These clergymen rapists

IT is disconcerting that acts of criminality are not just pervasive in this country in terms of the preponderance and ubiquity of criminals in virtually every geographical location but also by reason of the diverse categories of citizens who are involved in crime. For instance, it is sadly the case that clergymen who the society regards as exemplars of strict adherence to spiritual, ethical, and moral codes are also neck deep in crimes of diverse hues. And to be sure, reckless breaches of legal and ethical boundaries by supposed clergymen cut across the three major religious faiths: Christianity, Islam, and traditional religion. Not a few of the leaders of these religions have been accused of engaging in all kinds of despicable acts, ranging from the use of human body parts for money rituals to the rape of female adults and the defilement of innocent children.

A few days ago, an Imam in Aranka community in Ede, Osun State, was arrested by the police for allegedly defiling his neighbour’s eight-year-old daughter! The Imam, identified as Abdulkareem Kadiri, was caught red-handed by the mother of the victim who had gone looking for her impressionable child whom she sent on an errand but who had unduly delayed in returning home. The woman saw her daughter crying and bleeding from her private part, and she had to raise the alarm that attracted neighbours and passersby to the scene. It was reported that some persons attempted to let the suspect get away, but angry residents resisted it. And around the hospital which the victim was taken to for appropriate medical test, tension was also reported and operatives of Amotekun had to be invited to keep the peace and arrest the suspect before he was later handed to the police. A video of the Imam where he was seen confessing at the police station that he had carnal knowledge of the girl has gone viral on social media. In the suspect’s words: “I know her parents, we live in the same compound. I sent her to help me buy groundnuts, and when she returned, I defiled her.” This is most despicable.

Similarly, last Monday, an Ikeja Special Offences Court sentenced a 45-year-old pastor, Ndukwe Ogbu, to 25 years in prison for defiling his 14-year-old daughter! He reportedly committed the offence sometime in 2019 but was not arraigned until 2021, while his conviction was secured in 2025. The charges of defilement and s3xual assault by penetration against the convict were confirmed by a High Court judge to have been proven beyond reasonable doubt by the prosecution. It is unsettling that a supposed man of God could engage in such a hideous act, but it is even more revolting that the victim, in this case, is the pervert’s underage daughter. In other words, it is a case of incest in addition to the crime of defilement. Quite a lot of criminal and morally offensive acts are taking place in the society at a most unusual frequency, and there seems to be no respite in sight.

 An Imam raped an eight-year-old daughter of his neighbour while a pastor defiled his own underage daughter! What is the society turning into? This is really saddening coming from people who are highly regarded in the society. People who claim divine aura and under whom many people learn should not conduct themselves like beasts. These clergymen usually claim to have divine authority, and since no one was there when they supposedly received such authority, nobody disputes such facts with them. On the contrary, they are taken for whom they claim to be and respected. However, many of them have repeatedly shattered the confidence that the society reposed in them, committing all manners of atrocities, sometimes, and abominably so, in the name of God. People assume that they will lead them to God and steer them towards righteous living. But no, they present a facade of pious and righteous persons in the open while in secret, they exhibit the tendencies of the vilest felons. They are truly masters of pretence. For instance, if Abdulkareem and Ndukwe had not been caught, they would still be teaching their congregants their so-called spiritual and moral lessons. In reality, what pleasure is there in having canal knowledge of an eight-year-old if not for utter depravity or other motives that are definitely ignoble? Again, how will any man who claims sanity defile his own daughter? It is good that the rapist pastor has been sentenced, but it still beggars belief that some humans engage in certain acts that bring no one, including themselves, any obvious benefits, whether transient or enduring.

The kind of depravity that made a father defile his 14-year-old daughter and another irresponsible male adult to sexually violate his neighbour’s impressionable girl of eight is certainly of the beastly variant. And both incidents speak eloquently to the abysmal level of morality and the virtual erosion of sound principles and values in the society. And perhaps more worrying is that some people who apparently approved of the Imam’s criminal and morally reprehensible conduct actually attempted to let him escape justice! The ominous implication of that brazen attempt is that there are still many sexual predators like the Imam or at least those who see nothing wrong with pedophilic acts, prowling all over the place.

 Meanwhile, we urge that Abdulkareem Kadiri and the louts who allegedly tried to shield him from justice be thoroughly investigated and sanctioned to the fullest extent of the law if found guilty. We have questioned time and again the seeming disdain by many in the society for the knowledge of the grounds and nature of rightness, wrongness, good, and evil. And we have repeatedly harped on the imperative of stakeholders taking pragmatic steps to reorientate and steer citizens on the path of decency and decorum in order to rein in bestial and beastly conduct by unscrupulous persons. Unfortunately, however, this advisory seems to have been largely ignored by the relevant stakeholders, judging by the prevailing circumstances, especially the growing distaste by many for discipline and propriety. This is exemplified by the misconduct of the two clergymen referenced above, who disappointingly turned out to be pedophiles, ‘preparing’ innocent children to grow up to become damaged adults.

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