In a situation where most indigent young ladies would offer their bodies for money to make ends meet, 22-year-old Opeyemi Ilesanmi has successfully resisted the temptation to tread such a ruinous path, even at the risk of losing her life.
Despite being forced by her older siblings to take up jobs as a housemaid due to the poor financial condition of her aged mother, she has been able to bluff her way past the machinations of some men, who attempted to lure her into sleeping with them while she served in their households.
Several times, she narrowly escaped being raped by the skin of her teeth by the husbands of her mistresses and their other male relations. Opeyemi was not fascinated by financial inducements dangled before her by some of the men bent on taking her to bed. Others resorted to threats to kill her for her audacity to refuse to have sexual relationship with them.
The attempted rape came to a head on April 1, 2015, around 10:00pm, when I suddenly saw Olawale, who was holding a knife, approach me. He threatened to kill me if I refused to allow him to make love to me. It was a horrifying and distressing night as I had to struggle with him until I was able to lock myself in a toilet till the next morning
How it all began
Opeyemi’s ordeal actually began after she lost her father in 2011.
Her father, Babalola Ilesanmi, died when Opeyemi was just 15 years old, halting her aspiration to acquire quality education. Her dream was shattered as none of her relations, including her older siblings, was ready to sponsor her education. Her mother, Beatrice Ilesanmi, was also then suffering dire financial constraints.
Due to the prevailing situation, Opeyemi, a native of Omuo-Ekiti in Omuo Local Government Area of Ekiti State, couldn’t complete her secondary school education.
But because of her resolve not to give up on her academic pursuit, she was constrained to engage in menial jobs while she was with her mother in Ekiti to enable her to finish her secondary education. All attempts to convince her older siblings to assist her in raising money for her Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations proved abortive.
When one of her elder sisters, Mrs. Folasade Ogunmola, who lives in Ilesa, Osun State, eventually asked her to come over, Opeyemi heaved a sigh of relief, hoping she had found a sponsor for her education. But she was wrong!
Her sister allegedly only introduced Opeyemi, who was still a teenager, to child labour. Against her wish, she was sent to work as a housemaid in a couple’s house in Osogbo.
After her initial protest generated several persuasions, Opeyemi was left with no other choice than to accede to the decision of her sister and her husband, Mr. Ogunmola, a resident pastor with Christ Apostolic Church, Igando, Ilesa East Local Government Area of Osun State, that she should take up the job to enable her to raise enough money to pay the fees for her Senior School Certificate Examination and Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
Recounting her experience
Explaining her ordeal, Opeyemi said, “My sister and her husband eventually succeeded in taking me to one Mrs. Aipete, a public servant with the Ministry of Tourism and Culture in Osogbo, who lives at Agunbelewo area of Osogbo. She said she would be paying me N5,000 monthly and my sister agreed. Whenever my mistress had gone to work, her husband would sexually harass and assault me. He had attempted to force me to bed several times and God helped me to escape, after so much struggle. Whenever I told my mistress, she would only tell me she had heard. I reported the incident to my sister, too, but she did not take any action.
“While my mistress was frustrating me, her husband kept making sexual advances to me. After spending six months with them, I couldn’t bear it any more. I ran out of the house to my sister’s place in Ilesa. I told my sister I was not going to return to my mistress again. After a few days, my sister got me another mistress in Ilesa and took me there. My experience at Madam Oladele Omobola’s place was more terrible. My mistress’ grandson, Olaye Olawale, violently attempted to rape me. My efforts to stop this sexual assaults did not yield desired fruits as my mistress did not see anything bad in her grandson, who was 14 years older than me, trying to force me to bed.
The last straw
“The attempted rape came to a head on April 1, 2015, around 10:00pm, when I suddenly saw Olawale, who was holding a knife, approach me. He threatened to kill me if I refused to allow him to make love to me. It was a horrifying and distressing night as I had to struggle with him until I was able to lock myself in a toilet till the next morning. Again, I ran out of the house to my sister’s place and instead of empathising with me, my sister was rebuking me for leaving my mistress.”
Good Samaritan to the rescue
Not long after, mother luck smiled on her.
While she was undergoing the ordeal, Opeyemi had enrolled in a tutorial class – Dallas Continuing Education Centre, Ilaje, Ilesa – in preparation for her examinations.
She disclosed that the owner of the tutorial centre she was attending, Akintunde Adebayo, assisted in rescuing her from the child labour she was allegedly forced into by the members of her nuclear family.
With Adebayo’s financial assistance, Opeyemi sat for her SSCE and UTME and passed. She gained admission to study Biology Education under the University of Ibadan Degree programme run on the campus of the Osun State College of Education, Ilesa.
When contacted, Adebayo, who is also a civil rights crusader with the Committee for Democracy and Rights of the People, corroborated Opeyemi’s claims, alleging that she was evicted from her sister’s place and there was no one to cater for her because she ran away from her mistress’ house.
He said, “I facilitated the rescue of Opeyemi Ilesanmi from child labour, the trafficking and slavery that she was being subjected to by members of her nuclear family; it was a traumatic situation, which would have cost her (Opeyemi) her future well-being and morality. To check this ugly situation, I eventually referred Opeyemi’s case to our organisation on September 2, 2015, having struggled to establish some facts and figures through rigorous investigations, and consultations with members of her family.
“It was a period of strong resistance from family members, criticism from friends, discouragement, fear and intimidation, even from her attempted defilers. Having sought legal backing by writing a petition to the Area Commander’s office, Ilesa A Division, through our human rights lawyer, Abdulfatah Liberty, and with Opeyemi’s consent, I approached our organisation for financial aid, because she (Opeyemi) had already been evicted from home and no longer catered for. Then, she became a burden, but I compassionately decided to take up the financing of her education by denying myself and my family basic things of life.”
Adebayo, with other financial support from organisations, churches and individuals in the state, has been able to sponsor Opeyemi’s tertiary education up to the second year.
The human rights activist, however, appealed to well-meaning Nigerians to come to Opeyemi’s aid to ensure that she realised her dream of acquiring quality education.
Victim appeals to Osun govt, others for support
Opeyemi also solicited the financial assistance of the Osun State Government to complete her education.
The CDRP, through Adebayo, has, however, opened a Trust and Dedicated account for donations and contributions towards Opeyemi’s education through this account: Ilesanmi Opeyemi, 0169910072, GTBank Plc.
