By Jethro Ibileke

The Edo Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Eugenia Abdallah, has said that over 50 percent of the victims of child abuse in the state were violated by their fathers.

This is even as she disclosed that some of the victims and their families shield their violators from facing justice.

Abdallah disclosed this on Thursday in Benin City during the monthly media briefing hosted by the Edo Ministry of Communication and Strategy.

She disclosed that her office recorded over 72 cases of abuse of mirrors between the ages of two and 10 between January and July 2026.

Commenting on how some families shield abusers of their minors, Abdullah mentioned the case of a 14-yea-old girl who was carrying eight-month pregnancy for her father.

“The little girl that is under our custody now, she’s pregnant, she’s pregnant for her father…We asked her to tell us where is her father, she told us she lost her father, that we should not get the father arrested, because it is only the girl that can tell us where her father is, because the man left the house. It was the neighbor that reported the issue, brought the issue to the officer, she’s pregnant, she’s eight months pregnant as we speak,” she said.

The Commissioner also narrated how her Ministry rescued a 53-year-old United States-deported, Peter Guobadia, and two other persons from the streets in a distressed mental condition and rehabilitated them.

She said Guobadia was rescued, taken to the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, treated and later reunited with his family.

“They came to us and told us about him. We got him, took him to the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, paid his bills and reunited him with his family,” she said.

The commissioner said the ministry had also commenced the removal and rehabilitation of persons with severe mental health conditions living on the streets of Benin City.

She disclosed that the ministry had inspected mental health facilities, including centres in Ehor and Benin City, to assess their hygiene, accommodation, staffing, treatment practices, living conditions and respect for human dignity.

“We actually do this before we get mentally ill persons off the street. We don’t just take them and drop them at mental health facilities; we must go there first and ascertain that they meet the conditions acceptable for human living,” she said.