Police in Ondo State have arrested a 52-year-old man, Usman Momoh Sanni, for allegedly having sexual relationship with his 19-year-old daughter.
The victim, who gave her name as Fatima, said her father took her virginity on the kitchen floor when she was thirteen years old.
According to her, her father would normally wake her up in the dead of the night, take her to the kitchen and sleep with her under threat.
Sanni’s arrest came shortly after the First Lady of the state, Arabinrin Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, waded into the matter.
“When Arabinrin Akeredolu got wind of the matter last week, she sent a delegation to Owo, led by the Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Gender Research and Documentation, Mrs Temitope Daniyan, in company of the State Chairperson of the Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA.
“The move, therefore led to the re-arrest of the suspect who had been arrested earlier and released.
The victim who has been in the custody of the First Lady, while narrating her ordeal said her father had been threatening to kill her if she dared expose him.
“Mother would not listen”
When asked if her mother was aware, she said whenever she made the move to tell her, she would not give her a listening ear and the abuse kept coming regularly until last December when she declined and fled their home.
She also said anytime she refused her father request, she would sleep outside their apartment till daybreak.
It was gathered that the last straw that broke the camel’s back was when Usman ‘took’ Fatima to Havanna hotel in Owo on December 24, with an intent to have her as usual, but she refused and consequently absconded from home.
Suspect confesses
The suspect was said to have confessed to the crime as he was quoted as saying that he slept with his daughter once.
He also blamed the devil for his actions.
The spokesman for Police in the State, Mr Tee Leo Ikoro, said further investigation was still ongoing noting that “it is case that could be swept under the carpet.”
“We will do everything possible within our means and legally to ensure that the man is prosecuted and the outcome will be known to everybody because I have listened to the girl and I think it’s pathetic.” he said.