- It’s diabolical, says cleric
In recent times there has been the rising incidences of fathers sleeping with their under-aged daughters with some going as far as impregnating them in the process.
The recent being the case of a self-claimed pastor, Daniel Udoh, who confessed to raping his 7-year old daughter, blaming the devil and the beauty of his daughter for the act.
The accused who is the founder of Jesus is a Barrister Church in Akapabuyo, Calabar was paraded by the Cross Rivers State Police Command and confessed to have repeatedly raped his daughter.
The daughter, it was gathered, has been taken to the hospital for treatment for the injuries she sustained from the act in an undisclosed location.
Another suspect was also paraded in Ogun state.
The suspect, Julius Ochim, also confessed to have been sleeping with his daughter for the past years, and even impregnated her.
According to the Ogun State police command, the daughter who resides in Shagamu with her father was forced to report her father to the police after eight years of having sex with her.
The state Police Command spokesperson, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the suspect began having sexual intercourse with the victim shortly after his wife’s passing in the year 2009.
Oyeyemi confirmed that Ochim who is 45 years old, started having issues with his daughter as soon as she revealed interest to marry a love interest.
Another suspect, this time, a 53-year old man, Promise Eshiet, also confessed to raping his 13-year old daughter in Lagos while he was arraigned at an Ogba Chief Magistrate Court.
In his confession, Eshiet narrated how he has been sleeping with his daughter in the last three years.
The 53-year-old also told the court that he deflowered his daughter at the age of 10 in 2015 and has been sleeping with her since.
Reacting to the negative trend and its implication for the society, 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.
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 occultism 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,” the professor explained.
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.
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.