Five students from Ejioku Community Grammar School in Oyo State have been arrested regarding their alleged involvement in the ambush and rape of female students from another school.
Arrested by the Amotekun Corps, these boys, aged 16 to 17, are implicated in a disturbing pattern of sexual violence that reportedly permeates their community.
The culprits involved were identified as Mayowa, 17; Joshua, 16; Seun, 17; Sunday, 16 and Basit, 17 (surnames withheld). Two of them, Seun and Sunday, are from the same mother but different fathers.
Victims include a 14-year-old girl who was assaulted after attempts to penetrate her failed.
According to a source who spoke to Nigerian Tribune, despite warnings from school authorities, the culture of violence persists.
One suspect allegedly used his motorcycle to chase the victims into a secluded area for the attack, while another recorded the assault.
The case has drawn attention, but family reluctance to pursue justice complicates matters further.
The case drew the attention of Barrister Modupe Aderemi, who engaged with one of the traumatized victims, a girl whose hymen was violently broken.
During their conversation, the girl recounted her harrowing experience.
Alarmingly, it was reported that her paternal relatives swiftly relocated her from Ibadan to a nearby town, seemingly to suppress the case.
In a disturbing twist, one of the alleged perpetrators recorded a video of the assault, capturing the victim’s pleas for mercy as she was restrained and threatened.
In an interview Mayowa had with Nigerian Tribune, he said: “What happened was that we had finished our exams, and when that happens, students usually go to other schools around them to play with fellow students.
“Some female students came to our school on Thursday, December 5. Four of the female students got near our school’s field and we went to them. Our Principal and teachers were in their offices while we were on the field.
“One of us, Basit, knew one of the girls. We deceived them into believing that other students were playing on the school farm, volunteering to take them there. Usually, we used to play on the farm, with colleagues, tying ropes on two close trees and swinging on them.
“The girls followed us, but we had the motive of sleeping with them. On getting there, we told them that we wanted to have s3xual relationship with them. We picked them one by one and took them to different spots on the farm, laid them on their backs on the grass and raped them.
“I didn’t know what others were doing at their own corners. When the girl with me didn’t want to yield, I told her that another boy would pick her if she tried to run away, asking her to do the ‘normal’ with me. I asked her to remove her underwear and mounted her. It was difficult penetrating her because of her virginity, so I just ejaculated at the entry and got up.
“One of us, Joshua, decided to go for her also but also didn’t achieve penetration. Another boy wanted to do same but I refused him. He was the one who started recording me and the girl during the sex session. Basit came and wanted to do his own but I told him the girl was a virgin. That was when he used his finger to break her hymen by poking her.
“This is my second time. I did the first one with a girl in my neighbourhood. She was my girlfriend. I started dating her a year ago. I told her that I wanted to sleep with her and she gave me a date. We did it on the date she gave me.”