A 23-year-old female student of the Department of Mass
Communication of Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa in Oyo
State, has alleged that a soldier (name withheld)
attached to a special security outfit in the state,
‘Operation Burst’ raped her three times in the night of
Friday, August 29, this year, under a dongoyaro tree.The
lady, a National Diploma (ND) II student (name withheld),
said the soldier allegedly threatened to kill her with a
two-edged knife if she did not cooperate. This,
according to her, took place in the premises of the
Ibarapa zonal office of the Operation Burst at Secretariat
in Eruwa.
The lady sobbed as she narrated her ordeals to
newsmen in Ibadan yesterday. She also appealed to
well-meaning Nigerians, including President Goodluck
Jonathan and his wife, Dame Patience to intervene for
her to get justice on the alleged rape.
President of the Students’ Union Government (SUG),
Ibarapa Polytechnic, Atilola Olatunji; a legal practitioner,
Mr. Ola Adeosun, and the lady’s guardian, Oludare
Ogunlana, had earlier addressed a press conference on
the incident.
The lady explained that she was arrested on an
allegation of being a cultist by the soldier at about
10:30p.m on the fateful day after she saw a friend of
hers off in Oke-Ola area of Eruwa, adding that the soldier
was not satisfied that she was not a cultist and took her
to the zonal office at Secretariat. She alleged that she
saw other soldiers and security agents at the zonal
office premises, torturing some other people, including
students.
With tears in her eyes, she said: “At about 10.30p.m on
Friday, August 29, 2014, while returning to my
apartment, having escorted a friend out, a soldier
stopped me and asked where I was going to at that
period of time. I told him I was going to my apartment,
more so that there was no curfew in Eruwa on that day.
“He said I must be a cultist to be moving about around
that time, but I denied it. He ordered me to climb his
motorcycle, but I pleaded with him that he should let me
go. He removed a knife and said he would stab me. So
scared, I climbed the Okada and he took me to their
Operation Burst office.
“On the way, I saw a woman whom I called for
assistance. The woman pleaded with the soldier but he
refused. He took me to the office. On getting there, I
heard screams of some people being tortured in the
building.
“The soldier forcibly led me to a dark area under a
dongoyaro tree and ordered me to remove my dresses
for him to see the cultist tattoos on my body. I told him I
have no tattoos on my body and that he should let me
go. He then removed the knife again and said he would
slaughter me like a ram and that I would be buried like
many other girls, who had failed to cooperate in the past,
and nobody would trace my death to him.
“I later agreed by removing all my clothes. He ordered
me to lie down under the tree and he had sex with me
three times, while I was crying. Around 3.30a.m, I was
catching cold and he went into the office and brought a
bottle of beer. He gave it to me to hold for him. Later, he
said he was going to bring a blanket for me to cover my
body. I waited for about 30 minutes, but when he did not
return, I dressed up and ran away from the place.”
The student, as gathered, reported the incident to her
parents that also reported the case to their lawyer.
Thereafter, a complaint was lodged at the police station
in Eruwa. The police reportedly contacted the relevant
military authorities and the purported victim was taken to
the Operation Burst office, where identification parade
was conducted.
The lady was said to have identified the suspected
soldier, simply identified as Ignatius, who allegedly
admitted raping the girl. It was also gathered that the
lady was taken to a private hospital for appropriate test.
A legal practitioner, Mr. Ola Adeosun, said the lady was
instructed by the hospital to buy hand gloves before a
doctor attended to her. In conducting the test, Adeosun
said the doctor “instructed the victim to lie down, and
thereafter used his GSM phone’s torchlight to look into
her vagina and thereafter wrote his report where he
stated that although he did not see semen/sperm
therein, the victim’s vagina had been tampered with.
“On being probed on the reason the doctor did not check
inside the vagina for semen, we were embarrassed when
the doctor informed our client that the hospital does not
have the facilities to carry out such ‘an elementary’
test.”
The lawyer said the first statement in which the soldier
allegedly admitted that he had carnal knowledge of the
lady had been substituted with assault against the girl.
But the Oyo State Government has denied the allegation
of rape against the soldier. A statement issued on
September 7, 2014, by the Special Adviser on Media to
Governor Abiola Ajimobi, Dr. Festus Adedayo, said: “The
Oyo State anti-crime outfit nicknamed Operation Burst,
has said it had investigated a case of rape levelled
against one of its operatives by a student of the Eruwa
Polytechnic, Ibadan and found it to be baseless.
“The outfit, however, said the Nigerian Army had
recommended the officer involved for disciplinary
measures for abandoning his duty post.
“The crime-fighting outfit made this known in a release
issued by the outfit’s Second-in-Command, CSP Elijah
Bawa, at the weekend. According to the Operation Burst,
immediately the outfit was intimated with the allegation
of rape against the said student, he dispatched an
investigation team to Eruwa.
“He said the team met with the Divisional Police Officer
for the Eruwa Division, DSP Kayode Adigun, who
disclosed that the 23-year-old Mass Communication
student of the school lodged a complaint with the
command that she had been raped by the soldier who
was also an operative of the anti-crime outfit.
“Upon being told that she had not destroyed what could
amount to an evidence if the case was true, said the
outfit’s second-in-command, the divional police officer
(DPO) took the lady complainant to the Eruwa General
Hospital for medical examination, the result of which
proved negative.
“When interrogated about the process of the rape, said
the Operation Burst, the allegedly raped lady said she
had left her hostel and was seeing her friend off at about
2230 hrs and when she was returning, she was accosted
by the Operation Burst operative who accused her of
being a cultist.”
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