Law & Crime

Woman Raises Alarm as Community Persecute Sister Over FGM

Published

3 years ago

September 15, 2022

By our correspondent

By woman, has raised alarm over the persecution of her sister Mrs. Sarah Oluwakemi Amawu-Charles on her stance against the circumcision of her twin daughters by Evbuobonosa community in Orhionwon Local government area of Edo state,

Speaking with our Correspondent on phone, Mrs. Olaiya Olutimenyi lamented how the community has caused the family of Mrs. Amawu-Charles untold hardship as she resists compliance with the act of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) which is a common rite of passage for female children in the community.

According to her, the search for safety has caused her sister to flee and stay away from the community with her daughters and a son for a safe haven thereby causing a separation and anguish for the entire family.

Narrating the ordeal facing her sister, she said that at the birth of the twins, it was expected by tradition that the two girls must be circumcised but the mother in agreement with the husband refused to bow to the traditional rite of passage which they considered to be a health hazard for girls.

“Although the family had a reprieve for a while, the community was relentless in their demand and when the girls turned ten, the pressure became unbearable for the family and they had to flee and stay away to save their lives.” Mrs. Olutimenyi said.

Continuing, Mrs. Olutimenyi said that their family is experiencing severe challenges of living happily as one because of the stress caused by the separation of members.

Explaining that it is difficult for her to understand why such a barbaric, inhuman and harmful traditional practices are still promoted, Mrs. Olutimenyi said she feels that so many traditional institutions are not listening to the campaign to stop FGM.

Emphasisng that she is speaking in pains of someone who is experiencing the hazards of separation, she said she is calling for help from all who can offer it to ensure that the family can know the peace it has hitherto enjoyed.

“I know that a lot of communities find the transition from old practices very difficult. I can see that there is more work to be done in seeing to the safety of the girl child in this community where the belief of Mrs. Amawu-Charles has made her to be considered a strange woman and her life being endangered. But I am confident that there will come a time when this belief in FGM will become an issue in the dustbin of culture.

Then girls and their families who opposed the practice will find peace to live together.” She said.

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Law & Crime

Court sentences killers of Ogun couple, son, to death by hanging

Published

2 months ago

February 4, 2025

The Gleamer

The Ogun State High Court in Abeokuta on Monday sentenced three persons to death for killing a couple, Kehinde and Bukola Fatinoye and their son, Oreoluwa, on 1 January 2023.

Trial judge Basirat Adebowale sentenced the trio – Lekan Adekanbi, was the family’s driver, Odetola Ahmed and Adeniyi Waheed – in a judgement which lasted for more than three hours, DailyPost reports.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the defendants were charged with 24 counts of armed robbery, armed robbery, conspiracy to murder, murder, arson, escape from lawful custody, perverting the course of justice and receiving stolen property, among others.

Gruesome murder

The assailants reportedly trailed Mr Fatinoye, a former employee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and his wife, Bukola, alongside their son, Oreoluwa, as they were returning home from the 2022/2023 crossover service at the Christ Anglican Church Iporo-Ake, Abeokuta.

The couple who lived at Oba Karunwi Road, a street behind former Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s residence, in Ibara GRA, Abeokuta, at about 1:30 a.m. were robbed, gruesomely murdered and their house set ablaze.

The assailants reportedly tied their son, Oreoluwa, and adopted son, Felix, with ropes and threw them into a river along Adigbe-Obada Road.

Penalties

Delivering judgement on Monday, the judge held that the prosecution proved its cases against the three defendants beyond reasonable doubt.

She found the three principal defendants guilty of murder.

The judge held that the convicts did not deserve mercy, as their lawyers had requested, because of the way they killed the couple and their son.

She convicted them of counts one to nine, handing them death by hanging or lethal injection, life imprisonment with hard labour, 14 years imprisonment among others for the various offences.

“The sentence of this court on Adekambi Lekan in respect of count II is that you be hanged by neck until you’re dead or by lethal injection.

“May God have mercy on your soul,” the court held.

The judge also convicted Ms Fadairo, the wife of Mr Adekanbi, to two years imprisonment for perverting the course of justice by hiding her husband.

Meanwhile, Mr Adekanbi’s mother, Adenike, was also sentenced to one year imprisonment for making false statements to police officers.

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