THE Ekiti State High Court has sentenced two teachers, Gbenga Ajibola and Ayodele Olaofe, to 22 years in prison each for raping minors and abusing their positions of authority.
The defendants were arraigned on March 2, 2022, on three counts bordering on rape and abuse of office.
According to the charge, Ajibola raped a 17-year-old girl, while Olaofe raped a 15-year-old girl in November 2019.
The charge reads, “The first defendant, sometime in November 2019 at Ado Ekiti did rape a 17-year-old girl. Also the second defendant sometime in November 2019 did rape a 15-year-old girl, contrary to Section 31(2) of the Childs Right Law, Cap. C7, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.
“The defendants sometime in November 2019 at Ado Ekiti did abuse their offices as public servants, contrary to Section 104 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap. C16, Laws of Ekiti State 2012.”
While testifying in court, one of the victims stated that Ajibola, her computer teacher, had instructed her to meet him at a filling station, where he and Olaofe took her and another student to a hotel.
“On that fateful day, he told me to be in mufti, he gave me N200 to go and wait for him in front of a filling station along Bank Road, Ado Ekiti.
“He later came there alongside Mr Olaofe. Before they came, one of my classmates also came there, she told me that Mr Olaofe asked her to wait there for him.
“When they came, we all left for a hotel, around the Oke-Ila area of Ado Ekiti. At the hotel, we were taken to different rooms where Mr Ajibola had sexual intercourse with me. After that day, he continued to disturb me and when I could no longer bear it, I narrated what happened to my mother who later took the matter up,” the pupil said.
The prosecutor, Kunle-Shina Adeyemi, was reported to have presented four witnesses in the court while also tendering statements from the victims and defendants, medical reports, and reports from the panel of inquiry.
According to him, the offence contravened Section 31(2) of the Child Rights Law, Cap. C7, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.
Although the defendants denied the allegations, the judge, Adeniyi Familoni, found the teachers guilty of the offence.
“The defendants seared their minds and mulled the voice of the conscience as they took advantage of the victims with reckless abandon,” the judge said.
According to him, the teachers deserve severe sanctions for their misdeeds to serve as a warning to others who may want to follow in their footsteps.
“Therefore, Ajibola Gbenga is sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in count one without the option of a fine, and Olaofe Ayodele is sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in count two without the option of a fine. The two defendants are sentenced to two years imprisonment each in count three. The terms are to run concurrently,” he added.
The ICIR reports that Ekiti is among Nigerian states that name-shame sex offenders.
This organisation further reports that several cases of sexual abuse against schoolchildren by teachers and school managers have been recorded in Nigeria over the years.
In 2021, a 14-year-old boarding student of Premier Academy, Lugbe, Keren-Happuch Akpager, died after she was raped and a condom was left in her vagina.
An autopsy report showed that the victim was also sodomised, and her mother, Vivienne Akpager, alleged that the rape occurred within the school premises.
In Nigeria, six out of every 10 children suffer from one or more forms of physical, sexual or emotional violence before clocking 18. More than 70 per cent of children experience this violence repeatedly, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M