Photo of NSCDC officials and the culprit.
A 41-year-old man in Kogi State has disclosed how and why he deprived his biological daughter of her virginity and sexually abused her for three years.
The suspect, now in the custody of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Kogi Command, confessed to the security operatives that he committed the crime after his wife abandoned him with their children, two females.
According to him, because his wife’s action hypnotized him, he began to have affection for their eldest daughter, who was 16 years of age as of 2020.
Speaking while parading the suspect on Wednesday at NSCDC Command Headquarters, Lokoja, the state’s Commandant, Ahmad Gandi, said the command received a complaint lodged by a Non-Governmental Organisation on May 5.
According to him, the complaint was lodged on a case of defilement, rape and incest in which the suspect is the victim’s biological father.
It was revealed during the investigation that the younger sister of the abused girl had earlier advised that they should either commit suicide or kill their father after he refused to stop the abusive act he started with the eldest from 2020 to 2023.
After some moments of grilling, the accused father admitted to committing the act.
The NSCDC Command affirmed that the suspect would be charged in court after concluding the investigation. Gandi commended the NGO for reporting the case to the command while urging other victims in the society who were dying in silence to come out and report such cases.
Gandi, however, said journalists are forbidden to disclose the identity and names of both the victim and the suspect due to the sensitivity of the case to avoid the victim’s stigmatisation.
Narrating her ordeal, the victim reportedly told newsmen that she had been sexually abused by her father since 2020 after her mother left home.
Her words read: “It happened in 2020 when my mum left home, and since then, my Dad has been sexually abusing me.
“In 2021, my father impregnated me and took me to a clinic where they aborted the pregnancy I had for him.
“I couldn’t leave the house because of my younger sister as I was afraid my father could do the same thing to my sister,” the victim said.
By Richard Ogunsile