The Osun State command of the Nigeria Police Force has arrested an Imam from the Aranka community in Ede, for allegedly taking sexual advantage of his neighbour’s 8-year-old daughter.
Naijaonpoint learnt that the community was thrown into chaos when the mother of the victim raised an alarm after discovering the Imam, known only as Kadiri, in the act on Saturday afternoon.
Reports indicate that the victim’s mother became concerned after sending her daughter on an errand and noticing that she was taking an unusually long time to return home, prompting her to search for the child.
Vanguard quoted an eyewitness, Arike Adisa, who is a student at the Federal Polytechnic in Ede, as having revealed that the mother’s cries drew attention from nearby residents in the Babasanya area, where she was seen holding onto the elderly suspect.
“She actually caught the man named Abdulkareem Kadiri, an Imam in a mosque around the area. The mother said her daughter was crying and was bleeding from her private part,” Adisa disclosed.
Adisa narrated further, “Some persons attempted to let the suspect get away, but angry residents resisted it. The victim was taken to Babasanya Hospital for appropriate medical tests.
“Because of the tension around the hospital, operatives of Amotekun were invited to arrest the suspect before he was later handed over to the police at ‘B’ Division, Ede.”
The media platform claimed to have obtained a video of the Imam confessing at the police station that he had canal knowledge of the girl.
“I know her parents; we lived in the same compound. I sent her to help me buy groundnuts, and when she returned, I defiled her,” the suspect reportedly admitted.
Additionally, Osun Police Command spokesperson, Abiodun Ojelabi, confirmed the incident in a statement.