Will the Ikorodu family court allow three minors return to their pedophilic royal father?
This is the question every sane man would be asking the Family court at Ikorodu, Lagos State in suit FCIE/3/2009 that will sit tomorrow to decide if the three young girls aged four, seven and 16 years respectfully will be returned back to their father, a royal prince
who abused them for years on end to the extent of sexually exploiting his first daughter in a horrible act of incest for two on end. Did I hear you say screaming impossible? This is no Nollywood movie or a piece of make believe, it happened and the children involved are flesh and blood. On the 2 nd of January, 2009, Lucy (not real name) ran away from home; reason being that her father was beating her up and was about to have carnal knowledge of her again; an imaginable act that had been going on for two years. His father is a Prince Muka Akinsanya, son to Oba Moibo Akinsanya, the Akufon of Idariki in Iperu Remo, Ogun State . After escaping from their home located at No 3 Jaladigbo Street, Off Alhaji Street, Ikorodu, Lagos , she ran to a friend and got some money before running to the park. She was lucky to meet a man that gave her a number to Project Alert, an NGO that deals with violence against women. But Lucy was not yet a woman, she was just 15 at that point but the father had made her a woman since she was 14. Mrs. Effah Chukwuma, the executive director picked the call and directed her to their Ojodu office where she was taken in. After revealing her ordeal, Project Alert informed the police and Office of the Public Defender (OPD) in Lagos and busted the family house at Ikorodu. On arriving there, they met the gate locked from outside. The law enforcement officers then rescued the remaining children and their Filipino mother while father was arrested. During the first meeting OPD had with the family members and Project Alert, Lucy narrated how her father has been sleeping with her since she turned 14. In her statement, she wrote, 'I am a girl who will be turning 16 years of age this year. My father is brutal and wicked; he beats me at home and for the slightest offence. He sleeps with me once in a while when he gets his chance. If mum is busy with something, he comes around disturbing my studies. Even when he calls me for classes, I don't always feel like going because I always fear he would come again with his rubbish.'
Meet the father:
Lucy's father is a Prince and claims he studied in the USA as an accountant before returing to Nigeria . He married his wife, a Filipino in 1992 and that they met through pen pal relationship back then. He started a computer study centre and refused his children from attending school, claiming that the educational system in Nigeria was inadequate. He preferred to teach his children and did teach them computer knowledge even at very young ages. When he was confronted with the allegations his daughter made, he owned up and confessed that he really did commit the offence and blamed the devil for his misconduct. This confession was made in the presence of his father, Oba Muibi Akinsanya, a high chief, Alhaji Adisa Onafuwa, Mr. Richard Omolashe, PRO of OPD, Project Alert, Mrs. Omotola Rotimi, the director of OPD and the Filipino wife of the prince. When his wife was asked if she knew about the matter, she said she has forgiven her husband as he had promised not to do it again.
Criminal Offence with no charges.
Now, owning up to rape already establishes a crime had been committed and to which Prince Akinsanya should have been charged but the recommendation from the OPD was that he goes for psychological check under therapy but the Oba objected saying that it would look like he had a mad son. It was agreed that the children and their mother would remain on the custody of Lagos State Government with Project Alert and even, the mother of the children was offered a job by the NGO. She stayed for three days and opted to go back to her husband leaving her children at the shelter of the NGO. One question remains till today, why did the OPD not commence criminal charges against Prince Akinsanya? According to the Lagos State Child Right Act, Prince Akinsanya used his children for child labour as they were computer literate and worked for him in his computer college, Asian American Computer College and the Asian International School . He pleaded guilty but was left off the hook. Having teamed up with his wife, Prince Akinsanya started fighting to get his kids back. They wrote a petition and has the case taken to a family court which later transferred the children to the Lagos State Motherless Babies home where they have been up till now.
Lucy's dilemma.
Lucy said she had to endure the many nights his father sexually abused him because he told her that if she runs away, he will simply start her sister who was 7 then. Lucy is very good at computers and had been teaching computer architecture, website designing, city and town planning, video editing and movie production and digital photography. Among the clientele of his father that she has taught computer skills is the Nigeria Police, Zone 2 Command, Onikan, Lagos. She was endorsed by the Fountain of Life Community Center from Decatour U. S.A for helping in building the mind of children for future generation and appeared on the Westerner Newspaper of Sept 15, 2008 as the Face of the Future after winning the Emerging Titan of Technology Award organized under the auspices of ICT Africa. She was dubbed the computer Whizkid and dreams of making it in the IT industry. But all that depends on what happens on the 11 th of October 2010. It was alleged that her father has finalized plans to have his children released back to him as the family court sits. Having the backing of his royal father, His Highness, Oba Moibo Akinsanya, the Akufon of Idarika, Iperu Remo, Ogun State, I called him on his phone 080-5887-0466 to ask him why in all these ordeal that his grandchildren were going through, he is more concerned with his son that was the perpetrator destroying the lives of the children, the line cut. I tried Prince Muka Akinanya, the father that blames the devil for sleeping with his own daughter on his mobile, 080-5233-1496 and he does not pick up.
Tomorrow is the 11 th of October 2010 and the Chairman of the Family Court and Chief Magistrate , I.O Akinkugbe may deliver judgement, I hope that justice is served right. But one thing still remains amiss, this man still has a pending criminal charge, when will the OPD charge him? Maybe the Lagos State Governor, His Excellency, Babatunde Raji Fashola, should make an inquiry into this particular matter before these kids go back to a man that is practically insane. Maybe Lucy might not be very lucky to escape again and who knows, her seven and four year old sisters might bear the next psychological trauma of being abused by a man they call father.
By Edward Egbabare.