BED-WETTING: Adefulire Angry With Man Who Killed Daughter

Lagos State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire is pained that a man could beat his three-year old step-daughter to death over bed-wetting and calls on the police to ensure that the wicked father is prosecuted.

Orelope-Adefulire said she was shocked when she read a report in P.M.NEWS of Monday, 13 June that a 33-year old man, Ayo beat his stepdaughter, Oyindamola to death because she bed-wets.

She said the father must be a wicked man and should be prosecuted over child abuse and murder.

Orelope-Adefulire spoke at the third edition of the Vanguard Children Annual Conference, held at the MUSON Centre, Lagos, South West Nigeria on Tuesday, saying that “just on Monday evening in the P.M.NEWS, you all read the sad story of a three-year old girl named Oyindamola who was beaten to death by her 33-year old step-father named Ayo.

“What’s her crime? Ordinary bed-wetting. Can you imagine? Unfortunately, the mother who rushed back from the hospital where she had gone for medical attention could not save the poor girl from untimely and needless death.

“Thank God that wicked man is now a guest of the police at Agbado Crossing Police Station and hopefully, he will be charged to court very soon,” she stated.

At the event which was also meant to commemorate the 2011 International Day of the African Child, with the theme: The Place of Parenting in Curbing Child Abuse, the deputy governor, while declaring the summit open, said child abuse does not stop at sexual abuse and harassment, noting that parents who abandon or neglect their children due to career or religious engagement, or denying them the basic fundamental rights as enlisted in the United Nations Charter on the Rights of Children had abused such children.

According to her, beyond the provision of education and other basic needs of the children, parents should also create and spend time with them and address the issues that affect them at home or in the school.

“Parenting is a serious business that we cannot abandon, abdicate or transfer to our house help or relations who can easily molest or abuse our children. If we are negligent or careless, we will not be guiltless if our children are victims of child abuse” she said.

She called on parents to come together and unite behind the common purpose of eliminating child abuse and reminded them that children were God’s gifts entrusted in their care and that they would be accountable for what became of them.

Orelope-Adefulire disclosed that the State Government had developed various programmes to take the children off the streets and prepare them for a better future, saying that some of these programmes included the Yellow Card initiative, ‘No Child is Left Behind’ Basic Education policy in compliance with the Millennium Development Goals No 2; the girl-child education project, among others.

Wife of the Lagos State Governor, Mrs. Abimbola Fashola, in her keynote address stressed the importance of parents in the development of children, noting that these roles could not be transferred.

She enjoined parents to see the task of parenting as collaborative efforts of the father and mother, stressing that inculcating family values in the children was a task for both parents.

—Kazeem Ugbodaga