Faith Awa Maji, Lafia
Nasarawa State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corp, (NSCDC) on Wednesday, before journalists at the Command Headquarters in Lafia, paraded a rapist that defiled a four months old baby and three other minors in Adogi, Lafia Local Government Area of the state.
Parading the rapist on behalf of the State Commandant of the NSCDC, Mamud Gidado Fari, the Deputy Commandant Bisi Olugbuyega, said the suspect, Ahmadu Yaro, who hails from Adogi in Lafia Local Government Area of the state, confessed to have defiled Rakiya Aliyu (the baby) on 27th May this year and 3 other children, and has been on the run from Adogi where he committed the act.
The Deputy Commandant said a lot of maceneries were put on to get the suspect arrested on 22nd June at about 02:30 am in Adogi.
In his confessional statement, he confessed that he picked the daughter of Mr & Mrs Hashimu Aliyu from beside the mother while she was sleeping and took the girl to an uncompleted building opposite Government Secondary School in Adogi where he said, he spread his sheath in the ground and commit the act.
According to Bisi, the suspect further confessed that, while committing the act, he heard the sound of motorcycle coming toward his direction; he abandoned the baby there and ran away. Since then, he has never visited Adogi until the time of his arrest.
The State NSCDC Deputy Commandant Bisi Olugbuyega also said, the defilement of the latest victim is the fourth (4) one. Which means, he had committed three (3) in the past and the ages of those he had done in the past ranges between 3 months, 1 year and 5 months.
Bisi Olugbuyega therefore said the rape and defilement is becoming rampant these days, while he called on the people of the state to rise up to expectations by reporting and exposing any rapist around them for proper prosecution.
The 27-year-old suspect, Amadu Yaro, confessed to newsmen to have committed the crime but attributed it to the handiwork of the devil and also claimed he had psychological problem.
‘‘I do this because, I am not well. My brain is not working normal. I started committing the act immediately after Sallah,” he added.
Also speaking, Chairperson of Federation of Women Lawyers, Nasarawa State branch, Barr. Alu Justina Alkali who was on ground to make sure the culprit is brought to justice, described rape and especially raping of minors nowadays as a pandemic.
She said the group is crying out that the penalty must be augmented to death sentence for rapists because they are not qualified to be alive.
“By the provision of section 182 & 183 of the penal code, whoever rape on conviction, he is sentenced to life imprisonment. This perpetrator that is being paraded today, his case was with four young children, the least of them is 3 months.”
Barr. Alu Justina called on parents to present their children when they discover such act on them and expose the culprit no matter his status in the society the law will catch up with them.
‘’Parents are actually our challenged. We have several of such cases in our Ministry, but you can see that, it’s difficult to prosecute and the reason is because when it comes to the time that the victim would be brought to court by the parents to testify, the parents will not want such because of stigma,… my daughter will not be able to get a husband again to marry if the whole world know that she is raped.”
The Women Lawyers Chair in Nasarawa State promised the parents of rape victims in the state that, they will be treated with confidentiality and challenged people of the state to report individuals with questionable characters to the security agents.
As at the time of the parade, the Sun news spoke with the parents and former victims of the rapist, Amadu Yaro.
Mother of the 4-months-old baby, Maimuna Aliyu, narrated her ordeal that her baby was taken when they were all asleep around 3am of that fateful day to an uncompleted building around their house and she raised alarm when she discovered her baby was not beside her.
She added that, people intervened and found her there at the uncompleted building.
‘‘The suspect tore my baby and immediately, we brought her to Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, (DASH) Lafia but they referred us to JUTH. People supported them massively when they heard what happen to them.
“The First Lady of Nasarawa state now is the one shouldering the expensive of my child,” the mother added
The Senior Special Assistant to First Lady of Nasarawa State on Media and Publicity, Musa Akwanga, who was also on ground to witness the parade of the perpetrator said, the State First Lady, Haj. Salifat Abdullahi Sule was on her toes when she heard about the dastardly act on the child and promised to bring the culprit to book.
‘‘I will say maybe some of the efforts she put through from the beginning up to this moment that is what triggered the investigation to easier.”
According to Akwanga, the First Lady started footing the bills of the victims from the DASH, Lafia to JUTH and she is still shouldering the responsibility of the victim, Rakiya Aliyu.
The 4 months old victim, Rakiya has undergone 3 surgeries while she is left with one more to go.