The father of an eight-year-old girl is currently scared for his life after confronting His Grace School, a private school in Oyun area of Kwara State, with allegations that a teacher sexually assaulted his daughter.

In his narration, Fadunmade Vincent noted that on February 27, 2020, a Yoruba teacher, Hammed Akorede, took his daughter (name concealed) “to the school toilet, pulled down her skirt and pant and started touching her private parts”.

He also accused the school authorities of culpability in the incident.

“By the time I got to the school’s headquarters with my daughter, the Headmistress, Mrs. Sharon Adebisi, who was outside, ran into hiding after sighting me. The proprietress, Mrs. Toyin Adekanye, then approached me and could not give a reasonable explanation,” he recounted to FIJ. 

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Displeased by the “conspiracy in the handling of my daughter’s complaint”, he approached the Nigeria Police Area Commander’s office at ‘A’ Division, Ilorin, requesting an investigation into the case.

The accused teacher was arrested on February 28, 2020 arraigned before the Magistrate Court in Ganmo on March 2, and subsequently remanded at Oke-Kura Custodial Centre of Nigeria Correctional Service.

The hearing at the court is billed to continue on February 9, 2021.

But a few days after the confrontation with the school and the resultant arrest of the teacher, Fadunmade said he was not only falsely accused of attempted murder but also illegally arrested and detained by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC).

“At about 9 pm on Thursday, 5th of March, I was arrested by operatives of NSCDC, Kwara State Command at Post Office at the behest of the Proprietor of His Grace School, Apostle Joshua Adekanye,” Fadunmade stated.

“I was in detention till Friday, 6th of March 2020, on the instructions passed down by the State Commandant to Mr. Umar Madu all in the attempt to silence, intimidate and cow me from getting justice for my daughter. No written statement was taken from me.”

Fadunmade was later freed when all allegations against him could not be substantiated with evidence.

“The same day I was illegally arrested, the school owners (Apostle Joshua Adekanye and Mrs. Toyin Adekanye) had gone to court earlier to file a Direct Criminal Complaint against me at Upper Area Court on allegations of attempting to kill them because I could not afford to pay N1,000 inter-house sports fee. There were other fictitious claims tooo,” he noted.

Justice for one, justice for all

Fadunmade said his insistence on justice is based on the conviction to protect other schoolchildren. 

“This type of act and other disgusting practices have been going on in the school without being checked,” he said. “Information at my disposal so far reveal that this may be connected to rituals, which may have been going on in the school for a while.”

Calling for thorough investigations, he claimed his life may be at risk in his quest to “unravel the conspiracy that could save the lives of innocent children in the school”.

Apostle Adekanye, the Proprietor of the school, did not answer FIJ’s calls to his mobile number. He also did not reply the text message sent to the line.

Meanwhile, Fadunmade has filed a suit for the enforcement of the Fundamental Rights before the Kwara State High Court against the Commandant of NSCDC, Kwara State Command, and Apostle Adekanye for illegal arrest and detention. The hearing is set to be heard on March 29.

When contacted for comments on Friday, Ayeni Oluwasunkanmi, the Public Relations of the Kwara State Command of the NSCDC, said he wasn’t aware of the case.

He asked for time and promised to return with feedback after making enquiries from the legal department of the corps, but he had not done that as of the time of going to press.