Kogi state Commissioner for Water Resources, Abdulmumuni Danga, has been charged to court for allegedly raping and assaulting a beauty queen named Elizabeth Oyeniyi earlier this year in Lokoja, Kogi State.
This is according to the charge sheet signed by the State Prosecutor, ACP Effiong Asuquo and filed on September 4, 2020.
Danga is to appear before the Federal High Court in Abuja on a seven-count charge, including rape, brutality, coercion and torture.
The offences leveled against Danga include falsification of documents and threatening a medical officer to forge a test result, having carnal knowledge of Oyeniyi, 23, without her consent, inflicting physical injury and torture by flogging.
Trouble started for the alleged victim in 2019 when she posted on her Facebook wall, calling on the commissioner to financially assist his younger sister, who she is friends with as well as other members of his family.
The commissioner reportedly hired thugs to abduct Oyeniyi from her home in Lokoja with her three-year-old son after stumbling upon her post.
Oyeniyi then accused Danga of brutalising and allegedly raping her multiple times on March 29.
In an interview with Premium Times, Oyeniyi alleged that Danga personally flogged her and said he could have killed her but for her young son who was with her.
She said the commissioner then stripped her while at least 15 men, who worked for him, watched. The suspected thugs also allegedly filmed her nude as she was being whipped and humiliated.
After the attack, Danga drove her to a hotel close to the Kogi State House in Lokoja, the state capital, where he allegedly forcefully raped her three times overnight, the victim claimed.
Oyeniyi added;
On getting there, they flogged me. He flogged us himself, stripped me naked and made a video of me threatening to post it when next I make any public comment about it.
Danga denied the allegations but civil rights groups, led by Dorothy Njemanze, mounted pressure on the police for an investigation. Activists also called on the Kogi State government to sanction Danga.
The state promised to launch an investigation into the matter. During the investigation, activist Segun ‘Segalink’ Awosanya stated that there has been pressure from the state governor and others in the political class to pervert justice.
She also expressed fear for her life, revealing that she and her family members were receiving threats from loyalists and thugs of the commissioner.
The commissioner was arrested after former Kogi governorship candidate, Natasha Akpoti amongst other concerned Nigerians and activists pressured for justice from law enforcement agencies despite several attempts to bury the case.
Five months after investigation began, the police have instituted a criminal case against the commissioner after questioning all parties involved.
Abdulmumuni Danga appeared in the police headquarters in Abuja on June 2 and July 5 for interrogation.
According to court documents, the case filed on September 4 will be prosecuted by the police on behalf of the Federal Government.
The Commissioner is to be arraigned alongside one Success Omadivi, 35, who was also indicted in the course of investigation.
