A 40-year-old father of 20 children arrested by Adamawa State Police Command for allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl, has claimed that the minor seduced him.
During interrogation in Yola on Friday, October 13, 2023, the suspect, Muhammed Umar, who hails from Gusupan, Toungo Local Government Area of the state, admitted that he had sex with the minor but said she did not complain or cry during the act.
“She met me in my shop and said she wanted to buy sugar. She requested N2,000 to refund her stepmother. I dashed her N1,000, and she subsequently agreed to offer her body to me,” he said.
“She went by herself to where we met without anybody forcing her. I later followed her to the place and had sex with her,”
“She did not complain not to talk of crying during sex. She enticed me more than 3 times but this time around, I couldn’t resist the temptation. It was God who brought it to me.”
The suspect, who had married four wives and divorced two, said he was willing to take the minor as a wife if her father agrees.
On her part, the victim accused the suspect of raping her after her father sent her on errand on that fateful day to buy sugar at the shop.
According to the minor, the suspect sent her to bring a kettle for him from the house.
“I went and didn’t see the kettle, but while I was returning, he stopped me and dragged me into a nearby room, and raped me,” she said.
“He held me by the neck and threatened to slaughter me if I dare open my mouth. He told me that last year he had an issue with my father and they were yet to come to terms.”
Spokesperson of the command, SP Suleiman Nguroje, who confirmed the incident, said the suspect was arrested on Wednesday, October 11, 2023, after a complaint from the girl’s father.
The PPRO noted that the state Commissioner of Police, CP Afolabi Babatola, had ordered the Criminal Investigation Department to ensure discrete investigation and the prosecution of the suspect if found guilty.
