NGO petitions CP over alleged threat by suspect
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
A police officer, Inspector Nathaniel Iliya, attached to the Nasarawa State Police Command, has been alleged of threatening those who accused him of defiling his 15-year-old niece.
Iliya, who was arrested for allegedly drugging, serially raping and impregnating his niece, reportedly took to threat after being released by the police.
The victim, simply identified as Blessing, has yet to recover fully from the alleged sexual molestation and illegal abortion which she went through in the hands of her cruel uncle and his son.
The Point reliably gathered that Iliya was released recently from the custody of the police in Lafia after securing a bail.
Upon his release, the suspect was said to have forced his niece and mother to withdraw the matter from the police.
However, a Civil Society Organisation based in Lafia, Citizens Centre for Justice, Leadership, expressed displeasure over the suspect’s release. The NGO urged the Commissioner of Police in Nasarawa, Adesina Soyemi, to re-arrest the suspect in view of the threat which he allegedly issued against members of the public.
In the petition forwarded to the Commissioner of Police, the Executive Director of the NGO, Emmanuel Kuza, asked the police to round-off investigation on the matter and take the suspect to court.
“We are disturbed and sad to discover that the suspect was released by the police last week. He (Iliya) and his son who took Blessing for the illegal abortion were going about threatening people in the neighbourhood that he will deal with people that reported him.
“They went to the house of one Adigizi, who is mentally unstable and has been sick for a long time, to also threaten him. The man said he spent over N1 million before he was released on bail so he needs a refund. When the issue attracted a crowd, he promised to deal with the family.
“There was almost a pandemonium over it. I have written a petition to the Commissioner of Police, Nasarawa Command, over this situation. The man must be returned to detention.
“He has been trying to bribe the girl’s mother to make her stay away from the case. I heard that they were made to do an affidavit of withdrawal of the case.
“The Police got enraged when they got our petition on Tuesday. They signaled the suspected rapist to report at the state CID immediately. He claimed he was sick and out of town. He sent Church elders to go and plead to the Ward Head and the family of the boy (Adigizi) that was intimidated. They heard I wrote the petition so they are looking for my number. I told them not to reveal my number because I don’t have the capacity to terminate the case.”
Effort to contact the Commissioner of Police of Nasarawa Command on the issue was not successful.
The Point had reported that Iliya travelled to Jos, Plateau State, early last year to ask Blessing’s mother to release the minor to him so as to assist his wife who had just been put to bed.
The police officer was said to have promised Blessing’s mother, a widow engaging in menial jobs to sustain herself in Gada Biyu, Jos that he would cater for the girl’s feeding, clothing and education.
Iliya was alleged to have started abusing the girl sexually a year after being brought to his home in Lafia.
The victim, who was hospitalized after her ordeals, claimed that her uncle drugged her on several occasions by putting harmful substances in soft drinks to sedate her. She said that she would wake up later to find out that she had been sexually molested.
According to Blessing, who is currently battling for survival after the fetus in her womb had been removed, she stated that her uncle threatened to kill her if she divulged the fact to her mother or any other person.
But the Citizens Centre for Justice, Leadership and Peace reported the incident to the Police following which he was arrested.
Addressing The Point correspondent, Kuza explained that on July 18, 2022, the case was reported to the Citizens Centre for Justice, Leadership and Peace by a good Nigerian who chose to be anonymous.
The Executive Director of the NGO said that he went to Bukan Sidi, behind the Lafia Township Stadium where he located the victim and counseled her.
He said that “Blessing, who is a JSS 3 student of GSS Bukan Sidi, Lafia had opened up to her teachers and fellow students on the story of her pregnancy and the identity of the perpetrator because she is close to them, but none of them knew how to help her.
“According to the victim, her uncle, by name Inspector Nathaniel Iliya, who hails from Adamawa State, went to her mother who is a widow and doing menial jobs to sustain herself in Gada Biu, Jos, Plateau State, and requested that she be released to come and live with him because his wife just put to bed through a Caesarean Session. On his part, he promised to take care of her feeding, clothing and schooling.
“After just about a year of staying with them, the uncle, who is a serving police officer, started coming home with half a bottle of soft drinks which he gives to her almost every evening. One of the times he puts a substance in the drink. After she took it, she slept off only to wake up the next morning to pains and the sight of blood in her private part and clothes, a clear sign that she was disvirgined.
“These experiences continued for some time. Later on, Mr. Nathaniel does not bother to drug her again but rapes her when she was conscious. After every experience, he threatened that if she dared leak the information, he would kill her. Before she knew it, pregnancy came. She became afraid of telling the uncle’s wife but informed the neighbours who were afraid of the uncle because he is a police officer.”
