“I cannot sleep with my children. The rape could have been from an outsider and not me. I didn’t know about it.” These were the words of 48-year-old Femi Onifade, who stands accused of defiling his nine and seven-year-old daughters.

Onifade, a welder, was arrested by the personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps [NSCDC] in Ondo State after his wife, Tope, filed a complaint that he committed the act at his residence, No 27 Liberty Hospital Road, Oluwatuyi area of Akure.

But when he was paraded at the NSCDC headquarters in Alagbaka, Akure, on Monday, the suspect said it was not possible for him to have carnal knowledge of his children because such was a taboo in Yoruba land.

He suggested the crime might have been committed by an outsider, alleging his wife of 11 years raised a false alarm on him.

Femi said,

“I used to have quarrels with my wife. We had a clash around 11pm on that day and she left the house and because of the curfew in town, I didn’t want her to take the children with her. I insisted that the children must remain with me. My wife left and did not come back.

“I went to her family to report and her family begged me. My wife came back two days later and asked me what happened to the children when she examined their private parts.

“My wife accused me of sleeping with our daughters and I said I could not have done it, because it was a taboo in Yoruba land. I am not happy because I was accused of what I did not do. I went to the palace of the Deji of Akure to take an oath for people to believe me.

“I don’t drink and I don’t smoke. It is a lie. I cannot sleep with my children. The rape could have been from an outsider and not me. I didn’t know about it

“The children were crying because they did not see their mother that night. My children used to cry whenever my wife and I were fighting. It was a neighbour, who told my wife that one of the girls cried till daybreak.”

However, his wife, Tope, who vowed to quit the 11-year-old marriage, said Femi told her that what she noticed in their daughters’ private parts was evidence of dysentery when she raised the alarm over her discovery.

Tope said the children informed her that their father inserted something in their private parts and also used his mouth.

She stated,

“The day we had a quarrel, my husband did not allow me to sleep in the house. I asked neighbours to beg him on my behalf, but he said I should go. He did not allow me take any of my daughters along. I had to find somewhere to sleep. The next day, a neighbour called me to say one of our daughters cried all through the night.

“The neighbour begged me to come back home. I came back and in the night, I noticed something in one of the children’s private parts. I asked my husband and he told me it was dysentery.

“I woke up the eldest daughter and asked her and she pointed at their father. The children said their father used to put something in their private parts.”

Tope added that tests carried out on the children revealed that both had been deflowered.

The Public Relations Officer of the NSCDC in the state, Olufemi Omole, said the suspect would soon be charged.