Respite has come the way of a 12- year -old girl Kafayat who was allegedly beaten with a barbed wire by her father.
It was gathered that the Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA) has taken Kafayat into government custody.
It was exclusively reported last week that Kafayat’s father, Mr. Kazeem allegedly beat the 12 year old girl and left her in critical condition after she attempted to stop him from beating her mother over lotto game.
Kafayat a JSS 1 student of Canal Secondary School, Orile area of Lagos state would have died from the wound she sustained after her father flogged her but for the timely intervention of vigilante members who found her writhing in pain at the dead of the night around Oyingbo market in Ebute- Metta after she ran away from home following her father’s alleged beating.
It was learnt that officials WAPA took Kafayat into their custody after Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN) members at Ebute -Metta led by Mr. Musbau Agbodemu took the girl’s plight to WAPA’s office at Alausa, Ikeja.
Kafayat
Mr. Agbodimu said “Officials from WAPA came on Tuesday to take Kafayat away. She was with us at the hospital when they came to take her. We went to report her plight to the government after all our efforts to get the police to look into her plight failed”
An official from WAPA, who declined to give her name, however confirmed that Kafayat is in government custody “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”
Our correspondent however got in touch with Kayafat’s father, Mr. Kazeem and he said he beats his daughter because she inflicted injury on her younger brother.
“I am not happy with what I did to my daughter. Yes it is true that I am the one that beat her but I did not beat her with barbed wire as she claimed. I beat her with my belt because she used a pin to pierce her younger brother’s penis and the boy was wailing due to the injury. I got angry with her because that was not the first time she will misbehave. I have received several reports from her school that she stole money and I beat her so she can turn a new leaf but she is very stubborn. I was very angry that day with what she did to her brother and that rage led me to beat her with a belt. I am sorry that she ran away from home. I went to the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation to see if I can get her back but they refused to let me take her away. I am now a changed man and I will never beat my wife or any of my children again. Government can do whatever they want with me but they should not take my children away from me. It is not as if I am under the influence of alcohol or any hard drug, yes I used to take hard drugs in the past but I have stopped I only smoke cigarette. I am a good father but I beat her to instill discipline into her so she will not bring shame to the family but this time, I went too far. The one time I beat my wife was because Kafayat sowed the seed of discord between me and my wife. My wife used to play lotto game and I have warned her to stop because she was wasting our money”
Kafayat healing body
Our correspondent also spoke with Kafayat’s mother and she said “It was my husband that beat Kafayat but that day I was not at home but he told me that Kafayat used pin to pierce her brother. It was a belt he used to beat her not a barbed wire. I was mad when I saw the injury on her body but I did not know when Kafayat ran away from home. I went to the police to report that she was missing and for days we were looking for her. It is also true that my husband has beaten me in the past. It was a domestic matter and he was under stress. He is a good man but anytime he is stressed from work, he takes it out by beating the children. I learnt about Kafayat’s whereabouts after a friend read her story on Facebook and told me where to find her. My husband and I went to WAPA office at Alausa and they have warned him seriously not to beat any member of his family again. They made him to write an undertaking not to beat anybody again. The WAPA officials also said they will send people to our house to monitor my husband. I know what he did is wrong but I am appealing on his behalf that government should not jail him. It is not easy for a woman to cater for family alone”
In our last week report, Kafayat narrated how she incurred her father’s wrath. She said
“I live with my parents at 4 Kuforiji Street Orile, Lagos State. On July 7, 2015, 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 writhing in pains and rescued her.
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