Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City
For allegedly sexually harassing his 17-year old stepdaughter, Mr. Ijezei Nobel, 66, is now in police net for questioning by the Afuze Divisional Police Headquarters, Owan East Local Government Area of Edo State.
The Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Mr A. Bamidele, who confirmed the arrest, said Nibel was arrested on Monday after the stepdaughter told the police about her predicament with her stepfather.
 According to Bamidele, “Nibel had instituted a case of abduction against two persons, Mr. Ohikhuare Victor and Friday Bello, over the disappearance of his stepdaughter on Saturday Morning.â€
He said in the statement, Nibel narrated how he woke up his stepdaughter around 4 a.m. to help him fetch water in the bathroom to have a bath.
 “In obedience, the stepdaughter woke up from her sleep but disappeared from the house into thin air without fetching the water.
“After sometime, Nibel was said to have raised the alarm when he got to the bathroom but could not find the water nor the girl in the house.
It was at this point he was said to have gone to the police station and instituted the case against the duo of Victor and Bello.
 “His reason for suspecting the duo is that earlier on Saturday evening Victor paid a visit to Bello, his cousin, within the neighbourhood and saw Victor and his stepdaughter exchange phone numbers,†the DPO stated.
There was, however, a twist to the case when with the help of local vigilante in the area, his stepdaughter was traced to her real father’s house at Ihievbe, same local government area, on Monday.
 It was at this point that the victim narrated her sexual ordeal with her stepfather for nine years now.
In her statement, she said she had told her mother who always said she will not believe her until she catches her husband in the act.
 She added that each time her step dad wanted to sexually exploit her, he would wake her up as early as 4 a.m. and request her to help him get bath water and that in the process of trying to put the water in the bathroom, her step dad will come and drag her to her room to sleep with her and thereafter threaten to kill her or not pay her school fees any longer if she tells anyone about it.
 When asked if she knew Victor who was accused of abducting her, she said they only met last Saturday within the vicinity of her house and they only exchanged phone numbers and promised to speak on phone, and nothing more.
When quizzed further as to her whereabouts when she ran out of the house that Saturday morning, she said she ran to meet her biological father at Ihievbe, in the same local government area.
 On his part, the victim’s father, Mr Murideen Osigbemhe, told journalists that he was shocked when his daughter ran to his house that Saturday morning and said the stepdad is at it again.
He added that the man, Nibel has been sleeping with his two daughters who have been living with him for well over ten years.
 He said about three months ago, his daughter (victim), ran to his house with the same complaint and he willingly took her in and told her that from then henceforth, she would now live with him.
Osigbemhe however said that on a certain day when he left home for work, Nibel stormed his house with some vigilante men and forcefully took his daughter away and dropped a message for him that he dare not come to his house in search of her or he would kill him that he is an ex-soldier.
While appealing for help, Osigbemhe told newsmen that the issue of sexual harassment of their daughters has been lingering on for a long time.
He said about two weeks ago, a case of sexual harassment of their daughters by the same Nibel was lodged at the Afuze Police Station but that the case did not see the light of the day,
The DPO said Nibel, his wife Christiana and the victim who is in the centre of the episode would be transferred to headquarters, Edo State Police Command for further action after investigations are concluded.
