Edo: Over 70 defilement cases recorded, fathers lead offenders

The Edo State Government has disclosed that more than 70 cases of child defilement were recorded across the state between January and July 2026, with fathers accounting for over half of the reported cases.

The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Eugenia Abdallah, disclosed this on Thursday at the state Ministry of Information and Strategy’s bi-monthly press conference.

Abdallah said the victims of the reported cases were mainly children between the ages of two and 10, while many of the alleged perpetrators were fathers of the victims.

She said one of the cases involved a 14-year-old girl who was allegedly impregnated by her father and was eight months pregnant when the commissioner spoke.

According to her, the case was reported by a neighbour and the girl, who was in government custody, initially denied having a father and pleaded against his arrest.

The commissioner said the government was committed to protecting vulnerable residents and ensuring that survivors of abuse received appropriate support and opportunities to rebuild their lives.

She said the state was also strengthening its social protection programmes to ensure that vulnerable citizens were not only identified but adequately protected.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Kassim Afegbua, said the state government’s restriction on motorcycle operations in parts of Benin City remained in force for security reasons.

Afegbua said intelligence reports had raised concerns about the use of motorcycles to facilitate kidnapping, robbery and other criminal activities in the metropolis.

“We are not pretending about it. The reason why this was done was purely for security reasons,” he said.

Also speaking, the Managing Director of the Edo State Geographic Information Service, Innocent Bello, attributed delays in processing land documents to the discovery of fraudulent documents submitted by some applicants.

He said the agency had detected fake survey plans, tax clearance certificates and identification documents during the processing of applications.

Bello said the government was taking steps to address the issue while ensuring that legitimate land applications were processed appropriately.