How anti-female genital mutilation crusader escapes death, house burnt
A crusader sensitising the people against female genital mutilation, Comrade Popoola, has lamented the dangerous resistance he faced and how he escaped being killed during campaign.
He narrated his close shave with death during the seminars and open sensitisation programmes he organised in Ondo State through his nonprofit organisation, Gender Frontier Development Initiative(GFDI), to educate the people on why they should desist from female genital mutilation.
Popoola disclosed that after founding GFDI in collaboration with some friends on October 20, 2018, they began to organise seminars, workshops and open sensitisation programmes, educating the people at the grassroots on why they should desist from carrying out genital mutilation on their daughters or girl-child.
He started recording successful outings as their audience began to accept the teachings, promising to desist from female genital mutilation.
Encouraged by the successes, Popoola and others navigated through some rural communities and farmsteads in the state.
But Popoola met serious resistance when he took the campaign to the Bolorunduro community in Ondo State.
On the fateful day, traditionalists in the community challenged him as to why he should embark on such sensitive issues without getting approval from the traditional head of the community.
He was stopped and asked to leave the community immediately to avoid being attacked.
They claimed that female genital mutilation was bequeathed to them by their ancestors and a campaign against this would attract the anger of the gods.
He immediately departed the community in avoidance of attack as warned by the traditionalists.
Meanwhile, in his neighbourhood in Olaoluwa Estate, Oda Road, Akure, the state capital, Popoola has been facing serious criticism for not releasing his daughter, Oluwakorede Beula, for circumcision.
At one point, he had to change his daughter’s school when he got wind of the plot to abduct the little girl for the same reason.
Months later, having returned from another campaign on female genital mutilation he organised in Ondo town on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, around 10:00 pm, some masked hoodlums invaded his No AI-IA Olaoluwa Estate, Oda Road, Akure residence with dangerous weapons.
Having sighted early enough, he excused through the back door and scaled the perimeter fence. But the invaders didn’t spare his property as they ransacked the rooms and destroyed everything at sight.
That his wife and children were already leaving with a relation made it easy for him to escape from the invaders.
Popoola, therefore, reported the case at the Police Command in Akure, where they promised to investigate the incident.
He, however, said no one has been arrested by the Police in connection with the incident.
His attackers continued to threaten him on the phone, promising to deal with him at any available opportunity.
On January 15, 2023, while driving in Akure, he was accosted by two persons, believed to be assassins, and was beaten till he passed out.
He said he was resuscitated in the hospital where was rushed by one Mr. Omisope Dunni who rescued him from the scene of the attack.
Consequently, Popoola’s friends advised him to move out of the state with his family, which he obliged.
But the latest development revealed that the assailants are still after him as his home was engulfed in a late night inferno on Wednesday, October 2, 2024..
Police are yet to unravel the immediate and remote cause of the fire incident.
According to Popoola, “On October 20, 2018, I founded a nonprofit organisation with other friends known as Gender Frontier Development Initiative(GFDI).
“The group organised seminars, workshops and campaigns to sensitise people against Female Genital Mutilation FGM.
“Initially, the sensitization was successful as a lot of people, particularly at the grassroots got convinced about the campaign against the dangerous practice.
“Though traditionalists were against the campaign, claiming that it was a generationally transferred practice by their ancestors and could infuriate the deities to unleash disease outbreak on their children if they stopped doing it.
“On September 20, 2022, we were at the Bolorunduro community. The traditional ruler of the Bolorunduro community in Ondo State, Nigeria and his chiefs told me and my team that the gods are angry with our campaign.
“They were so annoyed about my programme that aimed at eradicating Female Genital Mutilation(FGM) in their community.
“They claimed that they would have to appease the gods by making sacrifices and rituals in order to avert ugly pestilence and disaster that would follow if they stopped the practice.
“He said we were ignorant of the traditional and cultural beliefs of their community and that accounted for a lot of ill-fortune plaguing the community.
“On that particular day, I experienced stiff resistance from the traditionalists and local midwives who are practitioners of Female Genital Mutilation(FGM) to the point that I was brutally attacked, and I had to vacate the scene of the campaign against Female Genital Mutilation.
“I was attacked to the extent that I had to be cautioned by my supporters and fellow crusaders that I should leave the community, which I did.
“On the same day, at my residence, No A1-1A, Olaoluwa Estate, Oda Road, Akure, Ondo State, around 10pm, some armed and masked hoodlums who were not comfortable with my campaign invaded my residence with the mission or aim to kill me.
“I had a narrow escape as I scaled the perimeter fence of my residence because I sighted them early enough.
“I was later informed that the armed hoodlums were sponsored by some persons because of my campaign and refusal to release my daughter, Popoola Oluwakorede Beula, for female genital mutilation.
“When the death threat persisted, I was advised to leave Ondo State and discontinue the campaign.
“Last week, October 2nd, 2024, I received the information that my house got burnt in the midnight, on Wednesday to be precise. My brother told me that he has reported the incident to the police, but no one has been arrested.
“He said he spoke with some people in the neighbourhood, they told him the fire outbreak remains a mystery as they claimed they didn’t see anyone.
“Why I believe my home was deliberately set ablaze is the fact that it has been disconnected from the public electricity line. So, it couldn’t have been an electrical spark. It’s a man-made fire,” Popoola noted.
The OHA family of Okuku Uborgi in Owerri West Local Government area of Imo State has cried out regarding their missing daughter, Chizoba Cyril Oha, whose picture appears above.
According to the family spokesperson who did not want our correspondent to mention his name for fear of possible attack, the problem started in 2017 because of the land dispute between Oha’s family.
On 7/10/2024 Chibuike Oha (Chizoba’s uncle) was shot by hired assassins, and Mr Cyril Oha who owns the said land also died in 2017, while the daughter Chizoba Cyril Oha whose photograph picture appears above is missing after being threatened and nobody knows her whereabouts.
Although the incident has been reported to the Nigeria Police Force, no arrest has been made.
Information reaching us from an anonymous source said the missing lady tried to fight for her father’s right and issues of threat arose. And ever since late 2022, no one has any information about her, her mobile contact not reachable.
The family has appealed to the public that anybody who knows her whereabouts should report to the nearest police station.
