According to him, “It is a taboo in Asaba community and cannot be tolerated by the community. If it happens here, the father would instantly be excommunicated from the community.
The fascinating incestuous act involving a 52 year old father and his daughter in Nigeria has continued to generate unfortunate controversies, more so, as the fate of the offspring of the marriage now hangs in the balance.
Huhuonline.com understands that Sunny, an Asaba-based former employee of the non-operational Nigeria Railways Corporation (NRC) had unknowingly contracted his daughter, Funmi in a clandestine marriage which resulted in Funmi bearing two male children for her own father.
Our checks reveal that Sunny, in the course of his job in Lagos as a staff NRC, met his first “wife”, Bola with whom he had an unsteady relationship that led to an unwanted pregnancy.
Unfortunately for Sunny, he was thrown out of his job due to the fall of the Nigeria Railways Corporation which made him relocate to Asaba, Delta state capital to seek greener pastures, leaving his heartthrob behind in Lagos to cater for the unborn child after a relationship that lasted four years.
As luck would have it, for Bola, who had lost all vital contacts with Sunny, she had a safe delivery of a daughter, Funmi whom until the incestuous act, did not know she had a father known to still be alive.
Although sources close to the family said, Sunny was not formally married to Funmi's mother, fate however played itself out on them when, after several years later, Sunny encountered Funmi alongside her friends on their first visit to Asaba from Lagos. That was how the immoral and incestuous bliss between father and daughter culminated into a union that produced two male children. After the first child, Bola had a second male child for Sunny in quick succession and Funmi’s mother, who did not envisage anything of chance, queried her daughter for having a second child for a man whom she has not given her consent to, but the relationship soon turned awry when Funmi's mother visited Asaba to nurse her second grandchild. To her chagrin, Funmi's mother (Bola) on her arrival at the Summit Road residence in Asaba, discovered that her supposedly son-in-law was her former runaway lover for whom she had Funmi.
Olikeze of Ahaba/Secretary to Asagba-In-Council speaks on incest
Huhuhonline.com spoke with Chief (Dr.) John Iloba, Olikeze of Asaba and Secretary to the Asagba-In-Council on the traditional and social implications of such incestuous act.
According to him, “It is a taboo in Asaba community and cannot be tolerated by the community. If it happens here, the father would instantly be excommunicated from the community.
“The daughter will also be in trouble because to be able to yield to the father is unacceptable. It is expected that she would get angry and inform people. But the way it stands now, be rest assured that nobody will ever ask for her hand in marriage again. Her marriage has forever remained stalled.
“There is also no excuse for them to claim they did not know that they were blood relations because it is totally wrong for anybody to have an affair with a person without knowing his or her background. It means the father could have as well made love to a leprous patient without asking questions.
“The case of the daughter already bearing children for the father, is another story altogether. Offspring from such immoral act cannot be said to be children of the family because it remains a taboo. It is completely unacceptable.
Speaking further on what becomes of the children, Chief Iloba said, “If the father so chooses, and having already been ostracized from the community, he may possibly remarry the daughter and keep the children elsewhere but that cannot be accepted in Asaba community. No! Not here. It is forbidden.”
Families perform parting rites in Asaba
Necessary traditional rituals have been performed by elders of both families who immediately put an end to the union that has brought ignominy to families. Following the traditional detachment rites, Funmi has since returned to Lagos with her mother, in an effort to deal with her reprehensible marriage to her father.
One of the elders in the quarters who joined in performing the parting rituals, Chief Benson Aisudo confirmed that the Asaba tradition frowns at such ignoble act, adding that Sunny risks banishment from Asaba even though it was a family affair.
Meanwhile, the two children produced from the incestuous union had been handed over to Sunny's sister in the course of the dissolution of their marriage and subsequent traditional demands, whether to face banishment or not.
According to Mrs. Ifeoma Enachi, the fate of the children now hangs in the balance as they are already seeking to know the whereabouts of their mother.
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