CHILD ABUSE: (Photos) Why Govt Took 12-Year-Old Girl Into Custody

The Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA) has taken a 12- year -old girl Kafayat, who was allegedly beaten with a barbed wire by her father into government’s custody.

It was reported last week that Kafayat’s father, Mr. Kazeem allegedly beat her and left her in critical condition after she
stopped him from beating her mother over lotto game.
Kafayat, a Junior Secondary School 1 student with the Canal secondary school at Orile area of Lagos state would have died from the wound she sustained after her father flogged her but for the intervention of vigilante members who found her writhing in pain at the dead of the night at Oyingbo market at Ebute- Metta after she ran away from home.

Kafayat receiving treatment

It was learnt that workers from WAPA learnt about Kafayat’s plight after the Vigilante Group at Ebute Metta led by Mr. Musbau Agbodemu took the girl’s case to the government after their efforts to get the police to look into the matter was not successful.
When our correspondent contacted one of the women from WAPA who took Kayafat away, though she declined to give her name but she confirmed that Kafayat was in their custody.
She said: “I cannot give you my names but I can tell you that Kafayat is in our custody. I cannot tell you more on this because I am a civil servant and I am not authorized to speak to the press.”
Narrating how she incurred the wrath of her father, Kafayat said: “I live with my parents at 4 KUFORIJI STREET ORILE, LAGOS STATE. On July 7th, I ran away from home after receiving severe beating from my father. My offence was that I tried to stop him from beating my mother. My father accused my mother of using his hard earned money to play lotto game and he descended on her with anything he could lay his hands on.

“My father alleged my mother loves patronizing lotto game and he beat her up   mercilessly and broke her   knees. Despite my mother’s cry for help, none of our neighbours came to her rescue because they are afraid of my father. I could not bear the beating anymore and I begged my father to stop beating my mother. He became furious and pounced on me.
“This is not the first time my father will beat my mother and I. I have lost count of his endless beating. One occasion, I begged my mother to relocate four of us her children to Ilorin so we can stay away from our father due to his constant beating. I am the first child but my mother said my father will change but he has gotten worse by the day. My mother is presently on admission at the Charity Hospital at Orile following the beating my father gave her. I could not stand his beating anymore and I ran away from home to meet one of my mother’s friends at Oyingbo market but I did not meet her when I got to the market. I was in great pains and I decided to sleep in the market because I do not want to go back to my father’s house. It was while I was sleeping at the market that some vigilante men came and rescued me. I told them my plight and they took me to the hospital where I am presently receiving treatment.”
Agbodemu Musbau, the secretary of the Vigilante group of Nigeria at Ebutte Metta stated that the vigilante men on night patrol at Oyingbo market on July 9, found the girl groaning in pains and rescued her.