The Children Who Came Home Changed: Inside Mando’s Fight for Justice

By Uangbaoje Alex, Kaduna

For one mother in Afaka Mando Community, Kaduna State, the night began like any other.

Then she noticed something was wrong with her 10-year-old son.

Fatima Abbas had asked her older daughter to help bathe the boy. During the process, the child began passing stool involuntarily.

Something about what she saw immediately troubled her.

She remembered a radio programme she had previously heard discussing sexual abuse and decided to examine her son more closely.

What she says she discovered changed the family forever.

Fatima alleged that her son had suffered serious injuries around his anus and, after repeated questioning, disclosed that he had allegedly been sexually abused by a man known in the neighbourhood as Engineer Isa Wakili.

According to Fatima, the child said he had been threatened with death if he disclosed what had happened.

Wakili, a staff member of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), has strongly denied the allegations.

But Fatima’s story was not the only account to emerge from the community.

‘My children became different’

Fatima told our reporter that three of her sons were allegedly sodomized.

She said her family took one of the children to hospital and subsequently reported the matter to the police.

She alleged that the medical examination revealed serious injuries, although this newspaper has not independently examined the medical records and therefore does not present that claim as a medical finding.

The family’s account is one of several now surrounding the case.

Another mother, Nafisa Abubakar, said she initially did not know that her two sons, aged 11 and eight, had allegedly been abused.

She said there had been rumours within the neighbourhood about children being taken away by a man, but she did not immediately connect the reports to her own children.

According to Nafisa, the boys later told her that the man sometimes sent them to a shop, bought drinks for them and allegedly took them away in a vehicle.

She said one of her children was later identified by a neighbour as one of the alleged survivors.

When she returned home, she said she questioned him repeatedly.

The boy, according to his mother, eventually disclosed what he claimed had happened and said he had been threatened with death if he spoke.

Nafisa said she reported the matter to community members and the police.

She also said her children had become sickly, with poor appetite, stomach pain and headaches.

Again, these are the mother’s descriptions of what she observed; this newspaper has not independently established the medical cause of the symptoms.

For Lawal Usman, Fatima’s husband, the discovery was devastating.

He recalled receiving repeated calls from his wife late at night while he was returning home.

She told him there was serious trouble and asked him to come home.

When he arrived, he said, he found the children on the bed.

His wife showed him one of the boys.

Lawal said the injury he saw left him shocked.

He questioned his son about what had happened.

According to Lawal, the boy initially hesitated before eventually identifying “the Engineer.”

The father said the child told him the alleged abuse occurred around the local electricity facility.

Lawal said the family had previously regarded Wakili as a respectable neighbour.

They prayed together, he said, and Wakili sometimes bought water or food connected with activities around the mosque.

That familiarity, according to Lawal, was one reason the allegations were particularly difficult for the family to comprehend.

He said the investigation later brought other allegations involving his children to light.

Lawal also alleged that one of his sons told the family that other children were involved.

The father said the family subsequently took the matter through the police and State CID.

He recalled becoming deeply distressed by the process.

“I lost weight. I could barely eat and I could not sleep,” he said in his account of the ordeal.

For Abdullahi Abbas, a neighbour and community member, the allegations had generated anxiety in Afaka Mando.

He claimed that another family, whose members were not available for this report, had also alleged that two children were affected.

But Abdullahi said the community still needed answers.

He alleged that Wakili had boasted that money secured his release.

However, the accused told this newspaper that the allegation was fabricated and that he remained in custody rather than returning to the neighbourhood.

At the palace of the Sarki Afaka, Mando, Alhaji Sani Musa Ummar, the story takes another turn.

The traditional ruler said he initially heard only rumours.

According to him, the father of one of the children later came to the palace and reported that a child had allegedly been molested by a neighbour.

By then, the family had already reported the matter to the police.

The Sarki said he considered reporting to the authorities the appropriate first step.

He described the allegations as disturbing and said the community would not support sexual abuse of children.

But because the matter had entered the justice system, he said it should be handled through lawful procedures rather than community action.

He also said he would consult with relevant elders and authorities before making further pronouncements on the case.

For Barrister Olufunke Bamidele, Chairperson of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Kaduna Branch, the issue goes beyond one family.

Bamidele said FIDA became involved after the case was brought to the organisation.

She said the organisation met with the mother and child and directed the child for medical evaluation before the matter was reported to the police.

Bamidele said the organisation became concerned when it learnt that the accused had been released.

She said reports suggested that more children might have been affected and that investigators needed to establish the facts.

According to her, reports that the number of possible survivors could be much higher than the initial complaints require careful investigation rather than assumptions.

One figure circulating within the community is more than 40 children.

That figure could not be independently verified by this newspaper.

Wakili has rejected the allegations in their entirety.

Speaking to this newspaper, he said his relationship with one of the boys was limited to activities around the mosque.

He said he regularly bought water for the mosque and sometimes asked the boy to fetch water.

He also said he occasionally gave the boy small amounts of money to buy sweets and sometimes gave him his car key to clean his vehicle.

“My God! These people are telling lies against me, sir. It is a great lie,” Wakili said.

He also denied offering money to the family to settle the matter.

According to Wakili, the money offer did not emanate from him, but a neighbour who is close to him and Lawal’s household, who told him he should pay ₦15 million to the family regardless of whether he had committed the alleged offence.

He said he could not afford such an amount.

Wakili also rejected an allegation that he later returned to the community boasting that his money had secured his freedom after an alleged ₦5 million settlement was rejected.

“That is completely false,” he said.

He maintained that he went from his house to another area entirely since after his released from the correctional centre for fear of being attacked and had not returned to the community as alleged.

“Nobody abused a child,” he said.

He described the allegations as an attempt to obtain money from him and damage his reputation.

But what exactly happened to the case?

This is where the accounts become sharply divided.

The Kaduna State Police Command’s Gender Desk says it investigated the allegations.

The Officer in Charge of the Gender Desk, Dominic David Aku, told this newspaper that the police completed their investigation and forwarded the case diary to the Ministry of Justice for legal advice.

He said Wakili spent several months in custody.

According to Aku, the Ministry of Justice subsequently advised that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute and directed that the suspect be discharged.

The police officer also denied allegations that the police released Wakili in exchange for money.

The police account therefore differs significantly from the accounts circulating among some families and community members.

The precise legal status of the case should be established from the court record, police case file and written legal advice rather than competing oral accounts.

The allegations against Wakili are serious.

So too are the allegations made against people involved in the case.

There’s also an allegations concerning financial demands allegedly made by a lawyer involved in the matter.

Those claims were not independently established by this newspaper and should not be treated as facts.

Similarly, allegations by families that money influenced the release of Wakili remain allegations unless supported by evidence.

The same standard applies to Wakili.

His denial is part of the record, but it does not by itself establish that the allegations against him are false.

Ultimately, evidence must determine what happened.

What Nigerian law says about children

Nigeria’s Child Rights Act 2003 contains specific protections against sexual abuse of children.

Section 31 prohibits sexual intercourse with a child and provides that a person convicted under the provision is liable to life imprisonment. Section 32 addresses other forms of sexual abuse and exploitation of children.

The law is therefore particularly significant where allegations involve children below the statutory threshold protected by the Act.

The Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015, where applicable, also criminalises rape and defines it broadly to include penetration of the vagina, anus or mouth in circumstances covered by the Act.

The precise law and charge applicable to this case, however, should be determined by prosecutors from the facts, evidence, the age of each alleged survivor and the applicable Kaduna and federal legal framework.

The seriousness of allegations does not remove the constitutional rights of the person accused.

Section 36(5) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, provides that a person charged with a criminal offence is presumed innocent until proved guilty.

That principle is particularly important in this case because there are competing accounts about whether Wakili was released by police, released following prosecutorial advice, discharged, or otherwise freed through a court process.

Those distinctions matter. They should be resolved through official records.

There is another dimension to this case.

The children at the centre of the allegations have already experienced whatever events ultimately prove to have occurred. They should not be exposed to another form of harm through public identification.

UNICEF’s ethical guidance says children’s dignity and rights must be respected in reporting, while UNICEF Nigeria has repeatedly urged journalists to uphold ethical standards when reporting child-rights issues.

UNICEF Nigeria also reports that violence against children remains widespread in the country and that only a fraction of children who experience violence receive support.

For that reason, the children’s names, photographs, school information and other identifying details have been withheld from this report.

For the families, justice is not simply about seeing somebody arrested.

They say they need answers.

They want to know what happened to the investigation.

They want medical and psychosocial support for the children.

They want protection from intimidation.

And they want to know whether the allegations involving other children will be investigated.

FIDA says it wants the matter properly followed.

The traditional ruler says the community should cooperate with lawful investigation.

The police say they investigated and acted on legal advice.

Wakili says the allegations are fabricated and financially motivated.

These positions all needs to be resolved.

They require evidence.

International child-rights standards reinforce this point.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child requires states to protect children from violence and sexual abuse and to establish systems for reporting, investigation, treatment and follow-up.

The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child similarly places the best interests of the child at the centre of decisions affecting children and requires protection from abuse and appropriate investigation and treatment.

Nigeria’s obligations under these instruments mean that the response should not end with an arrest or a police investigation.

Children who may have experienced sexual violence need access to medical care, psychosocial support, protection and a justice process capable of establishing the truth.

The unanswered questions for Afaka Mando, sodomy allegations remains;

Was Wakili formally charged before a court?

What offence or offences were filed?

Was he granted bail, discharged or released following prosecutorial advice?

What exactly did the Ministry of Justice’s legal advice say?

Was the case formally discontinued?

Were the medical reports preserved and evaluated by investigators?

Were all the children whose names emerged during the investigation interviewed through appropriate child-protection procedures?

Were other potential survivors identified and assessed?

And if investigators concluded that the evidence was insufficient, can the families obtain an explanation through the appropriate legal channels?

Those questions should be answered by documents, evidence and due process.

For the parents, however, the issue is more immediate.

They say their children came home changed.

They say they are carrying medical, emotional and financial burdens.

And they say they are still waiting for justice.

For Wakili, the issue is equally personal: he says his name has been damaged by allegations he insists are completely false.

Between those two realities lies the responsibility of the justice system.

It must determine what happened, not through pressure, settlement, rumours or public anger, but through a fair, child-sensitive and evidence-based process.

Until that process produces a final determination, Engineer Isa Wakili remains an accused person, not a convicted perpetrator. And the children at the centre of the allegations remain entitled to privacy, protection, care and justice.