An Anglican Church seminarian in Anambra State allegedly raped a 10-year-old girl in the state.
The suspect, Chukwudi Okoye, 34, allegedly raped the girl in Amanuke, a community in Awka North Local Government Area of the state.
Chidimma Ikeanyionwu, Press Assistant to the State Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.
Ms Ikeanyionwu said the suspect allegedly raped the survivor in July, but the incident was reported to Ms Obinabo in August.
The press aide said the commissioner, through her ministry, arrested the suspect.
The suspect speaks
A video showing the suspect speaking about the incident was posted on the commissioner's Facebook page on Tuesday.
In the clip, Mr Okoye, who hails from Enugu Agidi in the Njikoka council area of the state, initially claimed that he had only “touched” the survivor.
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The suspect claimed he asked the survivor and her friend to wash some dishes when they visited him at his Amanuke residence.
She further claimed that the survivor, after her colleague left, later came and lay on her bed before he removed her clothes and “touched” her.
But when told that the survivor had said he had raped her, he replied in Igbo: “I touched her with my fingers and then I put my penis between her legs, but I did not penetrate her because she is small.”
Mr Okoye apologized and said what happened was “the work of the devil.”
What the survivor said
The survivor (name withheld), according to the statement, said the suspect raped her at her graduation ceremony when he called her and her friend to come wash his dishes.
After finishing washing the dishes, the suspect said goodbye to his friend but asked her to stay and play with him.
According to her, the suspect then took her to the bed, removed her clothes and raped her.
The survivor said she did not tell anyone about the incident immediately because the suspect had seriously threatened to deal with her if she told anyone.
Ms Ikeanyionwu quoted the survivor's grandmother as saying she learned of the incident after her granddaughter became seriously ill about a week later.
She said she took her granddaughter to the suspect's home after being informed of what happened.
Suspect handed over to police
Ms Ikeanyionwu said the suspect has already been handed over to the police for further investigation.
He said the suspect will be charged once the investigation is completed.
Banned in Nigeria
In 2015, Nigeria enacted the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act, which outlawed all forms of violence against women and girls, including rape, female circumcision and forced removal.
Offenders, if convicted, face life imprisonment or a maximum of 14 years in prison, depending on the age of the offender and the type of violence committed.
Several people have been convicted by various courts for rape.
In July 2022, an Ado-Ekiti High Court sentenced a 49-year-old man, Dele Adeyanju, to four years in prison for raping an 11-year-old girl.
In 2017, a Bauchi High Court sentenced two middle-aged men to life in prison for raping a 40-year-old woman and gouging out her eyes.