NIGERIA
allAfrica
Vanguard
BY ESTHER ONYEGBULA, 2 MARCH 2014
The peace of Akute, Ogun State was disrupted by aggrieved non-governmental organizations, NGOs, and women protesting the relocation of an orphanage allegedly being run by a pastor standing trial on a four-count charge of sexual abuse.
The protesters, led by Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, Executive Director, Project Alert, and Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, founder, Women Arise, were, mostly, lawyers, child right and women activists. They stormed Akute-Ijoko Road at about 12 noon displaying placards with inscriptions: “Say no to child abuse”, “This pastor is a pedophile”, “Orphanage or child abuse center”, “Justice for sexually-abused children”, among others. The protesters lamented that the founder of the orphanage had gone ahead to relocate it when he had not been cleared of the case of sexual abuse hanging on his head.
The protest was prompted by a text message about the relocation of the orphanage allegedly sent by the pastor. The text message read: “RELOCATION OF ORPHANAGE – Beloved, come rejoice with us as we celebrate God’s faithfulness in thanksgiving and dedication of the new place God appointed us at Akute-Ijoko Road on Saturday February 22, 2014, at 11am. Please pray and plan to attend. God bless you.”
The protesters alleged that the orphanage is a killer and “the people of this vicinity must know because we can’t keep allowing these abuses to go on”. They went on: “This place must be closed down. We will not keep quiet and allow a pedophile to truncate the future of our children.
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