prosecute a 70-year old woman for applying
pepper in a 12-year old boy’s joystick for
alleged stealing of money.
The government also vowed to prosecute
another woman who engaged in begging for
alms the two children she brought from the
village to assist her in trading.
The children were brought to the Ministry of
Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, WAPA,
after they have been rescued in Badagry,
Ajamgbadi and Maza-Maza areas of Lagos,
Southwest Nigeria by government officials and
the police on Tuesday.
Permanent Secretary, WAPA, Omobolanle
Ogunmola said the ministry got a text
message that a 12-year old child (name
withheld) was being abused by a woman, who
is around 70 years of age for alleged stealing
by applying pepper in his private part and
beating him severely with marks on his body.
“Our team went to Badagry to rescue the boy
who attends Ansarudeen Secondary School.
From the information gotten from the school,
the accused are old. The woman is around 70
years and the husband, over 75 years, so we
could not arrest them, but that does not mean
we are not going to prosecute them. We are
going to prosecute them. We will take custody
of the boy and take him to school in one of
our transient homes,” she said.
Ogunmola said the state government had
declared zero tolerance on child abuse and
domestic violence, saying that government
would not hesitate to prosecute people found
to have violated the rights of children in the
state.
On the woman who engaged two children in
begging, Ogunmola said government was also
going to prosecute the woman for engaging
the children in begging, advising parents to
live up to their responsibilities by not
releasing their children to live with others
without proper investigation.
She said government had lots of child abuse
cases being prosecuted at various Family
Courts in the State, with some of the culprits
being jailed, saying that “as we arrest culprits,
we hand them over to the police for
prosecution.”
However, the 12 year old boy confirmed that
the 70-year old woman applied pepper on his
private part for stealing money which he
admitted to, saying that since his mother left
him, he had been staying with his relation who
happened to be the aged woman.
He identified the aged woman simply as Mrs
Amosun, but the boy refused to disclosed how
much he stole due to shame and fear,
admitting that the old woman applied pepper
to his joystick for stealing some money.
One of the girls being engaged in begging
(name withheld) said the woman, identified as
Amaka told her parents in Abia State that she
wanted to engage the girl in selling provision
for her in Lagos, noting that on getting to
Lagos, she was turned into a beggar and paid
N100 every month.
The girl, 19, who was discovered to be
pregnant, said one of the boys in the
neighbourhood got her pregnant, saying that
she detested begging which she normally did
at Alaba Market in Ajamgbadi.
