•Their motives, the consequences
By Perpetua Egesimba
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?
The other day, a 62-year-old man, Matthew Emeaguboro, in Apo, Abuja told the world that he impregnated his 13-year-old daughter. The father from hell, as he was tagged claimed that he was lured into the act by his daughter while he was having his bath. He also blamed his wife for not warming his bed often.
Recently, 49-year-old Tony Ehumadu, who hails from Mbaise in Imo State was caught in bed with his daughter by his wife. In his defence, Ehumadu allegedly said he raped his 15-yr-old daughter under the influence of alcohol. He added that he didn’t meet his daughter as a virgin.
Giving a graphic description of how he had been sleeping with his daughter in their Oko-Oba home in Abule-Egba area of Lagos State, he said: “I did the abominable act with my eldest daughter. But I only raped her twice. I don’t know what came over me. I am convinced that forces beyond me led me into committing the crime.
“Both incidents happened on Fridays. One Friday night, one of my friends invited me to a naming ceremony around Power Line, New Oko-Oba. I came back home drunk but my wife was not around. All my children, except the eldest, were asleep. Immediately, I rushed in and raped her. I did not meet her as a virgin. But the second time, my wife was at home.
“That Friday night, we were all watching a movie, when I suddenly stood up and went straight into my daughter’s room and started raping her. It was at that point that my wife caught me and started shouting. My wife did not want to go to the police because of the embarrassment it would bring to the family and because of her reputation, as a Customs officer. But her brother did.”
In the same vein, a 34-year-old man, Kennedy Michael, was also arrested by police in Lagos for allegedly impregnating his 13-year-old daughter whom he was accused of sleeping with since she was in primary 5.
In the case Fatai Ogundele, a commercial bus driver, after he divorced his wife, he started feasting on his 14-year old daughter, Titi, even though he remarried.
Take this from Titi: “One day, he took me out, telling my stepmother that he wanted to buy books, bags and clothes for me. I was very happy. But he took me to his friend’s house somewhere in Mushin and raped me there.” Explaining that she was a virgin at the time her father violated her, she added that he turned her to a sex object. According to her, “He beat me up when I did not allow him to have sex with me and that was how people knew about it.” But Ogundele put a lie to his daughter’s submission. “It is a lie. I only slept with her once,” he claimed.
Emeaguboro, Ehumadu, Ogundele and Michael are not the only members of the club of men, who sleep with their own daughters. Investigation revealed that the membership is large and the number is increasing all the time. Indeed, incest has become part of society.
In some cases, the girls are not raped but have consensus sex with their fathers. A source disclosed: “I know a lady who was dating her father. What I mean wa that her father was her regular boyfriend. They started dating when she was in the university. We used to think that he was her sugar daddy, not knowing that he was her real father. It continued until she developed a boil in her private part, which defied all treatment. It was in the course of seeking alternative treatment that the truth came out. They had to go to their village to sort things out traditionally.”
Why they do it
Reverend Elias Uchechi of Christian Pentecostal Ministry (CPM), Ajao Estate, Lagos, thinks it is a spiritual problem, stressing that it is against God’s will and purpose for creation.
Said he: “A man cannot sleep with his daughter; it is a spiritual problem. Any man who can sleep with his own daughter is under a negative influence, which is not from God but Satan because the aim of that action is to destroy the child’s destiny. Such action is going to bring a bad name to the family because it’s contrary to God’s will. The Bible talks about where men offered their daughters to idols. If you look at the Bible, because of what David did, it translated to the children and it became pronounced in the family whereby the son sleeps with the father’s women and brothers with sisters.”
He said that anybody who indulges in such cannot make heaven.
Mr. Oluwatoyin Adeniyi-Awosika, a public enlightenment and community relations practitioner, believes that it is strictly for ritual purpose. He said: “It’s for a simple reason; it’s ritualistic and nothing more because no sane man will do that. All those doing it are doing it strictly on ritual bases. It’s same thing as sleeping with a mad woman. Both the rich and the poor are in it. For the rich ones, they are doing it to sustain their riches because it has to be sustained. If you know the way the satanic operate, you have to constantly and periodically sacrifice something, usually, young virgins.
“I am not aware of anyone doing this outside ritual purpose because I don’t see why your child will attract you on that basis. Why would my daughter attract me? Most people who do it, don’t even want to do it but they don’t have a choice. When they go for the rituals, the choices they are given, maybe this is the easiest one. Others maybe to kill, bury human being alive, bring human parts and the rest of them. So, they prefer sleeping with their daughters with the notion that nobody will know. Most times, they use juju on their daughters so that they won’t know or talk.”
Adeniyi-Awosika further said: “The juju strategy is even getting weak because I have done a research on this sometime ago. The girl will even think that she is doing it in a dream. It is bad and not good for the society but as long we have this economic problem, not necessarily the recession. As long as the country has its economic challenges, all such things, as ‘one-chance’ rituals and incest will continue to happen.”
For His Royal Highness, Eze Godson Adiukwu, Eze Chinyere 1 of Ogbor/Achalu, Aboh Mbaise, Imo State, such men should not exist in the community, as it is an abomination. According to him, such a man deserves to be ostracised in the community.
He said: “A man who does that needs psychiatric treatment. In Igbo land, if you have a slightest trace of blood relationship with somebody, you are not supposed to marry the person let alone your own daughter. It’s forbidden; it is a taboo. We don’t mention it in Igbo land. If it were to be in those days, they would just take the person to the back of the evil forest and kill himthere. In my place in those days, a person caught doing that would appease the land and go round the market place naked, including the shrine to appease the gods. Even after that, you are not totally free. In fact, when you sleep with someone in the same village with you, you will appease the land. I read somewhere where such action is being approved in the Western world but here, our people will never condone it, it will destroy the girl and the person involve.’’
He said in present day, such a person will be handed over to the police since they cannot take laws into their hands, as it was done in the olden days.
A professor of Clinical Psychologist, Head of Department of Psychology, Lagos State University, Kayode Taiwo, said it is a psychological problem that needs psychological intervention.
“It is either the man has gone deranged or is involved in occultic practices. But the reason is simple, societal values do not allow such relationships between a father and his daughter or a man and his step daughter.
‘‘As far as societal perception is concerned, any man who engages in that needs psychological intervention because a man that does not give a damn about societal values has a problem with his cognition, that is, his thinking. And there are psychological technique treatments by which such are handled but psychological management of abnormality are not like drugs that you will give and see immediate effect,” the professor explained.
Consequences
For Nollywood practitioner, Don Kollins Onuekwusi, who is also a traditionalist, whatever that makes a man to lust after and sleep with his own daughter is madness. According to him, it is sacrilegious, adding that such action brings generational curse.
His words: “Such action is an abomination and back in the days, such men were excommunicated or ostracised from their community. No one buys from them or sells to them. Incest is a big offence in the laws of the land and in some cases, if such was not rooted out, it brings about pestilence, famine and sudden deaths in the community.”
He said that if such act was found out, the man and the girl would be used to cleanse the land. He added that the societal value of such a man would diminish to zero and no one would have regards for him anymore as he would not be allowed to speak in the gathering of men because he lacked all moral justifications to do so.
“Some of them may run mad, commit suicide and some ran away from the town or village out of shame and ills in the hands of the people.”
For Chief Imam, Alausa Secretariat Mosque, Alhaji Rafiu Babatunde Kassim, it is the sign of end-time as stated in the Quoran that people would be investing in futility and things that would not benefit them. He said Allah created and guiding us because if He had just created us without guiding us, we could have blamed Him for that.
He said: “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.’’
According to him, the problem is that people have forgotten Allah. “People have forgotten God and forsaken themselves. That is why a father will do that to his own daughter. Because you are married does not imply that you will get the fruit of the womb; it is a special gift and grace of God that you marry and beget children. Then God gave you a baby girl and you are now sleeping with her. 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; this 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.”
He advised people to move closer to God, adding that when one fears God, he will be wise and think in the right perspective. He urged mothers to always be around, watch and look out for their wards, as some fathers are useless and careless, and could be tempted.
What the law says
Barrister Comfort Ogunye, a gender, rights & social justice advocate and the founder of Female Leadership Forum, (FLF) Nigeria, responding on the issue, said the position of the law is inferred and listed under offences against morality, quoting section 214 of the Criminal Code.
“Any person who has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature (incest) or has carnal knowledge of an animal (bestiality) or permits a male person to have carnal knowledge of him or her against the order of nature (sodomy) is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.
‘‘Attempt to commit unnatural offences defined in section 214 is also guilty of a felony and liable to imprisonment for seven years.’’
She said offences relating to incest, where a man condescends to sleep or sexually assault his own daughter, whether she consents or not, is an unnatural offence, adding that the offender should be prosecuted and given a maximum sentence.
‘‘Besides the legal perspectives on such matters, morally speaking, incest is abominable. For Christians, it is an unpardonable sin, that was what warranted the biblical account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah,’’ she said.
Buttressing the position of the law, she disclosed: “On the 18th of September 2015, an Ikeja Magistrate Court sentenced a father to 7 years imprisonment for impregnating his two daughters while a 56 year old Abdullahi Zakari was remanded in Ikoyi Prisons for sexually assaulting his 18 year old daughter.”