Maybe
it divine intervention ,maybe not but John Udin, a retired soldier may likely spend
the rest of his life in jail if he doesn't go to the gallows for clubbing his
14- year old daughter, Glory to death. John 72, from Jesse, Warri in Delta
State was discharged from the Nigeria Army in 1999 as a corporal. He has 11
children from three wives. Two of the wives and seven children are in Jesse, while
he resides at 28 Adewale Street, Iba New Site, Ojo, Lagos with the youngest
wife, Comfort and four children in a two-room apartment.
Last
Tuesday, what started as minor family quarrel turned fatal. On that fateful
evening, while Comfort, Glory and the three other children were preparing for
evening church service, it was alleged that John came to the front of their
compound and sat down. As his family members wanted to leave for church, it was
further alleged that he blocked the entrance and said they won't go because
they lack the character of good Christians.
According
to John, his daughter Glory, a secondary school student didn't have an iota of
respect for him. "Whenever I tried to counsel or advise her as a beloved
father, she would make ignoble and despicable signs to show an extreme disdain
and contempt she has for me. These are the things she copied from her mother.
"Sometimes
she would go to another family's house to sleep or she did something not of
good report, when I tried to caution her, she would talk to me or demonstrate
with a sign that shows an utter contempt."
As
John prevented them from going to church, he accused Glory of making the same
derogatory sign to show her contempt for him. This was said to have provoked
the ex-soldier who dragged Glory to their bedroom where he allegedly beat her
with a nail-studded plank.
According
to Comfort, her husband didn't allow their daughter any medical assistance. "I
went and called a nurse who came and started treating her. When she was not improving,
my husband took her to a hospital where she died" Comfort said.
Glory
died last Sunday five days after the incident.
Speaking
to Saturday Sun, John in a sober mood, wondered why he should kill his own
daughter and heaped the blame on Satan.
"I
am not crazy to give birth to a child and at the same time kill the child. I
don't have mother or father, my children are everything to me. So why should I
kill her? My intention was to hit the plank on her back for her just to receive
the pain and nothing more but it landed on her forehead.
"When
my wife went and reported the matter at the police station, I didn't wait for
the police to come and arrest me. I went to the police and submitted myself to
them. That will show that I didn't have the intention of killing my dear
daughter. If I meant to kill her as my wife is accusing me of, I would probably
run away or went into hiding."
On
what that type of dangerous weapon was doing in his bedroom, John said that he
is a security man and that was one of his tools to defend himself and attack
robbers. He accused his wife of
encouraging Glory the way she was misbehaving.
His
wife, who by her name, should be providing comfort for him is now calling for
the full weight of the law to be visited on him.
"He
deliberately killed my daughter and so he should also be killed the same
way", she declared. On how he met Comfort, John said that Comfort's father
though late was his friend and also a retired soldier.
According
to him, after his disengagement from the military, he took his two wives and
seven children to his village, Jesse.
After staying at home for a while, he said life at the village didn't suit him
and so opted to come back to Lagos, but his wives and children said they were
not going with him and preferred to stay in the village.
"
It was when I came to Lagos and started visiting Comfort's father, my friend by
then he was still around and I started going closer to Comfort and one thing
led to another and she became pregnant
Source:
Sun Newspapers
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