SHAME: Ex-LGA Chairman In Rape Scandal?

Scores of angry youths a few days ago stormed the house of Perez Peretu, a former local council chairman in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State to protest the reported rape of a 13-year old minor in his house. The protesters booed the ex-council chairman and called for his prosecution.

Several of the demonstrators told SaharaReporters that the former council boss was caught “pants down” with the victim. Two sources described the victim as a relative of the randy former chairman.

The youths also accused the police of succumbing to underground efforts to cover up the crime. The protesters demanded an independent investigation into the former chairman’s crime of rape.

Two spokesmen for the youths told SaharaReporters that the Bayelsa Police Command lacked the capacity to investigate the matter. “Honorable Peretu is bribing the police to do his bidding,” one of them said.

But the Bayelsa police said they invited the former chairman of Sagbama local government area of the state for questioning over the alleged rape of a minor in Sagbama town.

Alex Akhigbe, the Public Relations Officer of Bayelsa Police Command, said the police were yet to establish a case against the former LGA boss.

Another source indicated that the police invitation was as a result of the public outcry by scores of angry youths of Sagbama Town.

According to the police, even though the victim had admitted the allegation of attempted rape, the police would have to question the suspect before any conclusion could be made on the allegation.

But the angry youths insist that the allegation against the former chairman was a clear case of rape and called for an independent investigation into the matter.

Some of the protesters said that they had physically seized the former local government boss and taken him to the Sagbama Police Station for interrogation and detention. But Mr. Akhigbe maintained that the police had yet to receive any official complaint of rape or attempted rape against the former council boss. “When the police got wind of the development, we invited the former local government boss and discovered that the case of rape against him was unsubstantiated and unfounded,” he said. His position led the youth protesters to declare that the police were scheming to let Mr. Peretu off the hook for his heinous crime.

Source: Sahara Reporters