Kogi governor okays probe of commissioner for alleged rape

Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello has ordered a detailed investigation into alleged battery and rape of Elizabeth Oyeniyi by the Commissioner for Water Resources, Abdumumuni Danga.

Narrating her ordeal to the Dorothy Njemanze Foundation, Oyeniyi, a Kogi beauty queen, said the commissioner abducted and battered her for advising him to be responsible to his family members.

She explained that when she saw a photo of the commissioner distributing relief materials for COVID-19, she makes a post on social media asking him to help his (commissioner) sister who happened to be her friend, with the reference ‘charity begins at home’.

Oyeniyi alleged, “On March 29, the commissioner was shown my post and he ordered some boys to pick me. They took me and his sister from Okene to Lokoja, a distance of about 70km, and the commissioner personally flogged us.

“He tore my clothes and made a video of my naked body, which he threatened to circulate while he kept me in his Lokoja residence asking me to make another post apologising and countering my first post where I told him to assist his sister.

“He did not release me that day. In the night, he made sexual advances at me. And I allowed him to have sex with me because of fear. He only took me back to Okene the second day because they had an assignment in Okene.”

Demanding justice, the victim said she was living in fear of another attack by the commissioner.

In a statement issued yesterday by the Commissioner of Information and Communication, Kingsley Fanwo, the governor expressed shock over the story.

“Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, who is an avowed advocate of the fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens, especially within the boundaries of our dear state, is shocked by these accusations.”

“The state government reaffirms its unalloyed commitment to the protection of everyone from all forms of oppression, and will not tolerate violence against women or children under any form or guise.

“We give our word that if these allegations are proven, everyone found culpable will be brought to justice,” he stated.

However, all efforts to speak with the commissioner proved abortive, as he neither answered phone calls put across to him nor responded to text messages.