• Says Ex-lawmaker Innocent Until Proven Guilty Of Rape Charges
• Says ex-lawmaker’s public statement has resulted in further investigations of possible violations of other laws
Ekiti State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Olawale Fapohunda has clarified the position of the State government over the case of a medical doctor and former member of the State House of Assembly, Dr Samuel Omotosho who was accused of sexually harassing a 14-year-old girl.
The Attorney General made this known at an event to commemorate the day of The African Child held in Ado-Ekiti, the State capital recently. The event which was hosted by the state’s ministry of education, science and technology had the Attorney General as a guest speaker and he spoke about the the challenges and successes of the endeavours employed by the Fayemi administration to promote and protect the rights of the child in Ekiti State.
Fapounda at the event drew the attention of the participants to various social media posts in the last couple of weeks accusing his office and the principal of Christ Girls School, Ado-Ekiti of abducting a 14-year-old child.
He, however, announced that the social media attacks sponsored by the former lawmaker have been “reckless and vicious particularly on the person of the Principal and will be addressed fully within the limits of our Criminal and Civil Laws. I have also taken note of the public interest in this matter and the need for the Ministry of Justice to respond.”
Giving briefly the fact of the case at the event, the Attorney General explained that a 14-year-old student of Christ Girls School, Ado-Ekiti made an allegation of rape against a medical doctor and former parliamentarian in the State who was her guardian.
“She alleged that she had been a victim of rape since she was 11 years old. In her written statement she further stated that she had complained severally to her mother who did not believe her and she had attempted to run away from her guardian several times. Without prejudice to the believability of her allegation and in line with the Ministry of Justice standard operating procedure, we immediately took steps to remove the child from the alleged place of abuse while requesting the Police to investigate the matter, ” Fapohunda said.
He, however, stated that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) has very explicit provisions on the rights of all persons accused of a crime. He said: “For clarity, the overriding consideration is ‘innocent until proven guilty”. To be sure the ‘proven guilty’ is not by the Ministry of Justice but by a Court of competent jurisdiction.
“It must be said therefore that the doctor is innocent until and if he has his day in Court. Therefore, it must be stated clearly that the allegation made against him by the 14-year-old girl is simply that. It is an allegation that is currently subject to Police investigation.
The Attorney General further explained that the several public statements issued by the medical doctor and his wife as published on social media has opened an investigation into possible violations of several provisions of the Ekiti State Child’s Rights Law, the Criminal Code Law as well as the Gender-Based Violence (Prohibition) Law.
“In particular, the medical doctor alleged that this 14-year-old girl under his watch is a ‘child philander’. He also stated that the pastor of his church, the mother of the girl and the girl’s brother could testify to the alleged amatory conduct of the girl. He alluded in his defence that this 14-year-old girl must have had amorous relationships with several men, including with the security guard in his church and some unnamed men in a beer parlour in Igede- Ekiti.
“It is solely based on these verified public statements by the medical doctor and his wife that I have today advised the Ekiti State Commissioner for Police to conduct further investigations into the conduct of several persons connected to this matter to enable the Director, Public Prosecutions to decide whether to proffer appropriate charges, ” he said.