The Commissioner of Police (CP) for the Akwa Ibom State Command, Mr. Olatoye Durosinmi, has advised parents to be cautious about whom they employ as tutors or caregivers for their underage or teenage children. He warned that such endeavours aimed at shaping the young ones could potentially harm their well-being and future.
The police chief issued the warning over the weekend while parading a paedophile member of the Nigerian Youths Service Corps (NYSC), who was arrested and held alongside other criminal suspects at the state headquarters in Ikot Akpanabia, near Uyo, the state capital.
The NYSC member was detained for the crime of defiling a three-year-old child, who was placed in his care by his parents for educational purposes.
CP Durosinmi urged that the suspect’s identity remain anonymous as he is expected to appear in court soon. He cautioned criminal elements to reform their ways or face the full force of the law.
“Parents should hire male teachers for their male children, while female teachers should teach the female children,” Durosinmi warned. He expressed bewilderment at what could attract any adult, let alone a Corps member who is well-educated and mentally sound, to engage in such a heinous act with a three-year-old child.
The suspect, who admitted to the crime during interactions with LEADERSHIP, attributed his actions to the influence of the devil. He pleaded for forgiveness and a chance to amend his ways.
The CP said that others paraded alongside the suspect were apprehended across the 31 Local Government Areas for various offenses such as oil theft, armed robbery, kidnapping, rape, and other violent crimes recorded in the last quarter of 2023.
“During the last quarter of the year, a total of 562 suspects were arrested for various offenses, including murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, rape, and theft. While some suspects have faced court charges, others have been granted bail or are still under investigation,” he explained.
The CP expressed concern about the rising incidents of rape, even in religious institutions. He cited the case of Pastor Solomon Ufot Oton, from Mount Zion LightHouse Church in Oruko village, Urueoffong Oruko LGA, who abducted a 16-year-old teenager named Eunice Kingsley Okpo. The pastor reportedly kept her captive for three days, leading to her pregnancy after he had sexual relations with her. The girl became paralyzed due to complications from an abortion attempt performed by the suspect. The incident was confirmed through the cleric’s confession.
Another individual, Daniel Francis Ukpong, from Ikot Akpaden village in Mkpat Enin LGA, was arrested for luring Mary Gabriel Udo from Essien Udim LGA to Harmony Hotel in Eket LGA. There, he forcefully took her phone, sexually assaulted her, and demanded a ransom of N5 million from her parents via text messages. After the parents paid N140,000 through Mary’s account, the suspect was apprehended by operatives of the Anti-Cultism Unit (ACU) and has confessed to the crime. Further investigations will precede the court charges, as assured by the CP, who emphasized the readiness of the state’s security personnel, bolstered by the recent delivery of 14 gunboats by Governor Umo Eno and other morale-boosting incentives, to cleanse the state and its waterways of criminal elements.
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