I Called Him Dad

My name is Ishiaku Ada Fatima, born on December 25, 1975, in Kaduna state, Nigeria. I grew with a man that I thought was my dad, not knowing he wasn’t my dad.

I was sexually abused before the age of seven ’til I was fourteen years old. How I almost killed myself, how I lived on alcohol, how my mother treated me so badly.

Now I’m using my story to help victims like me, to help them break their silence by speaking out and also to let the world know what sexually abused girls go through mostly in Nigeria and also to let people know that victims should not be bullied. I believe my book will help victims speak out and also open the eyes of society to see what victims go through that way people can help them and not bully them. Mothers in Africa believed victims should keep quiet because they see this act as a taboo while the victims die in silence. This book is about saving the girl child by breaking the silence.