Pastor arrested for defiling 12-year-old girl in Ogun

• Police nab 19 rapists, four homosexual suspects in Adamawa

TRACKING___ The police in Ogun State have arrested a 54-year-old man, Niyi Omowodun, for allegedly defiling a 12-year-old girl (name withheld).

The suspect was arrested following a complaint by father of the victim who reported at Itele Divisional headquarters in Ota that, while he was at work, he received a call from one of his neighbors that her daughter had been sexually abused by the suspect and that the said neighbour caught the man in the act.

Upon receiving the report, the Divisional Police Officer of Itele Division, Monday Unuigbe, detailed his detectives to go after the man and he was arrested.

On interrogation, the suspect, who claimed to be a pastor at Helmet of Life International Church, confessed to having unlawful carnal knowledge of the girl.

He stated further that he lured the girl into an incomplete building in the area when the girl was going on an errand. When asked whether he has no wife, the suspect explained that he had been separated from his wife since 2016.

The Commissioner of Police, Kenneth Ebrimson, has ordered the transfer of the suspect to anti-human trafficking and child labour unit of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigation and prosecution.

Adamawa State police command’s war against rape and other gender-based violence have yielded results with the arrest of 19 suspected rapists who defiled girls between the ages of seven and 16, alongside four homosexuals between April and June this year.

While briefing journalists yesterday in Yola, the Commissioner of Police, Mr Olugbenga Adeyanju, said his command had intensified the fight against rape and other gender-based violence, which he said are a gross violation of human rights.

“As a result of frequent patrols and visibility policing adopted by the command, the suspects were arrested from across the state for sexual assaults against children,” he said.

To checkmate those behind the criminal activities, the police boss said the command deployed its intelligence mechanisms.

“One Zainab Jafaru had deceived a 33-year-old victim who happened to be her friend to accompany her to Gerio, a remote side of Jambutu in Yola North Local Government area to see her boyfriend. Unknown to the victim, it was a setup. On arrival, the gang leader, named Uda Sanu, invited his syndicate numbering nine, who had sexual intercourse with her one after another,” he said.

The Commissioner of Police disclosed that after investigation, five suspects out of the nine were arrested and his men were still on the trail of the remaining four suspects.

He added that last month, his men arrested four homosexuals in Jabbilamba, a town in Girie Local Government area. He called on members of the public to always assist the police with information on people engaged in nefarious activities.