Friday, May 30, 2025 - A female tailor in Osun State, identified as Iya Abdullahi, allegedly attacked a teenage girl with a hot-pressing iron for reportedly complaining about a dress the victim had given her to sew.
The assault occurred on Wednesday at the tailor’s shop
in the Obelawo Area of Osogbo after the teenager (name withheld) reportedly
visited the shop to return her wrongly made clothing.
Recounting her ordeal, the victim, who has been rushed
to a private hospital for treatment, displayed the injuries she sustained from
the hot iron on her body and sought justice.
She said she had taken a cloth to Iya Abdullahi to sew
for her, and after discovering that the dress was too short for her to wear,
she returned it.
“Instead of adjusting the dress, Iya Abdullahi started
raining curses on me. I rebuked her, and she started flogging me with a stick.
I struggled to dispossess her of the cane. Immediately, she went into her shop
and took a hot pressing iron and used it to press my body in different places,”
she lamented in pain,” the victim narrated.
Meanwhile, a non-governmental organization in the state, Value Female Network, has demanded justice for the 17-year-old survivor, wondering how “something that began as a minor dispute over a clothing issue escalated into a violent attack on the minor.”
In a detailed report of the incident made available to The
Guardian in Osogbo and also forwarded to the Ministry of Justice for action,
the Executive Director of VFN, Dr. Costly Aderibigbe-Saba, said, “The case
further involves allegations of abuse of authority by the tailor’s husband, a
police officer, who is reportedly trying to suppress the matter.
"The 17-year-old girl had given her cloth to a local
tailor for sewing. Upon receiving the finished outfit, she found it too small
and returned it for necessary adjustments. A minor disagreement followed this
request. The tailor, rather than addressing the complaint, began laying curses
on the girl.
"In an attempt to defend herself verbally, the girl
responded, which further enraged the tailor. The tailor then physically
assaulted the girl and went as far as using a hot pressing iron to burn
multiple areas on her body, causing severe injuries.
Following the brutal attack, the girl was rushed to
Olorungbebe Medical Center, Zone B, Palace Road Community, Ido-Osun, Osun
State, for urgent medical attention. The tailor’s husband, a police officer,
has reportedly intervened to suppress the case and prevent it from being
reported or investigated properly. There are strong allegations that he is
using his position and influence in the police force to shield his wife from
justice.”
Aderibigbe-Saba explained the background of the
alleged assault, saying that Aduke Obelawo, a prominent gender rights advocate,
reported the matter to the organisation.
It was gathered that the matter has been reported to
the command of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps.
When contacted by the publication, Iya Abdullahi explained
that the teenager had abused her first, stepped on the clothes she was selling,
and that both of them got injured while dragging the hot pressing iron.
“She (survivor) brought a pair of trousers to me through a
boy. She told the boy to tell me that the cloth belonged to the boy’s mother, a
claim that was later found to be lies. Having realized that her lies were
busted, she started abusing me,” she said.
“She came to my shop to scatter my clothes and even stepped
on them. We started fighting, and she took the pressing iron, and I started
struggling it with her; that was how she got the bruises, and I also got
injured on my finger. Her mother brought Civil Defence officers, and my
husband, who is a police officer, also intervened.”
Meanwhile, the NGO on Thursday revealed that the tailor had
brought policemen from Dugbe Police Station in Osogbo to arrest and detain the
victim’s mother.
She was said to be acting on the influence of her husband,
who is a police officer in the state.
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