The Proprietor of His Grace Schools, Apostle Adekanye A. Joshua, acknowledged that a seven-year-old pupil was sexually molested in his school earlier last year in a series of secret recordings, even as the school management publicly sought to dismiss the claims and also drag the father of the victim to court.
The audio and video files which were secretly filmed, obtained by The Informant247, detailed the conversations between the Ministry of Education officials, the proprietor of the school, and the victim’s father a day after the sexual assault incident in February 28, 2020.
The father of the molested minor had in a petition submitted to the police narrated how the Basic 2 pupils were taken to the toilet by a Yoruba tutor in the school, Hammed Akorede, who pulled down her skirt and underwear before caressing her private parts on February 27, 2020.
The school, however, in a statement released on its website and social media pages on March 4, 2020, described the sexual molestation case as “malicious and propaganda been perpetrated by some faceless enemies from within and outside” adding that the motive of the report was to “soil” the school’s reputation.
The statement said, “His Grace School is a citadel of Excellence and A Model to other sister firms in the same field of business. As our reputation cannot be dragged in the mold all in the name of trying to score cheap Points. Our parents, well-wishers, visitors, and Persons who have had one or two things to do with us in the Past know our antecedents in the area of The Building A child.”
The statement, which said that the management won’t defend “impunities and immoralities”, stressed that at “no point was any of” its “students molested sexually by any teacher in and around the school”.
The school, urging the parents and the general public to remain calm, threatened to drag the publishers of the news to court. It also promised to hold a press conference on the issue.
School arrest, drag victim’s father
On March 5, 2020, operatives of the Kwara State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) arrested the victim’s father.
Quoting family sources, a local online newspaper, Insider Ng narrated how the father of the minor was whisked away from his residence at about 9 pm yesterday by NSCDC personnel on the orders of the school’s proprietor.
“The arrest was conducted around past 9 on Thursday at his residence by the NSCDC. He (the victim’s father) asked them for the warrant of arrest but they said they could conduct an arrest with or without warrant. He was taken to their headquarters at Post Office and detained till Friday for purportedly tarnishing the image of the school on the internet after news of the sexual abuse case went viral,” Insider Ng source said.
Meanwhile, the school also filed a lawsuit against the victim’s father, at the upper Area Court in Ilorin on the same day he was arrested by operatives of the NSCDC.
The school, in its suit No UAC/CRF/201/2020, argued that “the Defendant budged into the premises of the said school vehemently, alleging the fact that his daughter was defiled by a teacher in the said school.
“On inquiry, the said teacher denied the allegation and stated that he only directed the Defendant’s daughter to the convenience store.
“The Defendant became violent and made attempts at assaulting the staff of the said school.”
In the suit, the school also sought the payment of N20 million as damages fee from the victim’s father.
‘We’re guilty already’
Meanwhile, more secret recordings appear to show that the management is aware of the sexual molestation case that occurred in the school contrary to its position released to the public and the court case instituted against the victim’s father.
In the audio clip of February 28, 2020, the school proprietor told the State Ministry of Education officials that he is already taking steps on the sexual assault case as he had already contacted security operatives to arrest the teacher who allegedly molested the pupil.
He added: “I have called the man in charge… (Voice not audible) I want to… (Voice not audible) because I discover that with what this girl has said now, I have discovered that this is not the first time (she has been sexually molested)… That is where I am going… That is where I am going… and I have gotten the information. We are guilty already,” saying he hoped the case would be resolved amicably. “We are guilty,” he pleaded.
At a point in the recording, the proprietor was heard making a phone call to an unidentified person which sources suspected to be one of his staff. “Have you called the civil defense? Get across to their… (voice not audible)… they should go and arrest him straight (the teacher that allegedly molested the pupil). The director is waiting for us now,” he told the person at the other end of the call.
Ending the call, he declared to the ministry’s officials that he had informed the security to arrest the culprit.
In another recording, also filmed during a meeting with officials of the State Ministry of Education, the proprietor could be heard asking the victim: “How many times has he done it to you? Did he touch you with something?”
However, these questions got one of the ministry’s officials angry such that he flared up: “This case has gone beyond this office. I am annoyed that I am trying to control him… to control his temper (the victim’s father) but what the pastor is asking… the question the pastor is asking (inaudible). He said he had already gone to Human Rights people, he has gone to the police headquarters, and I don’t want it to get to that stage… now you are asking another question when we are begging. The thing has gone beyond this ministry, This is a very serious case. A very serious one that can implicate you, your name as a pastor, and the whole school, I have heard of this thing. What can we do? What do we do? That is what I expect from you. But trying to twist this little girl… How many times had he done it to you? No! No! No! I don’t expect. The school has a name. I know we can settle this thing here, but the way you are asking questions annoys me.”
The proprietor who promptly apologized, went ahead to make another phone call.
He told the person at the other end: “I am with the director at the Ministry of Education. One of our staff (staffers) misbehaved. He wants to dent the schools’ image and his name as well. He is now at large. He didn’t come to school today, so I want you to release your officers to help in arresting his surety. He committed the atrocity at our Oyun branch. He sexually molested the pupil inside the toilet, imagine! I’m just getting to Ilorin, Please whatsoever we can do. The parent is here and they are very displeased. We are guilty, we are guilty already.”
“Some of the teachers have been complaining about suspected ritual activities in your school,” Alh. Moshood Olesin, staff at the Ministry of Education said in another recording.