A grandmother, identified only as Mrs Otabor has fled her home in Ogiemwenken street, Upper Uwa quarter in Benin over illegal abortion procedure in conivance with a ‘local nurse’ for her grand daughter who was allegedly raped and impregnated by a self-proclaimed Prophet.
But the husband of the Sexagenarian, Mr Jeremiah Otabor, pledged full cooperation towards the Prosecution of the arrested the 70-year-old suspect, Prophet Paul Lawani behind the alleged rape of a 15-year-old girl he allegedly defiled and impregnated in his church in August 2024.
Narrating her ordeal, the raped victim alleged that sexually abused in his church by Lawani when she returned from the errand he sent her, and thereafter forced her to take oath of secrecy under the threat of death at the church altar not to tell anyone.
But the courageous raped victim said she later confided in her grandmother, who’s also her guardian who noticed that she started manifesting pregnancy symptoms in her body, making her to open up.
Consequently, the victim’s grandmother invited a local nurse, who ran a pregnancy test on the victim’s body and discovered that she was two months pregnant, and aborted the pregnancy, yet concealed the crime.
Worried by the trauma associated with continuously conceal the illicit act, the victim stated that she eventually opened up to one of her neighbours who alerted police authorities that arrested Prophet Lawani who admitted to knowing the victim in the neighbourhood, but didn’t give details about the illicit act that occurred in his church located on Iyeide street via Ogiemwenken street.
The dark skill colour rape victim said, “when I got to his church office, he forced me to remove my pant. When I shouted, nobody came. After doing it with me.
“He (Lawani) took me to his altar and swear that I will die if I tell anyone what happened. My mother called me one day and checked and brought a nurse who said I was two months pregnant”, according to the victim who underwent medical screening
The grandfather of the victim said, “I am aware of the incident. He (Lawani) is a criminal, but I don’t want to cause any problem”.
Spokesman of the Nigeria Police Command in Edo State, CSP Moses Yamu, confirmed the arrest of Lawani in connection to the incident, saying, “investigations and ongoing to truly unravel the circumstances surrounding the case”.
“The case has been reported to us (police). The Command’s family Unit is currently investigating the case”, he said, “as soon as the investigation is concluded, we will let members of the public know the outcome of that investigation”, according to CSP Yamu.
In the meantime, the incident has also drawn the attention of Edesili Okpebholo-Anani, the Coordinator of the Office of the Edo State First Lady, has accordingly offered logistics support towards investigation of the crime and assured the culprits are not spared.
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