A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja has sentenced a 19-year-old teacher, Abdullahi Abbass, to life imprisonment for raping his nine-year-old pupil.
Justice M. Osho-Adebiyi handed down the sentence after finding Abbass guilty of violating Section 2 of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015, which prescribes life imprisonment for rape.
According to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), which prosecuted the case, Abbass, a teacher in a private school in the Kwali Area Council, lured the boy after school hours on March 19, 2025, and raped him through the anus.
In a statement on Saturday, NAPTIP’s National Press Officer, Vincent Adekoye, said the victim reported the assault to his mother, leading to the suspect’s arrest and prosecution.
Reacting to the judgment, NAPTIP Director-General, Mrs. Binta Adamu Bello, hailed the conviction as a major victory in the agency’s campaign against sexual violence.
“This is a landmark judgment that carries the commensurate punishment for the offender.
It will serve as a deterrent to others, and the convict’s name will be entered in the Sex Offenders Register,” she said.
Bello commended the judiciary and the Nigeria Police for their collaboration, stressing that the agency remains resolute in its efforts to curb rape, domestic violence, and other sexual offences nationwide.
The conviction comes months after another teacher, Pascal Ofomata, was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment by the Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Court in Awka, Anambra State, for defiling his 11-year-old male student.