by ‘Jola Sotubo

A man in Oyo has been arrested after it was reported that he had forcefully indulged in sexual intercourse with his own daughter.

Sanni Idowu, 48, a resident of Ibadan, the state capital is said to have begun the incestuous assault on his daughter from when she was just 10 years old.

He succeeded in keeping his victim mute about the affair by threatening to kill her and he managed to hide it from his wife, the girl’s stepmother, who had been ill for years.

The Sun reports:

Summoning courage, Kafayat (not her real name), now 15 years old, told a woman in her neighbourhood about the despicable act. The woman in turn reported to Mrs A.O. Ogungboro, a social worker with the Federation of Muslim Women Associations of Nigeria (FOMWAN) in Orita-Bashorun, Ibadan.

Ogungboro in partnership with the Oyo State’s Ministry of Women Affairs lodged a formal report at the Iyaganku police station.

In quick response, Anti-Human Trafficking officers at the State Criminal Investigation Bureau (SCIB), Iyanganku swung into action and arrested Idowu at his Amuloko home. Expectedly, news of the man’s arrest for subjecting his daughter to incest shocked many of the residents to their marrows.

Idowu had two wives: his wife, Iyabosola has been ill since 2007 while Yemisi, the second wife and mother of Kafayat divorced him few months after giving birth to Kafayat. She left little girl in the care of Iyabosola with the other children in the family.

With his first wife incapacitated by ill health and unable to meet his sexual needs, an evil thought came into Idowu’s mind to make Kafayat, who was just attaining puberty fill the role Iyabosola could not perform.

One night in 2009, he sneaked into the room where Kafayat was sleeping, overpowered her and had carnal knowledge of the girl, who was deflowered in the process. For the succeeding days, months and years he continued the incestuous act to the pain of the girl, until he was exposed.

When she spoke with Sunday Sun, Kafayat said fear kept her from revealing the abuse her father was putting her through because he often threatened to behead her if she dared to tell anyone about his abominable act.

Eventually she became bold enough to spill the beans and told her stepmother. She said that the father was made to sign an undertaking to desist from the abominable act. Rather than stop, the father continued to sleep with her, often on the bare floor of the sitting room while covering her mouth to prevent her from shouting.

She also said that anytime she asked him for money he would insist on having sex with her first before giving her the money. “It was when I could no longer tolerate it that I confided in a woman in our area, leading to his arrest,” Kafayat said.

While speaking with Sunday Sun at the office of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the State Criminal Investigation Bureau (SCIB), Idowu admitted committing the crime, adding that it was the devil that pushed him into it.

He added that he started having sexual intercourse with her early this year and not 2009 as been claimed by her.

“I don’t know what came over me, I know its an abominable act, I know it’s evil, but I only sleep with her thrice, she was lying against me when she said I sleep with her everytime. She was tutored to lie against me.”

Meanwhile, Idowu has been arraigned in court, where he is being prosecuted for having carnal knowledge of his daughter.