiles (1)

*Brutally snatching children’s innocence

 

From Lagos to Abuja, Gusau to Bida, Enugu to Port Harcourt, paedophiles are on the rampage. Annoyingly, these predators are teachers expected to provide care for these minors, reports JULIANA FRANCIS

 

Child raped victim

In almost every private school in Nigeria, students and pupils are advised to embrace after school lessons.

Most parents, who want their kids to be outstanding in academics, welcome these lessons. The lessons usually attract another fee, aside from the school fees.

The after school lessons usually see pupils as young as five years or less to get home about 5pm. This means that they spend more hours in school and in the care of their teachers.

Parents are, however, becoming frightened at the frequency of cases, where teachers, who are supposed to protect pupils and students from enemies, become the enemies themselves. Cases whereby teachers defile pupils are on the increase.

In January, there was outrage over a particular case, handled by policemen attached to the X-Squad Unit, Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan Lagos State. The case involved a mere six-year-old girl.

According to her distraught mother, the girl was violated by two male teachers in her school, while she was attending after school lesson.

The woman said she wouldn’t have known anything was amiss until she saw the little girl giving her younger brother oral sex.

The shocked mother pulled her daughter closer to her and began to question her gently on how she got to know about such ‘game.’ The little girl spilled the bean.

She accused two male teachers, Stanley and Olakunle. They were arrested.

The mother, who wept as she narrated the story, said: “One day, I noticed that my daughter was kissing her brother's manhood. When I asked her where she learnt such, she told me that her lesson teachers used to play films on their laptops. She said that they used to make her to watch the films. After watching it, the teachers would defile her. We reported the case to the police.”

The Assistant-Inspector General of Police (AIG), in charge of the Zone II Police Command, Onikan, Lagos, Mr. Kayode Aderanti, who expressed shock at the teachers’ alleged action, said:  “On January10, the Zone 2 X-Squad arrested Stanley and Olakunle, both teachers in a private primary school at Amuwo Odofin area of the state for serially defiling their six-year-old female pupil for over a period of months. Investigation revealed that during extramural classes, the teachers used to play pornographic films on their laptops to the pupil, and make her practice same on them. The pupil was taken to a government hospital where it was medically established that she had been deflowered.”

According to the police, the prime suspect is Stanley. The suspect, however, denied the allegation.

He said: “Yes, I’m her lesson teacher, but I didn’t defile her. Although she’s loved by all in the school, she’s not the only one I give after school lessons. The police should find out from her home, where she was discovered to be behaving in such a way. My God will vindicate me.”

There are no hard or fast rules, where pupils/students could be sexually violated. It doesn’t happen only at after school lesson; it can happen anytime. Trust has become an issue among parents.

In Nasarawa State, the police arrested a vice principal of Government Secondary School for allegedly defiling his 16-year-old student.

The Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Sadiq Bello, said: “The suspect, Yakubu (45) is the vice principal of Government Secondary School, Nasarawa. He was arrested for luring his 16-year-old student to a hotel in Nasarawa town where he had canal knowledge of her. The suspect confessed to the crime.”

But in his defence, Yakubu said he was set up by some teachers in the school.

He said: “I had a misunderstanding with some of my colleagues. I didn’t rape her; I was on my way to watch the European Champions League when I saw her coming out from the school gate. When I asked her where she was going, she said she was going to her aunt’s house. I accompanied her to the said house at Angwan Fada from there I proceeded to the viewing centre.

“Unknown to me, they had gathered dozens of people who pounced on me and started beating me till I lost consciousness. I admitted to the offense because I was thoroughly beaten and forced into accepting that I raped her. The truth is that I had a misunderstanding with my principal; that’s the cause of this.”

Another incident that left people speechless was the alleged defilement of a two-year-old girl by a 46-year-old teacher, Adenekan.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, said the suspect was arrested after complaints from the girl’s mother.

Owoseni said investigations revealed that the suspect sexually violated the girl while pretending to teach her sex education. The suspect, like other suspects in such situations, denied the allegation.

The mother of the victim said her daughter confirmed that someone inserted something into her ‘wiwi.’

She said: “I asked her who the person was, she mentioned Mr. Adenekan’s name saying he did it inside his office toilet. Though she is two years old, she could describe things vividly. After my daughter explained everything to me, I got the teacher’s phone number from the school and called him. Initially, I did not want the issue to go out because of the stigma it would bring to my daughter in the school.

“I confronted the teacher not to threaten my daughter again and it was then he said I could go to anywhere to report. He said nobody would believe me, that even if I told the management of the school, they wouldn’t believe me.”

She added that doctors at a hospital confirmed that her daughter had been abused.

Adenekan said: “The mother of the pupil told me that she wanted what transpired between me and her daughter to end. She said she did not want any other person to hear about the incident, that even the girl’s father was not aware. When the mother of the pupil dropped her call, I was disturbed in my spirit and asked myself where the devil was coming from. A few minutes later, she sent a text message to me, telling me to remain firm with her daughter, because her daughter respected me like her father. Before God Almighty, I know nothing about the allegation levelled against me.

“I want to implore the police to do a thorough investigation. I’m ready to surrender myself, but I know the God will vindicate me.’’

Before, parents used to worry about their daughters unknowingly studying under the watch of waiting paedophiles, but today, even boys are not spared. They too are now being sexually violated.

Matthew, a private school teacher was arrested in Ogun State for allegedly abusing a student at Igbala community in the Sango-Ota area of the state.

Matthew, an English teacher, was caught ‘sucking’ the private parts of a male pupil. He was alleged to have been caught by a parent who came to pick his child in the school. The teacher allegedly sexually assaulted the 16-year-old boy, identified only as Ajala, in one of the offices of the school after closing hours.

On July 12, 2016 about 4pm, Matthew allegedly called Ajala upstairs into one of the offices. He ordered him to remove his trousers, after which he allegedly began to suck his private parts.

A parent, identified only as Mrs. Shokoya, who claimed to be a witness, said a mob pounced on Matthew before he was taken to the police station.

Shokoya said the pupil confessed that his private part had been sucked by his English teacher on several occasions.

She said: “The teacher was caught while molesting the boy after school hours. He couldn’t deny it because he was caught right in the act. After a parent raised the alarm, other parents and youths descended on the teacher.”

Matthew said that he was formerly living with his brother, a pastor, who sent him out when he caught him sucking a neighbour’s private parts.

When Ajala was interviewed, he confessed that it was not the first time the teacher would do that to him. He said the teacher warned him not to disclose the act to anyone.

The then state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Superintendent of Police (SP) Muyiwa Adejobi, confirmed the incident.

He said: “It’s a case of indecent assault. The teacher, Matthew, called the victim to one of the offices and asked him to remove his trousers. He then put Ajala’s private parts into his mouth. Based on this report, detectives from Sango Police Station arrested the suspect.”

In another mind-boggling case, 34-year-old Tunde, a teacher, was accused of defiling a 10-year-old pupil in the school.

Tunde lured the Primary 3 pupil to a deserted classroom under the pretence that he wanted to give her extra-lessons. On getting there, he asked her to open her legs and defiled her. He told her that she would die if she disclosed what transpired.

He would have gotten away with the crime but the girl, after some days, started experiencing pains during urination. She also started discharging blood. She was rushed to a hospital where the cat was let out of the bag.

A police source said:  “At the hospital, her father pleaded with her to confide in him. She said she had been warned she would die. The father assured her that nothing would happen to her. She revealed how the teacher lured her into a classroom and raped her. He went with her to the school and charged the management to also conduct a test on her to justify her claim. The matter was later reported at the Sabo Police Division, leading to Tunde’s arrest.”

Olamilekan is another teacher, who allegedly sexually assaulted his student at Abogunloko area in Ikotun, Lagos.

Olamilekan, without mincing words, admitted to have lured the 12-year-old girl to his parent’s apartment, where he took advantage of the Junior Secondary School 2 student.

Mrs. Dolapo Badmus, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said: “The suspect was arrested by the school’s management after the victim’s mother lodged a complaint. Olamilekan said he didn’t have carnal knowledge of the girl. He said he only put his manhood into her mouth.”

Olamilekan said: “I teach them Business Studies, while I take some of the students on extra-lesson after school hours. Her mother requested for a private lesson for her daughter and I told the mother to get her writing materials.

“After giving them the assignment for the day, I went to a shop to buy some things; she followed me. I bought her some books, biscuits and also gave her N50. But the owner of the shop said I should return the empty bottles of soft drinks I earlier bought. She told the girl to follow me to collect them. When we got home, I brought out my manhood and put it into her mouth. When I saw my younger brother, through the window, returning from school, I removed it.”

The indecent act was later blown open after the girl told her mother about it.

In Lagos State, a 52-year-old school teacher, Ikiabeke, was also held for defiling a five-year-old pupil at the Ikorodu area.

Ikiabeke, who is the proprietor of the school, Brighter Glory School, located on Etunrere Street, defiled his victim after school hours. The five-year-old girl said that Ikiabeke defiled her 10 times.

She said: “He has been doing it for some time. He has done it more than 10 times. I’m not the only one. He does it with some of us after school hours. I couldn’t tell anybody because he said if I did, he would beat me.”

The victim’s grandfather said that his attention was drawn to the sexual assault by some of the girl’s classmates.

He said he was shocked, as well as disappointed in Ikiabeke, whom he regarded as a respectable man.

He added: “She and her younger sister stay with me and they attend the school. I never suspected anything initially, except that I observed she would be holding her belly and tossing on the bed. When I asked her what happened, she would say she was having stomach ache. It was one of her classmates who told me what the school owner had been doing to her. I quickly went to report at the station, after which he was arrested.”

A police source said they got complaints from two victims. He said a three-year-old pupil, who was equally defiled by the suspect, was in a critical condition in a hospital.

The source added: “There are actually two pupils that were defiled by the suspect. The atrocity had been going on for a long time before he was arrested.”

In Oyo State, a 15-year-old Junior Secondary School student of Educational Legacy College, Ibadan, was allegedly raped by a teacher because she had poor grades.

Salimonu (43), an Arabic teacher, allegedly promised to give Yetunde holy oil for prayers to improve her academic performance. He was said to have dishonoured her when she came for the oil. Salimonu is also an Imam and regularly conducts Friday Jumat prayers in the local mosque.

The girl said: “When I collected my report card, he was in the mosque. He called me and asked for my report card; I gave him. He said my performance was poor and that he was going to help me. He asked me to wait for him at Ikumapayi Junction bus stop but I refused to go there.”

After school resumed, he sent someone to go and call the girl.

The girl said: “He asked me why I didn’t go to the place he told me last time to wait for him, to collect the charm. He told me to wait for him at a bus-stop by 4p.m. I waited as directed. He came and told me the charm was in his friend’s house. I went with him. When we got to the house, we didn’t see his friend. He knocked on the door but nobody responded. He took me to a small hut and asked me to remove my clothes. I refused, but he forcibly stripped and raped me. I shouted but no one to help. I was angry and left. He gave me N2,000 but I rejected it. I also rejected the holy oil. When I got home, I reported the matter to my elder brother.”

The suspect, whose daughter is the victim’s classmate, said he had been wooing Yetunde for long.

He added: “I always noticed her whenever I was conducting Jumat for them every Friday. I have confessed to the police that I raped her. It was the devil that pushed me into this.”

The girl’s father, Adegbola, said he was shocked that a religious leader could descend so low.

He added: “I took my daughter to Adeoyo General Hospital for treatment and the hospital confirmed that she was raped.”

Another trust breaker, Goddy (28), was arrested by the police in Kubwa, a satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, for allegedly defiling a student whom he tutored.

The 18-year-old unidentified victim was said to have been preparing for external examinations - Senior Schools Certificate Examination and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB)-conducted Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

In the course of her preparation, Goddy coached her in some subjects she had difficulty.

Goddy, who organises extramural lessons for students in the area, was said to have previously had carnal knowledge of the victim before the recent incident. However, luck ran out on him in his last attempt at their tutorial centre.

A source said: “While in the classroom, Goddy caressed the girl and later removed her clothes before he had carnal knowledge of her. The teacher was nabbed after the girl narrated the incident to her parents who later reported the matter to the police.”

The Kubwa Divisional Police Officer confirmed the incident.

In Plateau State, a teacher, Boniface, was arrested by the police for allegedly raping and impregnating his 12-year-old student.

The police said that Boniface, a teacher with a private primary school in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, raped his Primary 3 pupil.

The state PPRO, Felicia Anselm, said the teacher was arrested.

She said: “The girl is already four months pregnant. The victim is an orphan, so the teacher took advantage of that and warned her not to mention the act to anyone.”

The Investigating Police Officer (IPO) said “after giving the rest of pupils class work, the teacher would separately invite the victim to wait for him in the other classroom with her books where he committed the crime.”

The victim, who spoke like someone scared, said: “My teacher used to call me to come close and hold my hands. And then he will force me down and remove my cloths and have sex with me. I cried but nobody could help. He warned me not to tell anybody and said if I do, he will beat me.”

The victim’s family said she only spoke after they noticed she was pregnant.

A 29-year-old Mathematics and Social Studies graduate of college of education, Oyeleke, was also caught pants down with a seven-year-old female pupil in a school toilet.

Oyeleke teaches at a private nursery and primary school on Church Street, Oshogbo, Osun State.

One of the pupils’ mothers, Mrs. A. Ajiboye, had been informed by her son, who attends Oyeleke’s tutorials with his five-year-old sister, that the teacher was fond of taking the girl out of the classroom to an unknown destination.

“I told my brother, who is a policeman, and he urged me to be patient. My brother then devised a plan with which we caught the teacher,” Ajiboye said.

She told her son that whenever the teacher takes his sister out, he should run home and inform her immediately.

On the fateful day that Oyeleke was caught, he was said to have taken another girl to the toilet on the school premises and the boy quickly dashed home to inform his mother.

The mother rushed to the school, where she found the teacher on a seven-year-old girl inside the toilet.

Ajiboye said: “About 11:30am, my son rushed in to inform me that he had taken another girl out, I quickly rushed to the school, went to the toilet and forced the door open, and I met him on top of the child. I was very furious. I called on neighbours to come and see what was happening. He was subsequently taken to Dugbe Police Station in Oshogbo.”

The seven-year-old victim said: “He took me to the bathroom in the building and removed my pants and lay on me and later asked me to wear my pants back and return to the class.”

Oyeleke said: “Please, spare me; I don’t know what came over me. The effect of what I did just dawned on me. I did not rape them. I only had sex with them. It’s the devil’s work.”

The proprietor of the school, Mrs. Amoke Alao, denied insinuations by neighbours that the teacher was notorious for sleeping with minors. Alao said Oyeleke was perceived as a religious and diligent person and nobody suspected that he could commit such a crime.

Alao said she was unaware of the tutorials organised by Oyeleke, stressing that only one of the two affected girls was a pupil of her school, while the other only attended Oyeleke’s tutorials.

A medical officer, who examined the victim, said: “The teacher did not penetrate the girls but had an impact on their pubic areas.”

The National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) arrested a 35-year-old teacher at Dan Zomo in Sule-Tankarkar Local Government Area of Jigawa State for allegedly raping a 12-year-old female student.

The NSCDC Commandant, Dr. Mohammed Gidado, said investigation indicted the teacher.

He said: “The victim also confirmed during investigation that the teacher has defiled her several times before the last one, which was inside the toilet of his office.”

The teacher, who is married and has children, allegedly confessed to the crime, pleading for clemency. Like other teachers caught in the same drama, he blamed the devil.

A six-year-old pupil of the De-Emerates Nursery School, at highbrow Rijiyar Zaki Quarters, Kano State, was also defiled by two of her teachers.

The mother of the victim said she took the girl to school at 7am on a Thursday. When she returned later that afternoon, about 1pm, to pick her daughter, she was told the girl had taken ill.

The girl was rushed to the Imam Wali Hospital, close to the school, but later referred to the General Hospital due to physical damage to her private parts.

The mother was told that due to the seriousness of injury inflicted on the little girl, a police officer must be informed. The official and medical professionals then told the mother of the severity of the sexual violation.

When the girl regained consciousness, she told those present that it was “Uncle Bello and Uncle Sulaiman” who told her to lie down and they then brought out something out of their trousers and “put it here” (pointing to her private part).

The school owner, Hajiya Ruqayya, denied that the rape took place at her school. The victim’s parents reported the matter to the Divisional Police Office of Rijiyar Zaki Quarters for further investigation.

A school administrator, Mrs. Elizabeth Adefunke Irabor, noted that government had tried to put certain laws in place to stop teachers from sexually molesting students and pupils.

She said: “When this abuse became rampant, government placed two teachers in each class of a primary school. Also, it is compulsory for a female school bus attendant to accompany pupils to and from school. But many private schools don't keep to these rules. It was because of flouting of such rules, that a school bus driver raped a 13-year-old student and killed her in the process.”

Irabor recounted that on the fateful day of the incident; the bus driver dropped all other pupils in their respective areas, but drove off with the girl to an isolated area and raped her in the bus.

She said: “The girl died because he gagged her mouth and nose together, so that no one would hear her screams. He abandoned the school bus with the dead pupil inside and ran away.

“There was a particular case, where a married female teacher, a mother of two kids, sexually abused a five-year-old boy in her class. She used to take the pupil to the topmost floor of the school building and suck his manhood. The boy started to run temperature and his manhood began to swell. It took lots of petting before he opened up to his mother. The teacher was arrested and taken to Area M Police Command, Egbeda/Idimu.”

Irabor urged parents to cultivate the habit of picking their kids and wards, especially the girl-child, quickly from school after closing hours.

“There was a case of a school where a security guard raped a six-year-old in his security post. When he was arrested, he said that he saw the girl roaming the school premises after closing hours. Nobody had come to pick her. He asked her to come and stay in the security post with him. It was there he raped her,” said Irabor.