By Henry Umahi and Ngozi Nwoke
On October 24, 40-year-old Taofeek Sulaiman was arrested by men of Ogun State police command for allegedly having unlawful carnal knowledge of his 13-year-old step daughter. He was arrested following complaint lodged at Owode Yewa divisional headquarters by the mother of the victim, who volunteered that she got married to him after the death of her husband who happened to be the father of the victim.
She further said that her daughter informed her that the suspect, who is now her husband, has been having sex with her since October 14, adding that suspect threatened to kill her if she reported to anyone.
Following the report, policemen were detailed to the scene where the randy stepfather was promptly arrested. On interrogation, Sulaiman confessed to the commission of the crime, but blamed it all on the devil.
On October 6, operatives of the Ogun State Community, Social Orientation and Safety Corps (So-Safe Corps) arrested a 50-year-old father, Mr Olukayode Joshua, who allegedly turned his own 14-year-old daughter to a sex toy. So-Safe Corps said it swiftly responded to a distress call that Joshua was abusing his daughter sexually. It was gathered that but for the prompt intervention by the agency, the suspect would have been roasted by a mob.
The agency said: “It is so unfortunate that, in the course of our investigation, the victim revealed to our officers that her father has been using drugs for a very long time to seduce her and that she only noticed white discharge from her private part.”
But Joshua, who pleaded guilty to the crime, claimed he tasted the forbidden fruit only once. He denied using any drug on her.
In the case of Mfon Jeremiah, 39, he was arrested by men of Ogun state Police Command for allegedly impregnating his 13-years-old biological daughter. He was nabbed following a report lodged at Mowe divisional headquarters by the mother of the victim, who said that when she discovered that her daughter was pregnant, she asked her was responsible. And to her shock, the girl said it was her father who did it.
The victim was taken to the hospital where it was confirmed that, she was four months pregnant as at October.
The suspect confessed to the crime but claimed to be under spell when he did it.
For 52-years old Akin Isaac, he seemed to be addicted to having sex with his daughter. He had regular sex with his daughter since she was just six years old until she turned 18. During this period, he procured abortion for her voluntarily. He is now serving a 21-year jail sentence.
Julius Ochim, a 45-year-old commercial motorcyclist, landed in hot soup in October for allegedly impregnating his daughter in Ogun State. The pregnancy led to the delivery of a baby girl, who is about three years old.
According to the victim, her father started having sex with her since she was 13, after the death of her mother. She said that at the age of 18 she got pregnant for her father and he encouraged her to keep the pregnancy.
It was when she became 21 and a man came to ask for her hand in marriage that trouble started. Her father vehemently refused, insisting she must not get married.
When when some relatives intervened, Ochim stood his ground. He just couldn’t understand how his girl will become another man’s property. According to the girl, “I had to report to the police because I wanted to be free from his bondage.”
She explained that it took her so long to expose the evil act because “he told me that the consequences of exposing him were terrible.” Her father was apprehended following her report.
The police said: “She stated further that her father used to threaten her with cultural implication of refusing to sleep with him.”
Upon interrogation, the suspect cconfessed to sleeping with his daughter since the death of his wife, adding that he started having problems with the girl when she started dating another person whom she wanted to marry. He said the devil was behind his sexual relationship with his daughter.
One Orisakwe was arrested by police in August last year in Lagos for allegedly sleeping with his three biological daughters. It was gathered learnt that his wife made the accusation against him that the suspect slept with their daughters aged four, six and eight years.
Take this: Nnobi community of Anambra state barnished a lady identified as Queen Bassey and her father from the community for engaging in an incestuous affair that produced two children.
According to the lady, who was interrogated by some members of the community, she was deflowered by her father who made her become his wife.
But why would a man sleep with his own daughter? Ordinarily, it is strange or odd to even imagine that happening. But the fact is that many men are not only sleeping with the children they sired but also putting them in the family way. Now, how would you describe the fruits of such relationships? Are they children or grandchildren or both?
Why they do it
Eze Chibudum Wuche Amadi, Paramount ruler of Eneka community in Obio/Akpor LGA, Rivers State, said: “The act of a father sleeping with his daughter is caused by evil forces surrounding and controlling the family. It happens when either the man’s father or grandfather committed an incestuous act during his own time.
“What happens is that the repercussion of such act transfers from generation to generation of the man who committed the act. One would wonder what the repercussion of a father having sexual intercourse with his daughter is.
“The main consequence spiritually is that the man will remain cursed from generation to generation. His life and entire his family will remain in perpetual darkness. Dark clouds will surround him. All these happen spiritually in that only a person with spiritual ability can see and reveal them.
“The only remedy to the consequence is that such a man will confess his sins publicly on Eke Market day and desist from such act.Thereafter, a spiritual cleansing will be made on him and his daughter in the shrine. “This is our cultural practice. If the spiritual cleasing is not done, either the daughter’s son will commit the same act with his own daughter or the father’s son will continue from where his father stopped. However, there are some consequences that require instant madness on the father or the father will be banished into the evil forest and rendered an outcast from his village or community. In my community, such an act is known as evil and abominable by everyone. So we have never had such a case in decades because everyone is aware of the consequence.”
Pastor Ishieze Isaac, general overseer of the Mountain of Prayer Ministry, Rumueme, Port Harcourt, Rivers State said: “Incest is an abomination against God, Christianity and the people who commit it. Now what causes a father to sleep with his own dauther is demonic.
“Anything or act that has fallen short of God’s glory is demonic. Such a man is having a spiritual problem. You wonder the attraction in a daughter by her own father. You wonder the force behind a father sleeping with his own flesh and blood. And you discover that it is unfathomable.
“Even when you ask the father why he slept with his own daughter, he won’t be able to explain the reason behind his action because he is confused as to what led him to sleeping with his own daughter. And in the end, what you hear him say is that the devil pushed him. So nothing can cause a father to sleep with his own daughter if not a demon possessed man.
“In Leventicus chapter 18 verse 6-18, God warned us against approaching any of our close relatives to uncover their nakedness. God said I am the Lord. Thou shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother. Thou shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife for it is your father’s nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of sister, your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether you are brought up in the family or another home.
“You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter or daughter’s daughter, neither shall you uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness. God also curses anyone who lies with his sister, son, daughter, grandchildren, mother, father and close relatives. The biblical consequence for a father that sleeps with his daughter as seen in the book of Deteronomy chapter 27 verse 20 is that he is cursed. And until he stops the act, confesses his sins to God in prayers and gives his life to Jesus Chirst, he remains unclean in Christianity and will continue to dwell in iniquity.”
Mrs. Prisca Ekwueme, a medical doctor and psychiatrist at Braithwaite Memorial Hospital (BMH), Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said: “First, we need to examine the root cause behind the act and proceed with the solutions. People who indulge in incestuous acts are mostly from broken homes, dysfunctional homes and polygamous homes.
“Often times, they are people who were sexually abused or whose sexual orientation was distorted in childhood. It is a disturbing trend that quite a number of relatives find themselves sexually drawn towards a close relative – mothers, sons, fathers and daughters, brothers and sisters. “When we have cases of a father sleeping with his daughter, we first of all examine his background, the condition of his mind, his lifestyle and mental health. In most cases, fathers who do such are mostly undergoing mental illnesses caused by the intake of illicit drugs or are emotionally damaged from childhood.
“What should be done is to take the daughter away from the father’s reach and away from that environment to a safe place to avoid being stigmatised which if allowed to happen, could cause emotional and psychological distress to her. At that moment, she needs thorough counselling and care. The father is also made to undergo counselling and therapy. The only cause of incest is mental health issues.”
Chief Imam, Surulere Cental Mosque, Alhaji Yusuf Rabiu Adejunwo, said, “People who sleep with their relatives do so for ritual purposes. I don’t see any other reason that will make a father have sexual interest in his daughter.
“We have been told by the prophet of Islam that when we are moving towards the end-time, a lot of things will be happening. There is a portion of the Quoran that says in the evening time, whatever that will not profit human beings is what they will be doing. They will be investing in futility. “They will be using their wisdom, knowledge and power to oppress other people, doing many irregularities. What will not favour them is what they will be capitalising on; except those people that know God will know that whatever they spend here, they are still going to spend a greater proportion of their life elsewhere with their God.
“When they know that this planet is not the end of everything; they are still going to live somewhere where they will give account of stewardship and then, they will be doing good works. They will not let whatever that is happening to them control their urge. They will remember that whatever they are doing, there is one supernatural power watching over them.
“When you know that somebody is taking cognizance of your actions, you will not misbehave. It is madness and one of the signs of the end-time. People who do this have nothing to justify their actions. It is an aberration, an abomination and uncalled for, both in Christianity and in Islam.
“Even the traditional religion forbids such a thing. Quoran Chapter 17 verse 32 says: ‘And do not come near adultery; it is immoral and evil way’. There are some sins in Islamic faith that do not have forgiveness and incest is one of them. The curse of Allah will be on such a father. In Islam, when you give out your daughter in marriage, you will receive some spiritual blessings and you will even feel highly elated and receive gifts that you have brought up a responsible person, who is going to be a nation builder.”