The Ondo State Government has been sued by a widow, Mrs. Opeyemi Adegboyega, in the state high court over the purported disappearance of Oluwaseun Omoniyi, who was under the care of the Ondo State Juvenile Home, Akure.
The state’s attorney general and commissioner for women’s affairs have both joined the lawsuit.
The victim was brought into the juvenile home in 2017 when he was three months old, according to the claimant, who just lost her husband. At the time, she was undergoing treatment at a hospital.
According to her, the juvenile facility offered to take custody of her other two kids so she could follow up on her treatment, but she and her mother decided to solely leave Omoniyi there.
She claims that after making a full recovery one month later, she returned to the juvenile facility with her mother to reclaim her baby son but was told he had passed away and his body had been taken to the mortuary of the Ondo State Specialist Hospital.
She claims that when she arrived at the state hospital, the staff informed her that the facility had not been given any child’s corpse from the juvenile home at the time, and that all petitions made to the state governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, the ministry of women’s affairs, and the department of state services regarding the matter had been ineffective.
Adegboyega requested a court order ordering the defendants to account for the whereabouts of the boy who vanished while in the care of the juvenile home under the state Ministry of Women Affairs’ supervision. Adegboyega filed the lawsuit through her attorney, Mr. Oju Kekemeke.
She also requested that the defendants pay her N50m in “exemplary and aggravated damages,” N40m in general damages for the excruciating pain, agony, loss of personal property, and psychological trauma brought on by the defendants’ negligence, and N5m in damages for the “cost of this action.”
In addition, the claimant asked the court to rule that from the time of the judgment until it is completely liquidated, 15% interest be paid on the judgment amount annually.