Between August 2022 and July 2023, Lagos State's Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA) recorded 5,624 cases, ranging from domestic violence, sexual assault, rape, child abuse, and physical assault, among other vices.
The 24 October conviction of Femi Olaleye, the managing director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, for raping his wife's niece, has been described as a significant development in the fight against gender-based violence (GBV) in Lagos State.
The high-profile case was heard at the Special Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Lagos, where the senior medical doctor was sentenced to life imprisonment on two counts charge of defilement of a child and sexual assault by penetration.
As part of his punishment, Mr Olaleye, who has been held at the Nigerian correctional facility in Ikoyi since his arraignment in 2022, will also have his name listed in the Lagos State sexual offenders register.
The convict, a connected medical doctor, tried all he could to escape justice, but the evidence placed before the court was overwhelming.
Mr Olaleye was one of the SGBV suspects the Lagos State Government was prosecuting through its Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA).
Recently, the DSVA revealed that 5,624 cases, ranging from domestic violence, sexual assault, rape, child abuse, and physical assault, among other vices, were recorded in the state between August 2022 and July 2023 via the Virtual Referral and Response Service (VRRS) and physical report.
According to the agency, the youngest victim of sexual violence was an 18-month-old baby, while the oldest who experienced domestic violence was a 79-year-old woman.
Journey to Justice
During his arraignment, the 56-year-old Mr Olaleye pleaded not guilty to the rape of his wife's 15-year-old niece before the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on 30 November 2022.
His crime came to the public domain following a public outcry by popular Nollywood actresses, Kate Henshaw and Damilola Adekoya, against him on social media in 2022.
In its reaction, the DSVA referred the case to the Gender Desk Department of the Lagos State Police Command for investigation, reiterating the state government's zero tolerance for SGBV.
During the trial, the judge, Ramon Oshodi, admitted Mr Olaleye to N50 million bail with two sureties and remanded him in Ikoyi prison pending the perfection of the bail conditions.
In March 2023, the court dismissed a no-case submission filed by Mr Olaleye, after his lawyer, Olusegun Fabunmi, argued that the prosecution - the Lagos government - had not provided sufficient evidence against him.
The prosecution subsequently called six witnesses. The minor, the defendant's wife, a medical doctor and another child care expert, both of whom examined the minor, as well as two police officers involved in the investigations, testified in the trial.
Mr Olaleye testified in his defence alongside his friend of over 40 years as well as his forensic physician who faulted the medical evidence presented by the prosecution.
In his judgement, Mr Oshodi held that the Lagos State Government had proved the charge against the defendant and that the evidence against him was compelling, hence the life sentence.
His offences contravened sections 137 and 261 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015 which provide that the rape of a child and sexual assault by penetration is punishable by life imprisonment.
Many other cases
Earlier in 2022, the Ikeja Special Offences Court had convicted popular Nollywood actor, Olanrewaju James, alias Baba Ijesha, for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old minor, a foster daughter of actress and comedienne Damilola Adekoya (alias Princess).
The case attracted public attention from the time of his arraignment on 24 June 2021, until 14 July 2022, when the judge, Oluwatoyin Taiwo, convicted Baba Ijesha of indecent treatment of a child, sexual assault and attempted sexual assault.
The judge subsequently sentenced him to 16 years in jail. He was found guilty of four of the six alleged offences; two of the charges attracted five years while the remaining two attracted three years.
He will, however, only spend five years in jail as the sentences will run concurrently.
In September, the Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sentenced to life imprisonment a 42-year-old security officer, Daniel Okon, for raping a four-year-old girl. The court also sentenced a 59-year-old artisan, Eze Chukwuma, for raping his two daughters.
Earlier in July, Emeka Orisakwe, a 45-year-old businessman, was sentenced to triple life imprisonment for raping his three underaged daughters, while a 56-year-old driver, Folarin Raufu, also got life imprisonment for raping his employer's five-year-old granddaughter.
In its relentless war against SGBV, the Lagos State Government has made tremendous progress through the DSVA.
As of July, the spokesperson for the police in Lagos State, Benjamin Hundeyin, reported that 111 rape cases were recorded between April and June in the state.
Attempt to tamper with justice
According to the founder of Tonia Bruised But Not Broken Foundation, Anthonia Ojenagbon, who has been at the forefront of the pursuit of justice in the case, Mr Olaleye's camp attempted to manipulate the victim.
"They tried to bribe the survivor so that she would change her story. N400,000 was sent to her mother trying to convince them to do a video changing the story to say he didn't rape her," she said.
"They promised to give them a balance of N2.1 million but the girl and her family stood their ground.
"So he deserved what he got for turning a young girl into a sex slave. Every sexual fetish you could think of, he did it to her, including oral sex."
Mrs Ojenagbon, who is also a rape survivor, described the judgement as a big victory for all survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.
"We're very happy and grateful to the judiciary. We thank the Lagos State Ministry of Justice and the Director of Public Prosecution, Babajide Martins, who provided legal representation for this poor girl," she said.
"Her family would not have been able to employ the services of a reputable lawyer because the accused got himself a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and this girl would never have been able to afford that."
Speaking further, Mrs Ojenagbon said Mr Olaleye's case further enlightened her about court processes and the importance of evidence gathering for rape cases.
Fight against SGBV
Describing the whole experience from Mr Olaleye's arrest by the police to the court hearing, Bisi Ajayi-Kayode, the Legal Lead for Cece Yera Foundation who was present at the court and participated in the investigation of the case, said: "It was a difficult and dangerous terrain riddled with a lot of pushbacks, reprisal attacks, threats, coercion and stigma to frustrate justice."
However, Mrs Ajayi-Kayode said the Cece Yara Foundation deployed its "strong inter-agency collaboration with the police and other criminal justice system actors to support the case's investigation and prosecution through its forensic interview process."
According to her, fighting SGBV means actualising the fundamental human rights of survivors to justice and safety.
"It means fighting against crime against humanity. Sexual violence has been globally acclaimed to be a weapon of war and we are glad to be at the forefront of holding perpetrators accountable and ensuring a safe environment for children," she said.
She added that victims should note that "SGBV is a heinous crime that violates fundamental human rights. Do not suffer in silence. There is hope for you. Speak up, report it."
In recent years, the Lagos State government has also enacted laws which prohibit violence against women and girls, including the Child Rights Law and the Protection against Domestic Violence Law.
In a 2023 report by Stand to End Rape Initiative (STER), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Lagos, Adamawa, Ekiti, Kogi and Kwara states topped the list of states with the highest rate of prosecuting SGBV perpetrators in Nigeria.
Titled "Scorecard on sexual and gender-based violence: measuring state-level mechanism for prevention and responses in Nigeria", the report analysed the efficiency of the criminal justice system, and the financial and management capacity for SGBV response, including laws and policy adoption across states.
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Zamfara, Niger, Ogun, Ondo and Taraba are the five states with the lowest prosecution of gender-based violence violators in Nigeria.
Many states were reported to be lagging in providing speedy criminal prosecution, particularly Gombe with only five SGBV cases attended to between 2020 and 2022.
More interventions for SGBV victims
Gender advocate and development journalist, Zainab Sanni, said the justice system in Lagos State has made tremendous progress, particularly on sexual and gender-based violence cases.
According to Mrs Sanni, there is an improvement in terms of the processes or support programmes available in Lagos to cater to the survival of sexual and gender-based violence.
"There is seemingly an increased trust among people of Lagos such that when they have a rape case or a domestic violence case or any case that has to do with sexual and gender-based violence, somebody is likely going to refer them to the Lagos State domestic violence response team due to their proactiveness," she said.
"However, I feel like there are other things that the government can do to intensify its effort in the fight against SGBV."
She noted that one key strategy for the government is to educate civil service workers involved in responding to GBV cases "because more often than not at the top level and mid-level, civil servants frustrate the efforts by victim blaming.
"If we have officers who are supposed to be the ones to help women in addressing GBV but you go there and they are blaming you, it defeats the purpose of interventions in the first place, " she said.
"I also think it's important that beyond publishing these responses, there might be a periodic assessment of cases in court."
Mrs Sanni added that it is important to proactively preach against GBV to young people, particularly in secondary schools.
"We must base all of our messages on young boys in school, teenagers on the street in communities, particularly male children and emphasise to them the importance of avoiding violence or not being perpetrators of violence against women and girls," she noted.
