The wicked Ogun father

LAST week, yet another story of unspeakable cruelty surfaced as personnel of the Western Nigeria Security  Network (Amotekun) arrested a 45-year-old man, Gbenga Ogunfadeke, for confining and torturing two of his biological children aged 18 and 17 years to death. According to a statement issued by the Amotekun Corps Commandant, CP David Akinremi (rtd),  in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, the suspect was arrested following a complaint by his ex-wife identified as Busola Otusegun. Otusegun was said to have reported the case to the Amotekun operatives at Ibiade in Ogun Waterside Local Government Area of the state. According to the complainant, she had three children with the suspect before their marriage collapsed years ago, and the suspect requested custody of the children. This, she said, she acquiesced to and subsequently relocated to Delta State where she remarried.

She had had no direct contact with the children ever since, but claimed to have been in constant touch with the suspect concerning their welfare, and she only learnt of the death of her children when her third child ran into one of her siblings at Ibiade on March 30 and narrated the ordeal he and his late siblings had faced at the hands of their father between April and June 2022 in Ijebu-Ode where they all lived with the suspect before he relocated to Ibiade. The statement quoted the survivor as alleging that their father chained and locked them in solitary confinement without food and water for over three months, which led to the death of his two siblings, but he had miraculously survived the ordeal. Instructively, the suspect, when interrogated, admitted to the confinement of the children for months, but denied not feeding them and being responsible for their death.

According to him, he took the dastardly step because the late victims were involved in theft and he wanted to deter them from such criminal acts. He further claimed that the deceased had fallen ill and were taken to hospital for treatment at different times, but unfortunately died in the process. Said Akinremi: “What is however curious about his defence is that neither the hospital where he claimed the two children had died in Ijebu Ode nor the place where he allegedly buried them behind the rented apartment he lived before relocating to his present abode in Ibiade with the third child could be located. The fact that he refused to make the incidents known to any member of the family also gives course for concern. The suspect is a herbalist, thus further fueling the suspicion of having killed the deceased for rituals.” Akinremi said the case had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department of the Nigeria Police for further investigation and eventual prosecution.

There is really no way to ponder this case without shuddering with horror. It sounds extremely distressing that anyone would chain down his own biological children for months, and in extremely inclement circumstances. This is a case of extreme betrayal, and it is incredible that this devious act was not discovered by neighbours, let alone reported to the appropriate authorities, even when it claimed two souls. This story really conveys once again the growing descent of many in the country into mental crisis leading to the commission of unimaginable and inhuman acts. For how could a sane father decide to chain his children down? What could be the objective of such an abominable act? What could the suspect possibly gain from killing his own children? If there is a sub-text of ritual killing, just what could the suspect have hoped to acquire with the proceeds of his alleged crime that would come anywhere close to the precious lives of his teenage children?

Evidently, there are reasons to doubt the sanity of such a father, leaving us to reiterate our position that the current deplorable living conditions in the country is driving many into mental crisis. Without excusing such behaviour or preempting police investigations, we state once again that the society and the government have to deal with the underlying problem of inhospitable living conditions as part of the efforts to stem this ugly spectre of irresponsible and abnormal behaviour. Besides, it is also not difficult to see the pernicious effects of marital malady and a broken home in this tragic episode. It is incredible that a mother, any mother, would fail to see her own children for years on account of a broken marriage and subsequent remarriage. If children have become so dispensable and valueless, then we wonder what the reason would be for claiming to be a parent, or even going into marriage at all. This is, to put it mildly, negligence that borders on outright lunacy, and we cannot accept Otusegun’s bilious alibi. As it were, because of the antics of an egregiously irresponsible mother, two teenagers who could have been rescued from an abusive father lie in their untimely graves, a metaphor for parental terror.

In the present instance, the government must ensure that the suspect is properly charged with the offence of multiple murder and attempted murder and aggravated assault and made to pay the full penalties for them. This would at least show that there are consequences for such abnormal behaviour and deter others tempted to act in similar fashion.

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