Daily Independent (Lagos)
Rafiu Ajakaye
18 September 2009
Lagos — Washington has rejected the appointment of Tunde Adeniran as Nigeria's Ambassador to the United States, nearly five weeks after his son, Adedamola, was arrested in Baltimore for gang rape.
News of the rejection broke on Thursday, two months after U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, visited Abuja and pledged a tough stance against the inconsistencies of Aso Rock functionaries.
Adedamola was arrested last month alongside two other Nigerians for the offence highly loathed in civilised societies, including the U.S, where sexual immorality costs Americans their political aspirations.
The arrest was reported on August 25.
Neither Adeniran nor Foreign Ministry officials could be reached for comment on Thursday.
He was appointed to replace Oluwole Olurotimi, whose racial row with Foreign Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, ended his sojourn in the U.S.
It was learnt on Thursday night that Washington has communicated its decision to Abuja.
Aso Rock sources said the decision puts the government in a quandary, and efforts are being made to see if the U.S. Government could be persuaded to rescind it.
The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria neither confirmed nor denied the rejection story.
But what is known is that police arrested Adedamola, 20, resident in Halethorpe, and others and charged them with gang raping three women in separate incidents that took place in the parking lot of Seton Keough High School in Southwest Baltimore.
The attacks occurred two weeks apart and shared similar characteristics.
Detectives determined the attackers' identities after the most recent victim remembered the tag number on the vehicle of one of the suspects.
Charged alongside Adedamola are Anthony Oisediamen Edoror Jr., 19, and Opeyemi Adigun, 20, both of Gwynn Oak.
Police responded at 6:45 a.m. on July 27 to Mercy Hospital, where two girls said they had been raped by three unknown males, according to charging documents posted online.
The girls narrated that they were walking on Fayette Street downtown when they were approached by two men. After a conversation, the men agreed to give them a ride.
But the ride quickly turned frightening, according to court records.
The driver got onto Interstate 95 South, and when one of the girls told the driver he was going the wrong way and asked to be let out, the man in the passenger seat told her to be quiet.
He brandished a hunting-style knife and threatened to "stab her up."
The men drove them to the 1200 block of S. Caton Avenue and parked in the rear of Seton Keough High, a private, all-girls Catholic school, where a second car pulled up.
One of the girls tried to run away but was caught by the hair and thrown to the ground.
The men then took turns raping them over the course of about an hour, according to charging documents.
Afterward, the men took one girl's shorts and both girls' purses, shoes, and cell phones, and left.
The victims flagged down a driver, who called police.
Police received another report of a rape on August 8 that shared the same characteristics of the first incident.
The victim in that case, a 26-year-old woman, said she was leaving The Block and asked for a ride home from two men she had spoken with earlier.
She was picked up at North Calvert and East Fayette Streets and said the men spoke in an African dialect to each other as they drove her to Southwest Baltimore.
She was taken to an area behind the high school, where she was dragged onto a field and raped, according to court records.
She collected two of the men's condoms and took down a tag number, which police traced to Edoror. The police report indicates that at least part of the incident was captured on the school's surveillance cameras.
Edoror, who was working at a Home Depot in Baltimore County when he was taken into custody, gave a full confession and identified his accomplices as Adigun and Adedamola.
He said in the August 8 incident, the men were looking for a prostitute to have sex with without paying and that the victim willingly went with them to have sex for money.
But he also acknowledged that they raped her after refusing to pay her.
After the suspects' identities were established, the women picked all three men out of photo arrays.
The suspects were arrested on August 13 and have been ordered held without bond.
A preliminary hearing was scheduled for September 15.
According to electronic court records, only Adedamola has a prior criminal record.
He was charged in Howard County with car theft, and in Baltimore County with identity theft and fraud. Both charges were thrown out by prosecutors.
Adeniran, a native of Ekiti State, was Nigeria's Ambassador to Germany under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He has a diplomatic experience spanning decades, including membership of the Nigerian delegation to the 40th Session of the United Nations in 1985.
He was Education Minister between 1999 and 2001.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2009 Daily Independent. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
The mind boggles. Nigeria EXPECTS the US to change its mind. That just simply sums up our problem. Instead of us silently withdrawing our application when the news was discovered , (I only hope the the application predates the alleged rape) we are now surprised at the rejection of our candidate. If the father was the ambassador the son would have had legal immunity. There is no way that any civilized country would voluntarily accept a situation like this. Incredible, simply incredible!!
Why is the Yaradua led government negotiating US acceptance of Tunde Adeniran? may be, He is the only Nigerian who speaks and understand English language. I mean there are Millions of Nigerians who can do better than the father whose son is a rape expert. I am in favour of American agitation that only crime-free would visit their soil, Nigeria is capable of the same calin but cannot! the shameless Yaradua led government is trying both bureaucratic corruption and bribery instincts to force Tunde Adeniran, Why? if no one else accepts serving as Nigeria's ambassador to the United States, I am ready and willing to serve. Nigeria, dust Corrutpion off your home and you will regain your strength in the international community else the prohesy of three Nations would be quick to come because it is not every Nigerian who shares the view of political culture of Corruption!
like most people associated with the decadent political relics like olusegun obasanjo, morrality and family values are a foriegn concept that is completly beyond thier mental and spiritual grasp. former president obasanjo's own family is fraught with sacndals, how can we expect any diffrent from one of his cronies? Nigeria should grow up and realize that we need new more responsible leaders, especially representatives. i'm a home based nigerian and i support the U.S's decision. i apologoze for my country to the women victimized by these vicious men and hope they recover fully.