An Ogun State-based lawyer, Abiodun Aboaba, has called on the police authorities to ensure that justice is done for a 17-year-old girl, (name withheld) Blessing Asu, who was allegedly raped and impregnated by a Police Sergeant, Innocent Yakubu.
Aboaba, in a petition written and addressed to the Lagos State Police Commissioner, called for the dismissal and trial of the suspect.
Yakubu, a police guard attached to a quarry company in Awa-Ijebu town in Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State, had been alleged to rape Blessing, who was working as a maid to the Chief Executive Officer of the company, in January 2020, Vanguard Newspaper reports.
The Police Seargent, who was reported to have threatened the victim with an AK47 rifle in order to have sex with her by force, was also alleged to have threatened to kill the victim if she tells anybody about the dastardly act.
The rape victim who was said to be a virgin until the ugly incident, however, narrated her ordeal to her guardian, Alice Hugbo, when she discovered she was pregnant in June.
The petition reads in part: “Around January 10, 2020, precisely 10.a.m, Sergeant Innocent Yakubu, entered the room of Blessing Asu and threatened her with AK 47 rifle, demanding to have sex with her by force.
“The victim, fearing for her life, stopped screaming and Sergeant Innocent Yakubu violently raped her. After having unlawful carnal knowledge of her, Yakubu threatened to kill her if she ever reveals to anybody that he violently raped her.”
“Blessing, a virgin, was introduced to sex in the most inhumane way ever by the suspect and started having nightmares immediately after the experience but however refused to disclose her ordeal to anyone.”
“It was until recently that her guardian, one Alice Hugbo, discovered that Blessing was pregnant after noticing the changes in her body. It was when she was pressed as to who impregnated her that she summoned the courage to narrate her ordeal in the hands of Sergeant Innocent Yakubu.”
“The medical report confirming she was raped and impregnated by Sergeant Innocent Yakubu is enclosed in this correspondence as Annexure 2. The pictures of the said Sergeant Innocent Yakubu and Blessing Asu are also enclosed as Annexure 3′ & 32.”
“Child rape in Nigeria has assumed an alarming dimension in Nigeria and the rape culture. According to the Inspector General of Police, the Police has recorded about 717 rape incidents across the country between January and May.”
“We do not want this case to be part of the ugly statistic of unresolved and unprosecuted rape cases. We humbly urge your good office to investigate this matter and swiftly charge the accused to court.”
The lawyer, however, commended the swift intervention of the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, in charge of Zone 2, Ahmed Iliyasu and Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, for their professionalism in fishing out the suspect.
