48-year-old man, Mr Idowu Sanni, was arrested at Ifedapo Amuloko area of Ibadan, Oyo State, for having carnal knowledge of his 15-year-old daughter, Hassana (not real name).
Hassanah, who was the only child from his mother for his father, disclosed to law enforcement agents that the man started the unlawful relationship with her five years ago, when she was just 10 years old. Her mother, who was Sanni’s second wife, had since remarried while the first wife still lived with him till he was arrested.
Sanni, a draughtsman, was on Wednesday, November 27, remanded in Agodi prisons, Ibadan, after he was arraigned at Iyaganku Magistrates’ Court 2, Ibadan, for defiling the teenager. The girl is currently being taken care of by Child’s Protection Network while the Oyo State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare had also shown interest in the case.
Hassanah told Crime Reports that her mother told her she left her father when he asked her to abort her second pregnancy.
“According to my mother, my father’s excuse was that the senior wife was also pregnant and he didn’t want them to give birth at the same time. After the abortion, my mother said she went to her mother and narrated her experience. My grandmother asked her to stay with her and not return to my father, saying that a man who loves his wife would never ask her to abort his own child.
“My mother said she thought my father would come and beg her, but to her surprise, he asked her to come and pack her things from his house. She took me with her and I was with my mother until I was five years old when my father came to take me from her. He also refused her access to me.
“He started having sex with me when I was 10 years old. I told my father’s senior wife and she reported at Iyaganku police station. He was asked to sign an undertaking that he would not do such again.
“Shortly after, he started again. Anytime I was preparing to go to where I was under apprenticeship as a hairdresser, he would ask me to go and bring something for him from the sitting room. He would grab me from behind, cover my mouth with his palm and push me down. He would then have sex with me.
“When I started menstruating, he would not come to me during my periods. He used to know whenever I was observing my period because I would not be able to join others to pray. Once my periods ended, he would start coming again. My step-mother is sick and was always in her room, so she didn’t know what was going on.
“If I told him that I would tell my stepmother, he would ask me not to do so, threatening that he would disown me and cut off my head. I told a man living beside our house and he asked me to go back to my father to ask if he was my real father. However, I could not ask because I found that too heavy for my mouth at my age.
“Recently, I went to my colleague’s house to collect my boss’s money from her. When I came back, my father said I went to a man. The following morning, he came to where I slept and started beating me. He said I should not return to his house until I have brought a suitor. Since I had none, I told a neighbour and he took me to a lady so that I could stay with her. I had slept in the lady’s room for two days when the neighbour came and asked me to leave, saying my father had brought policemen to arrest him.
“I returned home and my boss asked me why I left home. I told another woman who used to visit my boss and she informed another person. That was how Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN) was informed and they came to take me away from him.”
In his statement, the girl’s father confessed to have had sex with his daughter but denied that he started five years ago. Saying that he began to sleep with Hassanah this year, the father of five blamed the devil for his action.
Narrating how the sexual relationship between him and his daughter happened, Sanni said: “In March 2013, my daughter came to my room to ask for her feeding allowance. I hugged her, pushed on the bed and had sex with her. I did it the second time in April. Whenever I was having sex with her, my wife would not know because she was staying in another room. The girl didn’t use to cry or shout and I didn’t meet her as a virgin.
“On October 23, I had sex with her again. On October 26, the chairman of my neighbourhood’s landlord association called me that FOMWAN came to pick my daughter and asked me to see them in their office. I went there and was taken to Iyaganku police station.”
However, Hassana dismissed her father’s claim of not being the one who deflowered her, saying she had never had any sexual relationship with any man except her father.
The case has been adjourned to December 9.
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