Football academy proprietor in police custody over shaving of boys’ pubic hair
The Lagos State police command yesterday paraded the owner of a football school, Magico Football Academy, Agege, for allegedly shaving the pubic hair of teenage boys that are purportedly his wards.
The suspect, Victor Ajidome, however, denied the allegation as he insisted he was being framed by his detractors.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, told journalists that the suspect was apprehended after one of the boys, 11-year-old Salaudeen Oluwaseun, fell ill and told his parents the suspect had shaved his pubic hair six times.
Edgal sniffed a case of ritual, but quickly clarified that investigation was ongoing and that the suspect might be charged to court at the conclusion.
Oluwaseun strengthened the police commissioner’s suspicion, saying the last time Ajidome shaved his armpit and pubic hair was on May 9, 2018. He added the suspect warned him, as he usually did each time he did the shaving, not to tell his parents.
The boy said, “We do not belong to his team. We met him during a football match and he invited us to his house at Alagba Estate. He used to talk about football to us and would dash us N100 or N200. He told us to be coming to his house every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
“I went with my friends the first time. He asked me if I had ever shaved the hair on my armpit and private part and I said no. And then he shaved it. He was talking about football as he was doing it. He warned us not to tell anyone and that I should be coming to his place to collect N100.”
Another boy, Oluwadare Ifeoluwa, 15, who said Ajidome also asked him if he had ever shaved his pubic hair, told our correspondents that the suspect left him alone after he answered him in the affirmative.
Ifeoluwa said, “The man used to give us money every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He would tell some other boys to come visit him on Tuesday and Thursday. The first day he saw me, he asked for my name. About three weeks later, he asked me if I was at puberty stage. I said no.
He said he wanted to check it, and after doing so, he asked if I had ever shaved my pubic hair. I said yes and he replied I should not bother.
“But my friends said they had never shaven theirs. The man shaved Oluwaseun’s pubic hair six times and that of Damilare (another boy) twice. He told us that no one should know he usually asked such questions.”
But Ajidome, expressing shock at the boys’ statements, insisted they had never been inside his house. He, however, admitted giving them money regularly, saying he was only assisting them financially.
“These kids are not even in my team. They have never been to my house. I used to throw money to them from the balcony. They were always complaining that their parents weren’t giving them money for food and books.
“It is untrue that I took them into my house. I play with my team on Saturdays and I can’t be meeting the boys during the week because I go to work.
“I told the mothers of these children that I have three kids, and if I had done anything diabolical to their children, may I lose mine while I am alive. But if I did not, their children would die in their presence,” he said.
Ajidome, who claimed to have over 80 kids undergoing football training at his academy, said no one had ever complained of such an allegation against him.
“They have disgraced me. Come to think of it, do those kids even have pubic hair? They are so small,” he quipped.