Pastor, Alasco Sobowale, has been accused of raping a 12-year old girl

Her (name withheld) . The pastor was said to have allegedly had carnal knowledge of the girl at their home located at 10, Togodo Street, Temu Town, in Epe,Lagos

The victim’s aunt, Mrs. Ngozi Anjorin, told PUNCH Metro that the incident occurred on December 15, 2012.

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Anjorin said the victim only spoke Igbo Language and had recently arrived Lagos from Imo State. She said Sobowale, who also speaks Igbo, allegedly lured her niece to the toilet around 9pm and had sex with her. She said, “My niece was sent to Lagos about two weeks before the incident so I could send her to school because she doesn’t speak English Language. She only speaks Igbo and only I and the pastor, who is our neighbour, speak Igbo.

 “On that particular night, my children were in the room watching television but I couldn’t find my niece. I kept on shouting her name but I got no answer. I then proceeded to the toilet which is detached from the building. I knocked on the door of the toilet and the pastor immediately ran out and I saw her inside the toilet. “When I inquired of her what she was doing inside the toilet with the pastor, she said he lured her into the toilet and covered her mouth with his palm so she wouldn’t scream.

 She said the pastor brought out his penis and forced it into her anus. She said he also put his penis in her vagina and when she discharged a particular fluid, he used a handkerchief to scoop it.” Anjorin said Sobowale, who lives with his wife and children in the same compound, fled after the incident. Anjorin said two days later, she reported the matter to the Epe Police Division and the policemen began to look for him. It was learnt that two days later, the police were able to arrest him. Residents told our correspondent that after Sobowale’s arrest, some of his church members accused a six-year-old girl of bewitching the pastor and had her flogged and paraded.

 A source, who craved anonymity, said, “Sobowale is not actually the head pastor. His wife is the senior pastor of the church known as Okiki Imole. A few days after the incident, a six-year-old girl was branded a witch and accused of manipulating the pastor to commit the dastardly act. “The poor girl was beaten up and paraded round the town. They said when the pastor was conducting deliverance for her; her spirit took over his body.” Anjorin said the alleged rape victim was rushed down to Epe General Hospital where tests were conducted on her. A copy of the doctor’s report made available to PUNCH Metro, stated that the victim’s “vaginal hymen is no longer intact and bruises were observed in the anal region.” The report further stated that there was sperm residue in the victim’s private part and it was concluded that she had been sexually assaulted.

A doctor, who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, said because Sobowale had not provided his sperm sample, it was impossible to ascertain if it was his own sperm that was found in the victim’s private part. PUNCH metro learnt that Sobowale was released a few days later and charges against him dropped. Anjorin however protested the development, adding it was not safe for her niece to live in the same compound with Sobowale. A neighbour, who craved anonymity, said it was the habit of policemen in the area to cover up such crimes.

 “Whenever a crime of this nature occurs, the police would ask the suspect to offset the victim’s hospital bill and then grant the suspect bail. It is very common in areas like Epe because it is not situated in the metropolis,” he said. When contacted, the spokesperson for the state police command, Ngozi Braide, confirmed that the girl was raped. Braide said the police had not taken sides, adding that the pastor was released on bail because courts were not in session.

 “The pastor is in charge of a white garment church in the area. He will be charged with sodomy. He was released on bail because courts are not sitting but once courts resume, he will be charged,” she said.

A wealthy Chinese tile magnate gave his daughter a gigantic £100million dowry

This included four boxes of gold jewellery, two luxury cars, shares and several homes for her lavish wedding.

Wu Duanbiao, chairman of ceramics firm Fujian Wanli Group, gave his daughter's new husband real estate including a retail store in Quanzhou, the Olympic villas and the Wanda mansion

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He also bequeathed the newlyweds 500m shares in his ceramics firm worth more than £10m (100m yuan) as well as a Porsche and a Mercedes which draped with red ribbons.

Wu, 54, also gave donations worth £1.5m (15m yuan) to two charities, according to local media reports. The full extent his wealth is not known and company records show he only drew a salary of £12,000 last year. His wife described the groom as 'an outstanding young man' saying: 'He gets his bread from the government.

 'As parents, we certainly want our child's life to be more stable than our lives as entrepreneurs.' The bride is already on the board of her father's company and reportedly masterminded a recent stock market listing in Korea.

 The bridegroom, a civil servant whose surname is Xu, had known his new wife since they were classmates in kindergarten.

My dad impregnated me, aborted it twice

The Human Right department of Ilemba Hausa Police Division, in Ojo area of Lagos has arrested a 49- year-old man who allegedly had been having carnal knowledge of his teenaged daughter for five years.

It was discovered during investigation that his daughter Janet(not real name)got pregnant in the process twice, only for her father to allegedly abort the pregnancy with the aid of a herbalist.

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Sitting at a corner in the Human Rights Office, 17-year-old Janet could not raise her head to face her father, Wale Akinusi, who was also there. When approached, she simply stated that at last, she had been freed from the psychological trauma associated with her father’s sacrilegious act.

 Crime Alert gathered that Janet’s tale of woe started after her mother abandoned her barely when she was two-year-old for her paternal grandmother. It was gathered that her mother who was then a Junior Secondary 3 student, was impregnated by Wale who was 32 years old. Initially, he reportedly denied paternity of the pregnancy but later opted for an abortion on the ground that he could not afford to father a child then because he was only an apprentice.

 But his mother came to the rescue as she offered to take care of the baby who turned out to be Janet. But when she was 12, her father, reportedly took her from her grandmother, with a promise to give her a better education. Rather than live up to his promise, her father, allegedly use her to satisfy his sexual urge, a practice that went on until he was arrested.

Narrating how it all started, Janet in her sitting position with her head bowed all through, said: “When I was leaving my grandmother’s house, I was happy because my father said I would be attending a better school. But I waited for months without being enrolled in any school. “One night, then, I was 12,my dad called me into his room and told me he took an oat with my mother to be the first man to have sex with me. He said it had a spiritual connotation and that it was to enable him assume his proper financial state. “Then, I was too young to understand what he meant. He had carnal knowledge of me that night. At a point, he asked if it was painful. All I did was to watch him have his way, still unable to understand what he was doing.”

First pregnancy aborted by a herbalist

“It continued until I was 14 years. Then, I started having a funny feeling. I told him I was sick and when we conducted a pregnancy test, it was positive. Next day, he told me we were going somewhere and we ended up in the home of a herbalist in Ikorodu, who gave me some concoction. I drank some in his apartment and took the rest home.

After two days, my menstruation started and my father assured me all was well.

He only gave me a week’s break before he continued all over again. Two years later, when I was 16 years, I got sick again. When I informed daddy, we went for another pregnancy test which confirmed my fear; I was pregnant again!

 When he returned next day from his shop, he told me there was no need to go to the herbalist. Rather he gave me two sachets of Alabukun and squeezed some lime juice into a cup, asking me to take it in a gulp. It did the magic and the menstrual flow started few days later.” “After the second abortion, I became tired of the whole thing. I started being afraid every night. At times, I would put tissue paper under my panties , pretending I was witnessing my monthly flow. After a while, he got the trick, for he started taking note of the date.

 Challenges father

 “I summoned courage and reported the sacrilegious act to our neighbors. But none of them could confront him. Rather they told me they could not interfere into our family affair” , she stated, with her head still bent. Apparently discouraged by the cold reaction from the neighbors, Janet decided to take the bull by the horn. Looking straight into his father’s eyes for the very first time since the sacrilegious act started, she told her father she was tired of the whole thing.

To make do her threat, she reportedly rushed to the kitchen, grabbed a knife and threatened to stab him if he attempted to force her. “This happened on November 28, 2012. My father had come home from his shop . And at about 6pm, he called me inside to warm his bed.

But when he saw the knife, he retraced his steps. I quickly ran inside my room , with the knife in my hand and packed my things out of the house, to stay with a friend whose family welcomed me after I narrated all that has been going on in the past five years.” “After spending three weeks with them, I received a text message from my father, asking me to come home, or I would die.

 When I showed the text message to the family I was putting up with, they suggested I reported the case to the police. I hesitated at first because I was scared he would be jailed. “But I changed my mind when the text message threat continued”, she said.

 I did that to appease the gods – father 

When approached, it was obvious that 49-year-old Wale Akinusi, a fashion designer who hails from Ondo central in Ondo state was oblivious of the legal implication of the offense, as he showed no sign of remorse.

 He bluntly told this reporter that what he did was not new under the sun, adding that this would not be the first time such story would be published on the pages of newspapers. “It is not a new thing that a man has sex with his daughter and even if I am jailed at the end, I will surely come out after serving my jail term. But I promise that my daughter will join me” he threatened, dismissing the issue with a wave of the hand. Continuing, he said: “I went back to claim my child so as to fulfill the oat made between her mother and I.

That was why I took her to the herbalist when she was pregnant, so as to appease the gods of her mother’s land. You will not understand. “You see, when her mother was six months pregnant, we made love. She later told me that it was a taboo for a man to sleep with a pregnant woman in her place. She said the only remedy was for the man to be the first person to sleep with the child.

 “I initially did not want to do it. But along the line, I discovered that things were not going on well with me financially. And when I made inquiry, I was made to understand that I had to appease the god’s of her mother’s land, so as to attain my rightful place in destiny.” Asked why he continued after the first time, he kept mute. Also asked why he did not satisfy his sexual urge on his wife who has had four children for him, he explained that they were leaving apart.

 “My wife lives in Ketu with the children while I live in Ojo. I had to live apart because I do not want my wife and children to suffer the consequences of my sin. Also I did not want my wife to know I was sleeping with my own daughter”, he said.

Meanwhile, effort according to sources at the Human Rights department, was on to arrest the herbalist who allegedly gave Janet the concoction that aborted her first pregnancy,while her father would be charged to court.

FG to acquire 30 aircraft, plans reduction in air fares

General Manager, Corporate Communications, Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Mr Dati Yakubu, stated this in Benin City, Edo State, yesterday, after assessment of on-going reconstruction work at the Benin Airport on Wednesday.

“The Federal Government is making plans to bring in 30 aeroplanes to assist local airlines. We believe eventually that we will have cheaper tickets and by the time we have cheaper tickets, there will be high traffic because if you cut down the cost of doing business, the person doing it will not have any option but to reduce the cost of running. We believe that one hour flight in Nigeria should not cost more than N10,000 to N15,000 and the whole idea is to make business cheaper and easier to operate, so that the beneficiaries would be the passenger. “

On the issue of abandoned aircraft across many airports in the country, he said, “we have given
 ultimatum to owners of abandoned aircrafts to remove them because they constitute menace to our airspace and airports. They are danger to the flying public because there may be places where these birds could hide.”

Ben Murray Bruce named chairman of FRCN

The Secretary to the Government, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim made the announcement yesterday  that the Chairman of Silverbird Group and former Director-General of the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), Mr Ben Murray Bruce, is the chairman of the board of directors of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN).

 Other board members are: Funke Egbemode, Bola Doherty, Farouk Dalhatu, J. N. Chinedu, Hajia Hauwa Kida, Chief Elvis Agukwe, and Abubakar Sarkin Fawa Damboh.