Siraj Abdulazeez Sabouke

A grade two teacher of Central Primary School Karabonde, Borgu Local Government of Niger State is being accused of defiling 14 pupils of the school where he teaches.

In late July, 2021 two female pupils within the ages of 7-9 went to the office of the headmistress of the school, Hajiya Maimunat Tanko, to report their teacher for sexually molesting them.

The pupils reported that their grade 2 teacher, one Alhaji Usman Galadima had been molesting them and threatened to kill them if they ever told anyone.

Hajiya Maimunat Tanko immediately took the matter to the headmaster of the school, Mallam Abdullahi Toure who summoned the accused to his office.

The accused denied that he committed the crime the children were accusing him of.

Two weeks later, another set of girls, from grade 2 and 3, went to the office of the headmistress to make the same report.

The school quickly created a disciplinary committee to look into the matter.

In the process of investigating the matter, more pupils came forward to make the same complain.

While investigation was on, a delegation sent by Bà Karabonde, the traditional head of Karabonde arrived in the school that some girls from grade 2 and 3 of the school reported to their parents that their teacher, Alhaji Usman Galadima, had been molesting them.

When investigation toughened, Alhaji Usman Galadima confessed that he only knew about one of the girls that were accusing him.

The school authority quickly smuggled Galadima out of the school when the matter was escalating and told the delegation that the case should be forwarded to the Borgu Emirate Council.

Few minutes later, some angry youths from the village came to the school with weapons demanding that Galadima must be provided.

All the teachers fled the school for safety.

At the Borgu Emirate Council, Alhaji Usman Galadima was promised leniency if he would confess.

He revealed to them, against his former stand of only knowing about one of the girls, that he only molested two of them.

The case got to the Education Secretariat of Borgu local government.

Parents of the children, fearing the light treatment of the case by the Borgu Emirate Council, took the case to the Social Welfare Department of the Borgu local government.

At the SWD, a Minna-based human rights organization, Child Rights Agency (CRA) came into the matter.

Their interest in the case scared Alhaji Usman Galadima making him to make more confessions.

At the SWD, Alhaji Galadima revealed that he only defiled 5 among the children.

At this stage, the number of the children who came forward rose to 14.

Five confirmed that he had defiled them.

Some said he only kissed them and asked them to show him their underwears while others revealed that he made them play with his manhood.

What created more unrest about the case was when some of the parents were told that Alhaji Usman Galadima was HIV positive.

The children were taken to hospital for a test and drugs were prescribed to them.

Daily Star reporter confirmed from a close relation of Alhaji Usman Galadima that the accused is truly HIV positive.

As of Friday, 27 of August, the case was forwarded to the security but Alhaji Usman Galadima is nowhere to be found.

Daily Star learned that a New Bussa man named Ruwa was the person that promised to bring Alhaji Usman Galadima on Friday.

As at Sunday 29 August, the whereabouts of Galadima remained unknown.

Daily Star reporter learned from the parents of the girls that Galadima did not only sexually abused the children, he asked some of them to bring him the panties and brassieres of their mothers.

One of the parents, who begged to be anonymous, told  DailyStar that their 7-years-old daughter told them that Galadima would instruct them to come to school very early.

That was when he used to abuse them.

As the case is now with the police, some of the parents of the pupils molested by Alhaji Usman Galadima fear that their children may not get justice.

They are they therefore call on concerned individuals and organizations to come into the case and make sure that their children get justice.