The father of a 10-year-old girl, Taofeek Olawale, yesterday explained why he tied his daughter, Abibat, to the ceiling and set fire under her for stealing the sum of N3,000.
Olawale, 41, and an indigene of Ede, Osun State, said he was only throwing a scare into her with the fire as deterrence when the fire burnt her private part.
The suspect and his wife, Romoke, were paraded yesterday in Ibadan by the commandant of the Oyo State Command of the National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Isikilu Akinsanya.
Akinsanya told journalists that the arrest was part of the responsibility of the Anti-human Trafficking and Child Protection Unit of the NSCDC to save and protect the lives and property of Nigerians, as enshrined in the 2003 Act, amended 2007.
The Commandant, who was represented at the press conference by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Oluwole Olusegun, alleged that Olawale, a carpenter residing in the Amuloko area of Ibadan and his wife tortured their daughter, Abibat, by tying the girl’s hand to the ceiling and putting fire under her until she confessed to the accusation of stealing N3,000 belonging to a neighbour, Rukayat Trimisiyu.
He further said that in the search for the money, the sum of N600 was found in Abibat’s bag, and the girl later brought the remaining N2,400 from where it was hidden in the house.
The NSCDC boss said Abibat was still recovering in the hospital from damage she suffered from the burns her father inflicted on her.
Olawale told journalists he was only attempting to scare his daughter and teach her some morals. “It is the devil that is at work,” he said.
Romoke dissociated herself from the assault, saying she divorced from Olawale seven years ago and was somewhere else when she heard about the incident.
