DEOLA AKINREMI: Seeking Justice for Ejigbo Sodomy Victims

Next month, it will be exactly one year since two women were dehumanised in Ejigbo Local Council Development Area of Lagos State by a group of men who sodomised them for alleged theft.  A few days after the incidence, one of the victims died without justice.  Adeola Akinremi visited the neighbourhood where the barbaric act took place and writes about efforts to get justice for the victims

Loud and crowded, Ejigbo in Lagos has that semblance of a disorganised community with scary sound of moving cars on its damaged roads and strange noise coming out of a market nearby. Its major roads are broken and the potholes on the roads are deep enough to make for a crypt. Most of the houses built under high-voltage electric cable make Ejigbo looks rumpled. 

Yes, Ejigbo is an unattractive city in Lagos State that prides itself in the slogan of excellence.  It was there that two women were stripped naked and sodomised by some men in February of last year.  A few days after the incidence, one of the women died from the injury she sustained. The sodomised women were alleged to have stolen pepper and clothes at the community market. In a video circulating on the internet, in which jungle justice was meted out to the women, the victims who confessed to stealing pepper were seen crying for help as some men thrusted ground pepper and hard sticks into the genitals of one of them and covering her in a heavy liquid.

In the video, one of the women writhing in pain said that the stolen pepper was for their personal use.

And recently, when a number of people gathered in front of the palace of Ejigbo traditional ruler located on Ejigbo Road, it was for a curious conversation. It was no ordinary conversation. They talked about the victims of the barbaric act, the video they had watched of their gruesome torture and the demised of one of the victims. 

Not far away from where they were having that conversation is the makeshift secretariat of the Odua People’s Congress (OPC), the organisation whose members have been alleged as masterminds of the act.

And while that conversation was going on, the woman whose organisation, Women Arise for Change Initiative, has been at the forefront of the struggle to get justice for the brutalised women, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, kept reviewing her files somewhere else. She had been able to obtain enough evidence to push the campaign forward.

“On Thursday 9th January 2014 we were able to get two of the victims through my facebook link.  The father of one of the women, Mr. Freeman Agoma and the mother of the second woman, who was also brutalised, Mrs Ajoke Agoma. They were able to tell a clear story of the incidence and all that happened,” she said.

“They informed us that the brutality and abuse took place at Oba Moruf  Adisa Ojoola Market at Iyana Ejigbo. They said they lived in an uncompleted building in the Ejigbo area and two of their daugthers - Juliana Agoma and Nike were accused of stealing pepper so the OPC in the market came to their home and took Juliana, a mother of three children and Nike an 11-year-old girl away to the OPC tarmac in the market. This was the place where the torture was carried out,” she narrated.

Mr. Agomah Freeman, the palm wine tapper, whose wife and children were tortured was said to have been billed N150, 000 by  Ejigbo traditional ruler  to have his family released to him, and was banished from the area. Mr. Agomah and the rest of his surviving family have now relocated to Ilorin in Kwara after failing to pay the “fines” imposed by the traditional ruler.

It has indeed been difficult for Odumakin to access information through the locals in Ejigbo as everyone kept a sealed lip over the issue, perhaps for the fear of what might happen to them in the hands of the dreaded OPC. Indeed, when THISDAY visited the community at the weekend, no one was willing to volunteer information. At the palace of the traditional ruler of Ejigbo, Oba Moruf Adisa Adekunle , the palace guard simply said, “Oba can only see a guest whose name has been sent to us here. We don’t have your name, so you cannot see him,” though, the traditional ruler was seen playing a draft game with one of his visitors in the compound at around 2.30pm when our reporter visited the palace.

However, a source at the market informed THISDAY that the OPC’s activities in the area are known to the traditional ruler. He confirmed that the sodomy act happened, but people are too scared to mention the names of the people behind the act.

After so many pleas for protection, he said: “If you want to get to the root of this matter, then go and get the Oba and some of the market leaders. They cannot deny what happened. They are aware; they know the boys who did it. It is easy to get them, if more pressure is put on the Oba.”

And Odumakin, who is deeply pained about the injustice visited on the two women, has taken the matter before Lagos State House of Assembly.  She mobilized a number of civil society organizations for a peaceful protest around the city of Lagos and a march on the Assembly to seek redress for the sodomised women.

Through that protest, she has been able to gain the attention of the Lagos lawmakers who last Thursday organised a prompt public hearing to further investigation into the matter.

She said:  “The chairman of the House committee and other members of the committee were informed of the latest development and they came to meet with the victims and asked them questions as to what really happened and they explained. The ad-hoc committee members met with me and some key civil society members, the chairman of Ejigbo LCDA and some market leaders on Friday 10th January, 2014 on the way forward on the matter and investigation into the matter has commenced fully.”

According to Odumakin, The Chairman of Ejigbo LCDA, Kehinde Bamigbetan who has been accused of being insensitive to the plights of the victims was present at the meeting held on Friday in the House and according to the Chairman of the ad-hoc committee he has given some useful information that the House was not willing to divulge yet for the purpose of investigation.

She told THISDAY, “We are resolved to ensure that they get justice, we are going to leave no stone unturned until we get to the root of the matter. The victim we were told by the father died few days after the incident due to massive injury suffered during the torture like her breast had deep cut, one eye damaged and other injury sustained by her.

“However, because of our court process I may not be able to tell whether prosecution process will be completed before February but as to the arrest of the culprits, everything will be done for justice to be done, i have no doubt in mind that they will be arrested before February. We are exploring some other strategies outside the on-going one to ensure that the victims get justice but i wouldn't like to mention that specifically now.”

Odumakin insisted that Lagos must keep watch over those who watch over them like the vigilante group because of such barbaric act, “the best way is keep watch on the activities of the various vigilante groups and for all Lagosians to blow the whistle whenever they see an act of injustice.We also need to work on the existing laws to ensure the protection of women and children against violence,” she said.

But Odumakin is not alone in fighting the cause of injustice such as experienced by the Freeman’s family,  Janet Fashakin, an Attorney and Counselor at Law, based in United States had written Governor Babatunde Fashola asking him to rise to the occasion.

In a strongly worded letter, Fashakin asked Fashola to move with speed to avoid international intervention in the matter.  A part of the letter reads: “I am sure that by now your Excellency would have been made aware of a shocking video circulating on the internet regarding a heinous crime committed against a young woman and her step daughter in an area that we now know to be Ejigbo Local Council Development Area of Lagos State on or about February, 2013. The women were said to have confessed to stealing a bag of pepper and were also alleged to have stolen some cloth which they denied.

“Regardless of what they confessed or not confessed to, Nigeria has laws and Chapter IV Section 36 (5) of the 1979 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria stated with no ambiguity thus "Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved guilty." Jungle justice as perpetrated by these hoodlums is thus reprehensible.

“That anyone would even steal pepper showed how low the society has descended in not catering to the poor among us.

“The press statement of December 9th, 2013 (pasted verbatim below) by Honorable Kehinde Bamigbetan, the Councilor for Ejigbo Local Government where this crime occurred falls short of expectation, is very lackadaisical and does not catch the gravity of the offense committed against the women in question. Trivializing this occurrence as just a matter involving pepper stealers that were let go after confession is insensitive. According to him, “ [he had ] reviewed these with the DPO and both of [them] are bothered by the impact of the time lag of over nine months on investigation.”

“As the Custodian of Ejigbo local government, it is mind boggling that such heinous crime was committed in February, 2013 and neither him nor his DPO were aware until the hoodlums released the video to the public domain a few weeks ago.How can that be? Something is wrong somewhere Mr.Governor.

“Now that everyone is aware, "nine months" before initiating the prosecution of this kind of crime is nothing and should have no bearing on anything. The law enforcement agents should get to work and arrest “the leadership of the vigilante group” (as stated by the Chairman) for obstruction of justice if they fail to surrender their men who committed this crime.

“The social services department should also do their job in locating and getting medical and financial help for the victims.

“It is our hope that no stones would be left unturned and no ‘sacred cows’ would be spared in getting justice in this matter!

“Dear Governor Fashola all eyes are on you and your government to do what is right in this matter especially as an officer of the law and as the chief executive of the state of occurrence.

“We are hoping that there would be no need for international intervention in this matter.”

Now, there are more grounds to cover towards getting justice for the sodomised women, perhaps a quick intervention will restore lost hope in getting justice by Nigerians.