Akure – The parents of 16-year-old Rachael Oluwaseun Willky have filed a lawsuit against the Ondo State government, claiming their daughter was unlawfully detained at the Ondo State Children’s Home in Oba-Ile. The lawsuit, submitted on Tuesday through the state’s Attorney General, was brought by Tope Temokun, Esq., on behalf of the girl’s parents, Mr. Willky Gabriel Dele and Mrs. Willky Labake.
The plaintiffs are seeking judicial intervention, asking the court to order an immediate investigation into allegations of aggravated assault and bodily harm against the parents. They allege that officers Tope Olukoya and Akintade Kingsley from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) physically assaulted them when they sought to see their daughter.
The parents are also requesting an impartial inquiry into what they describe as the illegal detention and “extra-legal custody” of their daughter, who, as a secondary school graduate and minor of 16 years and four months, should not be kept in a motherless babies’ home. According to the family, Rachael has both parents and is neither destitute nor an orphan, making her placement in the state facility unwarranted.
The applicants further allege that the NSCDC officer’s involvement in restraining them from seeing their daughter was a violation of their rights. They demand Rachael’s immediate release from the Ondo State Children’s Home to return to her family.
In their statement, the plaintiffs expressed concerns about potential repercussions if such incidents continue unchecked, stating, “We entertain a reasonable apprehension that if resolute action is not taken, and things like these are allowed to flourish and be swept under the carpet, a crisis that may escalate and bespatter the good image of the State with a paint-brush of shame is already afoot.”
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