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He tried to hug and kiss me, 14-year-old accuses Islamic cleric of ‘r*pe attempt’

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He tried to hug and kiss me, 14-year-old accuses Islamic cleric of 'r*pe attempt'

An Islamic cleric (Alfa) has been accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Ijesha, Surulere Local Government Area of Lagos State on Wednesday morning.

The 45-year-old, Islamic cleric told Ripples Nigeria that he called her (the victim) into his one-room apartment because he “likes” and intend to marry her but she refused and ran away.

The victim, who lives with her grandma and is yet to complete her junior secondary education said Alfa sent for her in the morning while she was getting ready for school and she obliged him. But on getting there he offered her N200 and grabbed her and tried to kiss her but she pushed him away and ran out of his apartment.

He tried to hug and kiss me, 14-year-old accuses Islamic cleric of 'r*pe attempt'

The teenager

According to the teenager, “while, I was in my grandma’s house, Mubarak (a neighbour’s son) came to call me that Baba Suliya (Alfa) is calling me, when I reached there, he asked if I went to work yesterday, then I said yes. He asked which class am I, then I said JSS 3. He said that I am almost done and I said yes. He then said I am even mature, he tried to hug me (she gestured with her hands) and gave me N200 and wanted to kiss me, then I pushed him away and ran out.”

‘I like us to be having an affair’- Islamic cleric

When approached by this reporter, the Islamic cleric who was using a fountain pen to write some Arabic words on a slate did not deny any of the allegations made against him.

“I did not rape her; I called her this morning. I have been teaching her qur’anic education. I like us to be having an affair. Then I shook her hands, she objected, then I asked what happened to her neck, she said it was heat rashes. And I gave her N200.

Read also: 30-year-old trader allegedly rapes neighbour’s 14-year-old daughter

“I have known mama (victim’s grandma) for a while, and I don’t mind being related to her. Now, she has told grandma, and she (grandma) objected. Simple thing. If I disturb her again, that is a sin,” he said.

The Islamic cleric who refused to mention his name said he made his intention known but it was not accepted.

He denied that the teenage pushed him when he grabbed her, instead, he said “when I tried to hug her, she refused and I left her.”

Ripples Nigeria gathered that the Islamic cleric who lives next compound to the victim had on many occasions called the victim, Iyawo mi (my wife).

The grandma who spoke in Yoruba said she had gone to the mosque for Subhi (Islamic dawn prayer) when her granddaughter narrated her ordeal.

He tried to hug and kiss me, 14-year-old accuses Islamic cleric of 'r*pe attempt'

The grandma

The grandmother said she went to the Islamic cleric’s apartment and accused him of attempting to rape her granddaughter and he confirmed it. She alleged that Alfa told her that if he had requested for her hand in marriage, she (Grandma) would have refused.

The Islamic cleric was arrested by the Lagos Neighborhood Safety Corps (LNSC), and taken to the Ijesha police station on Wednesday, the victim’s brother Sodiq Okunola confirmed.

Mr Okunola also said that some Islamic scholars have started to beg his family to withdraw the case. He also informed this newspaper that the cleric’s first name is Abdulgafar.

What the law says

A human right lawyer and founder of Stop the Abuse Against Women and Children Foundation, Barrister Toyin Taiwo-Ojo said the accused will be charged with an attempt to commit rape.

She said it is a felony that attracts 14 years imprisonment with or without caning according to Section 359 of the criminal code which applies to Southern states of the country.

The teenager is a minor and as such could not be able to give her consent, “he even tried to bribe her by obtaining her consent through fraudulent means, the family should not accept their plea,” she said.

By Oluwakemi Adelagun

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