An orphan, Basirat, has been taken into protective custody by the Lagos State Government after she was allegedly abused by people who should have protected her.
First was her teacher, then her sister’s husband.PUNCH Metro learnt that Basirat had been put in the care of her sister who lived in the Ajah area of Lagos State, after her parents died in 2014 when she was barely 15.
She was enrolled in a private school in Ikota, where a teacher, Folorunsho Joseph, 34, allegedly drugged and deflowered her.
Her sister’s husband, 37-year-old Mukaila Bello, allegedly took
advantage of the incident and defiled her repeatedly until she became
pregnant.
Bello, an indigene of Kwara State, has four children and works with a charity organization on Victoria Island, Lagos State.
After forcing Basirat to have an abortion in a chemist’s, Bello was
alleged to have continued to have sex with her until she became
pregnant the second time.
He allegedly took her to a hospital in the Orile area of the state where another abortion was carried out.
The victim reportedly informed her grandparent, who relocated her to the Ijebu Ode area of Ogun State to live with some in-laws.
Bello allegedly visited and defiled her at the new place, which resulted in a third pregnancy.
He was said to have made her have an abortion for the third time.
The victim’s family members subsequently petitioned the Lagos State Office of the Public Defender.
Basirat was taken to the Mirabel Centre, Lagos State University
Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, where medical tests were carried out on her.
The test results reportedly confirmed that she was defiled.
Basirat, who spoke with Punch correspondent, said her ordeal started after her parents died.
She said,
“After their death, I went to stay with my sister in Ajah where I was
enrolled in a secondary school in Ikota. One day, my teacher asked me
to bring a textbook from his house. When I got there, he gave me
something to drink and I slept off. By the time I woke up, he had
deflowered me. When I got home, I told my sister and her husband. They
went to the teacher’s house with a policeman, but he had fled.
“After the incident, my sister’s husband started making advances at
me. One day, we went to take one of his children from school and he
stopped by at a hotel. He said he wanted to sleep with me, but I
refused. He said he had taken a drug already. He forced himself on me in
the presence of the small child.”
She said she could not tell her sister because she had high blood
pressure, adding that the abuse continued until she became pregnant
sometime in 2015.
Basirat said the suspect pleaded with her not to tell anyone so as not to “destroy the family,” adding that she had an abortion.
She said the abuse went on until she became pregnant the second
time in 2016 and was forced to have another abortion.“I had the chance
to stop living in the house when I went for a festival with my grandpa
in Agbowa, Ikorodu. I told him that I was not returning to Ajah because
my sister’s husband had impregnated and aborted for me twice,” she
added.
She claimed that an aunt who stayed in London arranged for her
relocation to Ijebu Ode, the hometown of her (the aunt’s) in-laws.
Basirat claimed that while she was waiting to go to Ijebu Ode, Bello used the grandpa’s phone to speak with her.
“He called my grandpa and asked him to give me the phone. He queried
me for telling them about what had been happening and ordered that I
recant my statements, but I refused.
“He (Bello) later said he wanted to give me a phone and he would
bring it to Ijebu Ode. Shortly after
I got to Ijebu Ode in May 2017, he
came visiting and slept with me. He did it about three times. He said
his friend stayed in Ijebu Ode. I became pregnant the third time and he
gave me money for the abortion,” she said.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the suspect allegedly became desperate to
have Basirat back and pestered her to call her grandpa and deny her
allegations against him.
When she didn’t bulge, the suspect was alleged to have started
monitoring her activities on Facebook through the phone he gave her in
Ijebu Ode.
Basirat said she had added a male colleague in a tailoring shop on
Facebook when the suspect called and accused her of having a boyfriend.
“He called the person I was staying with on the telephone. He told
the man that he should chase me away from the house because I was evil.
“The family asked me what was going on and I told them it was my
sister’s husband and he had already threatened that if I didn’t return
to his house, he would do something to make sure those I was living with
chased me out,” she added.
However, the daughter of the man with whom Basirat lived in Ijebu
Ode, Kaosara, said Bello was known to her family as Basirat’s boyfriend.
She said,
“On August 8, 2017, we saw a mobile phone in Basirat’s wardrobe. My
stepmother spoke with him (Bello) on the telephone and he confirmed that
he gave her the phone. He said he wanted to marry her. He and my
stepmother spoke frequently on the phone. I also spoke with me a couple
of times.”
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