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By Emmanuel Adeleke
An Oyo State Family Court sitting in Iyaganku, Ibadan, has remanded Ibadan-based skit maker, Maruf Abdullahi, popularly known as Trinity Guy, in Agodi Correctional Centre for alleged sexual exploitation of a 10-year-old girl.
The Magistrate, Mrs P. O. Adetuyibi, also ordered that Isiaka Ahmed, 40, and his wife Rofiat Ahmed, 29, parents of the child should continue to be remanded in Agodi.
The police charged Trinity Guy, alongside the parents of the victim with conspiracy and sexual exploitation.
Recall that Magistrate Adetuyibi had refused to take the defendants’ plea for want of jurisdiction when the case came up on June 26, saying that the case had been filed and duplicated by the state’s Ministry of Justice.
The defence counsel, Mr Oludare Adebayo, had argued that Section 41 empowered the court to hear the matter.
Adebayo also said the victim was a product of poverty.
Adetuyibi, however, said that the case file had been duplicated, adding that until the Ministry of Justice decided to withdraw it, she could not hear the matter.
At Tuesday’s proceedings, the Magistrate noted that the Ministry of Justice has not withdrawn the case and subsequently remand the skit maker and parents of the girl in Agodi Correctional facility.
Adetuyibi adjourned the case till August 3, for mention.
Earlier, the Prosecution Counsel, Inspector Oluwakemi Arowosaye told the court that the skit maker, Ahmed, and his wife, Rofiat, allegedly conspired to sexually exploit the child.
According to Arowosaye, Trinity Guy had on December 17, 2022, sexually abused and exploited a 10-year-old girl in the Kuola area.of Apata, Ibadan.
“Abdullahi was asking the victim the colour of his pants, recording the scene and posting it on social media,” she said.
The offence, Arowosaye noted, contravened the provisions of Section 35 (1) and was punishable under Section 35 (2) of the Oyo State Child Right’s Law 2006.
She said it also contravenes the provisions of section 516 of the Criminal Code Laws of Oyo State 2000.
If the skit maker is found guilty of the offence, he is liable to 15 years imprisonment under the Child Right’s Law, 2006.