Two suspects have been arrested by operatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for allegedly raping and impregnating four schoolgirls.
The suspected were identified as 41-year-old Festus Femi, an installation Engineer and 51-year-old Luka Gabriel Ekundayo, Bursar of Government Secondary School Dangara, Abaji, Abuja.
Femi, accused of raping three school students of Government Secondary School, was arrested by operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and referred to NAPTIP for further investigations and prosecution, while Ekundayo was arrested by the agency’s officials for allegedly drugging, raping and impregnating a 15-year-old student.
Two victims of the rape incident said they were all taken to Festus’ house by their classmate who claimed he was her uncle. He reportedly threatened to kill them if they told anyone about the incident. Corroborating the accounts of the two victims, the third victim, a 15-year-old girl confessed to introducing the other two victims to the suspect. According to her, Festus was her former neighbour who usually gave her N500 each time they had sex. She also revealed that she has brought 5 underage girls to him, and he paid her N300 for each.
Speaking to newsmen on the arrest of Luke Gabriel Ekundayo, NAPTIP’s Head of Press and Public Relations Unit, Stella Nezan said;
“The suspect, Luke Gabriel Ekundayo, from Ilorin, Kwara State, was the victim’s guardian in school, and she spent short holidays in his house. The victim, a senior secondary three (SS3) student took ill in Mr. Ekundayo’s house, and upon taking some drugs administered to her by the suspect, she passed out. On waking up, she saw bloodstains and said she felt uneasy, but did not suspect that the school Bursar, whom her grandmother handed her over to, for protection, could do anything sinister to her.
“The victim, an orphan who was on scholarship, was threatened by the suspect into having sex with him continuously, or he would tell her sponsors to stop paying her school fees. The rape continued until the victim got pregnant”.
