Father allegedly assaults daughters, aged 2, 9 sexually
*As Agencies launch manhunt
The Niger State Child Rights Protection and Enforcement Agency and the Niger State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development have collaboratively, commenced an organised search for one Mohammed “Mai Keke,” a father who allegedly sexually assaulted his two infant daughters.
The underaged victims are said to be
2-years-old and 9-years-old, respectively .
The abominable incidents took place at Niger State
According to reports, the man’s incestuous activity against the minors was not hidden from other family members but was shielded by the latter in a bid to protect them from the stigma attached to the practice.
Investigations revealed that when the nine-year-old girl discovered that her father was also allegedly abusing her two-year-old sister, she decided to keep sealed lips in order to protect the man from being exposed claiming that the father sternly warned that she would die if she opened up to anyone about his amorous and indecent acts.
The story became messy when another man within the compound who got wind of the girls’ father’s incestuous activities also decided to take advantage of the nine-year-old girl by sexually molesting her.
It was further gathered that he took advantage of the girl several times by sending her on an errand to a nearby store to buy groceries for him and whenever she returned with the items, he would take her into his room and sexually abuse her.
Sources disclosed that this routine went on for numerous times up until her father got wind of what his neighbour was doing to his daughter, but unfortunately, he could not take any action because he prepared the grounds for the illicit act and was also involved.
It was learnt that while the girl’s grandmother wanted the father and the neighbour punished for their crimes, the grandfather, it was said often persuaded her not to get the law enforcement personnel involved praying rather that the family should commit the matter before God.
This was the situation even when the matter was eventually brought before the Director of Planning, Research and Statistics in the Niger State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mary Yisa and her colleague, the Director of Social Welfare Services Rachel Twaki, who both confirmed the incident to the publication.
They explained that the case was at last brought to their office by the girl’s grandmother, but the abused nine-year-old girl did not initially want to open up and confess against her father.
However, it was not after a counselling session to allay her fears and which further assured her that she wouldn’t die after telling the truth, that calmed her down before she finally admitted that her father was s3xually assaulting her.
“The case was brought to us concerning a father that raped his two children – a two-year-old girl and a nine-year-old girl, but the nine-year-old girl was shielding the whole thing until the girl was drawn closer and we asked her, if they said she would die if she told anyone and she said, yes.
“We started counselling her, and she opened up. It’s so devastating for a father to enter into his own two-year-old daughter. There were testimonies that the wife was shielding the man. The nine-year-old girl was not going to talk until she was reassured of her safety. The case is ongoing, and another man somewhere also took advantage of the nine-year-old girl, probably knowing what was happening.
“He lured her by asking her to go and buy him something. The girl comes back and he will mate with her. I just inquired about the case because the grandmother insisted that the man should be punished, but the grandfather said he has left everything to God and that we should end the case,” they said.
A child protection officer of the Niger State Child Rights Protection and Enforcement Agency, Makusuidi Suleiman said the suspect was still at large, but the Agency has placed him under surveillance to ensure he is trailed and apprehended.
The Project Director for Strengthening Community Active Participation Against Gender Based Violence, as implemented by the Global Promoters for Community Initiative with support from Nigerian Women Trust Fund, Mr Kalejaiye Olasukanmi said “incest is a crime against humanity in Nigeria.
“We want the relevant agencies to act and ensure that Mohammed is apprehended and made to face the wrath of the law. The communities want justice. We want all relevant stakeholders to be involved in the fight against GBV and to ensure that victims get the required justice and the perpetrators are brought to book,” he stressed.
