Son to Nigeria’s newly appointed Ambassador to US accused of rape

Sep 19, 2009
We are Embarrassed — Senators

By Victor Omoregie & Emma AzikenAdedamola son of Nigeria Ambassador-designate to the US Professor Tunde Adediran was charged with rape in the US. It happened in Maryland, and he is now charged with gang_raping three women in the city of Baltimore, according to ABC_2 News, a local Baltimore television station. However Prof. Adeniran in Nigeria confirmed that Adedamola is his son but feigned ignorance of the rape charges.Maryland police say on July 27th, two women accepted a ride from two men near North Calvert and West Fayette streets in Downtown Baltimore. But instead of driving them home, police say the men got on I_95 south, threatened the women with a knife, and drove them to the parking lot of Seton Keough High School in Southwest Baltimore. There, police say the women were both raped by the two men and a third man who arrived later.

Professor Tunde Adeniran and son Adedamola
Three men were charged in the case, 19_year_old Adedamola Adeniran of Halethorpe, along with 19_year_old Anthony Edoror and 20_year_old Opeyemi Adigun, who both live near Woodlawn.
On August 18, an identical attack took place, but the victim was able to identify the licence plate of the car to the police, thereby leading the police to one of the suspects. She identified the other two men.

Apart from the rape charges against his son, Nigeria’s ambassador_in_waiting, who was appointed over five months ago, faces potential hurdles to his clearance to assume his exalted position in Washington DC. State Department officials said that Professor Adeniran has two wives in the US bearing his name, which effectively makes him a polygamist. They said it is a grey area that needed to be sorted out before he can be finally cleared.
In addition to rape, Adedamola and the other two men also face charges that include false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit rape. If convicted, they could spend the rest of their lives in prison.

We are Embarrassed — Senators
This rejection arose from criminal proceedings being instituted against his son who has been charge along side other fellow Nigerians for statutory rape in the US. In the US, public office holders are liable to infraction by their families. So it is expected that anybody, even representatives of foreign countries and members of their families, should be above board morally, financially and other wise.
What remains now is the reaction of the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to this diplomatic move.
Embarrassed Senators of the Foreign Affairs Committee have said they would not have cleared Professor Tunde Adeniran as Ambassador nominee to the United States of America if they knew his son was facing rape charges in America.
Their reaction was part of the storm of protests from leading politicians, trade union activists academics and lawyers that greeted the rejection of professor Tunde Adeniran by the United States of America, as Nigeria’s Ambassador nominee.

The common refrain was that Professor Adeniran,s rejection has brought shame to the country.Prof. Adeniran was reportedly rejected by the United States government as Nigeria’s envoy to that country on account of his son’s alleged involvement in serial gang rape in the United States.
His son Adedamola 20, is reportedly held in custody in the United States without bail alongside two other Nigerians allegedly involved in the gang rape of some American girls.
Senators Effiong Bob (PDP, Akwa Ibom Northeast) and Abubakar Sodangi (PDP, Nasarawa West) both members of the Senate committee on Foreign Affairs which cleared Adeniran before his approval by the Senate claimed that they were not aware of the alleged criminal inclination of the nominee’s son. A third member of the committee, Senator Osita Izunaso (PDP, Imo West) claimed ignorance of the alleged indictment of Prof. Adeniran’s son and did not comment on the issue.
Chairman of the Senate committee on Foreign Affairs, Senator Jibril Aminu could not be reached as at press time on the development.
“That fact was not before us that is why we conducted all these hearings so that people who have established facts could have briefed us, so I am not aware except reading of it today (yesterday) in the paper,’’ Senator Bob told Saturday Vanguard yesterday on telephone.
“We were not aware of the criminal allegation against the son and if we were aware the man would not have been cleared,’’ he further affirmed.
Speaking in the same tone, Senator Sodangi said:
“I am just hearing of it from you. It is very embarrassing if it is true and it is a matter of investigation and if it has happened it is actually a very, very embarrassing situation to the Professor himself and as well to the country.’’ “Of course we have people who are very clean who have no skeleton in their cupboards that we can take.”
Senator Sodangi said that the case if established was another reason why parents should show godly examples to their children. “This is a lesson to all of us that we should be living above board and that we should be very godly because if we bring up our boys wrongly their misbehavior will affect us one day and even above all, in the hereafter.’’

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