Rape update: Ogun bars director from orphanage

Atunde and The victims

The Ogun State Government on Tuesday ordered the founder of the Light of Hope Orphanage, Pastor Olatayo Atunde, to stay away from the premises of the home located in Akute, Ifo Local Government.

In a statement signed by the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Elizabeth Sonubi, the government also directed that victims, who levelled the allegation against Atunde be handed over to government-owned care centre.

Atunde had been accused of sexually abusing two teenage girls and other children in the orphanage which is still undergoing registration process by the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.

The government said its decision followed a four-and-a-half hours interview sessions which a panel it set up had with all parties in the case, including the victims, Atunde, his wife, representatives of the complainant, Project Alert and Mrs. Peju Osoba, Coordinator of Child Protection Network Committee in Ogun State.

The state panel was headed by the Attorney General of the state, Mrs. Abimbola Akeredolu, while the other members are Sonubi, Commissioner for Information and Strategy Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu and Special Adviser to the Governor on Millennium Development Goals, Mrs. Hafsat Abiola-Costello.

The statement reads in part, “It is only fair that Pastor Atunde stay away from the orphanage to prevent interference with investigation or obstruction of the cause of justice. The Ogun State Government, however, assures all Nigerians and the rest of the world that it would get to the root of the case and ensure that justice takes its rightful course.

“The state government is out to ensure that children and other less privileged members of the society, who are not in a position to defend themselves enjoy adequate protection under the law,” it said.

Executive Director, Project Alert, Mrs. Josephine Effuah-Chukwuma, in a telephone interview, confirmed the government’s decision.

She said, “All the parties involved met in Abeokuta today with the state government. The government expressed its appreciation to Project Alert for the role they played in exposing the incident and caring for the victims.

“However, it was their decision that the girls be handed over to a government-owned care centre and this we have done. We have been promised that the case would be followed to a logical conclusion.”