Family seeks justice for lady allegedly raped by cleric

T The family of a lady (name undisclosed) has petitioned the Ijebu Ode Area Command of the Ogun State Police Command to demand justice for an alleged multiple rape incident involving one Pastor Samuel Ajinde in the Igbeba area of the state.

According to the petition made available to PUNCH Metro on Thursday, the lady had accused Ajinde of multiple rapes and abortions allegedly carried out on her by the pastor at his private hospital.

The lady narrated that the incident began when her mum directed her to meet with Ajinde, who was also her pastor, sometime in 2020 over a back pain she was experiencing at the time. She said that upon her visit to Ajinde’s office, the cleric carried out some checks on her and in the process had sexual intercourse with her.

She explained further that the cleric allegedly threatened her not to inform her mother and if she did, he would kill her.

According to the victim, the sexual assault persisted leading to several pregnancies which were allegedly aborted by the cleric.

The petition read, “Sometime in 2020, I went to Samuel’s office for a medical check-up. I was 18 years as of the time. Samuel is a doctor and also our spiritual father, he owned a church at Awokoya. I was having back pains and Samuel asked me to come for a check-up, which I did.

“He asked me to lie down and started pressing my body and eventually had canal knowledge of me. He asked me not to tell my mother that the Holy Spirit told him that by sleeping with me all the back pains would go away.

“He had been sleeping with me since then, and he has aborted seven pregnancies for me by himself.”

She continued that the issue became messy in 2023 when she became pregnant with Ajinde and he insisted that she aborted the pregnancy which she refused and delivered of a boy.

The lady alleged that the cleric had since resorted to threatening to kill her and her baby which prompted her to seek justice.

“In July 2023, I was pregnant again and he asked me to abort it. I refused and kept the pregnancy and eventually had a baby boy for him. He has been threatening to kill me and my son and also threatening to kill my mother.

“He also asked some of his church members to defame me by posting my son and my picture on TikTok. I have tried to commit suicide several times. I was also a virgin when I met him. Sir, I want you to use your good offices to intervene in this matter,” the petition noted.

Also speaking with our correspondent, the victim’s sister, Tomiwa Adeboye, said every effort made by the family to ensure that the cleric took responsibility for his actions proved abortive, alleging that the cleric had rather resorted to threats and blackmail.

She urged the police to ensure justice is served.

“I am speaking on behalf of the family to demand justice for my sister. We have tried our best to ensure that the pastor takes responsibility for his action but he has refused and he is threatening us.”

When our correspondent reached out to Ajinde in a telephone conversation on Thursday, he declined to comment and rather said, “Why are you calling for such a stupid accusation? You don’t have to call me.”

The spokesperson for the state Police Command, Omolola Odutola, told our correspondent that she was not aware of the incident when contacted for a reaction.

“I don’t know anything about this,” Odutola said in a telephone conversation.