70-yr-old ex-soldier rapes little girl who is now pregnant

The victim in a report by Vanguard News revealed that her tormentor who also threatened to kill her if she divulged details of their activities acknowledged that he deflowered her.

It was further confirmed that the former military person also known as 'Papa Soldier' gave her a higher N200 denomination in a subsequent meeting.

He interchanged between these values according to the teenager who insisted that she didn't not resist the septuagenarian because of the money but due to a fear for her life. All these began when she was sent by her sister to Papa Soldier's house to collect some compact discs. A day she will forever remember in horror.

“Sometime last year or thereabout, my sister sent me to Papa Soldier’s (Papa Soldier) house to collect some compact discs for her.

“The man was sitting in front of his house when I got there. He said the CD was inside on the table. As I went inside, he tiptoed in after me and hurriedly locked the door when I had entered. He removed my clothes, underwear and forced himself on me.

“I tried to shout, but he blocked my mouth and threatened to kill me. After he was through, I saw some whitish substance on me. It was then he told me he had deflowered me and that I should not tell anybody about it.

“Since then he has been having sex with me and each time he would warn me and even threaten to kill me.

“At times, he will give me N100 or N200. The day he deflowered me, he gave me N100. I was not enticed by money; it was his constant threats that frightened me.

“I could not tell anyone because I didn’t want to die. I just finished JSS 1. I had not started menstruation when he first forced me. It was after that encounter I started seeing my period," she narrated.

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Thanks to a woman who lives in her neighbourhood who noticed that the physical changes in her was suggestive of pregnancy, the girl's father who was quite distraught upon learning that his child was sexually abused, has informed the police who now have the suspect into custody at Mokola Police Station.

According to the neighbour who spoke anonymously, Papa Soldier has been transferred to the state police's Criminal Investigation Department.

Trusted people are mostly the rape culprits

Several cases of rapes against minors were perpetrated by those close to the family of the victims who are slow to suspect due to trust. Other times it is often based on the naivety of the abused.

A police officer in Anambra State, Corporal Barau Garba offers a good example.

The security agent reportedly abducted a 14-year-old girl who he turned into a sex slave. According to a human rights activist and journalist, Comrade Alhassan Haruna Dambatta, the officer accosted the girl who lost the money given to her for an errand that took her to the city of Onitsha from Asaba, Delta State.

Garba reportedly promised to take the teenager who was of northern heritage to her parents but that never happened until the child reached out to them over the phone.

Perhaps, there is a relationship between the high rate of rape in Nigeria and the way women are perceived in the society.

Numerous tribal cultures see folks of the female gender as objects who have limited influence in decision making. Their natural role remains domestic duties in their homes.

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This has resulted in an intense activism and discussion about feminism which promotes equal importance and opportunities for both men and women. Though one may find the latter in leadership positions which gives them power over men, it can be perceived that the traditional society has not given them a true confirmation that they truly belong at the table of men.