The topic of rape has been in the front burner in the past three weeks since the rape story of a certain ex-student of University of Benin broke out. The name of dead student was Uwa. It has been confirmed that she was brutally raped in a church where she went to study before she was gruesomely murdered in cold blood.
So many public commentators have come out to air their views on the case and other rape cases that have occurred in the country in the past and in recent weeks. Some people are of the opinion that rape has no place in our society and can never be justified, no matter the social malady prevailing in the country, while some are trying to justify the act with the following reasons;
– Indecent dressing
– Drug abuse and
addiction
– Unwillingness to
‘satisfy’ one’s sexual
partner
– Ritualistic tendencies
(internet fraudsters,
politicians, herbalist)
– Acceptance of gifts
from male folks without
the intention of dating
them and so many unimaginable reasons were given by people, especially by the male folks. etc.
Before we go deep into the topic, let’s try to define what rape is.
According to the English Dictionary, rape can be defined as an unlawful sexual intercourse or any
other sexual penetration of the vagina, anus, or mouth of another person, with or without force, by a sex organ, othe body part, or foreign object, without the consent of the victim.
From that definition, can we confidently say that there’s a justifiable and objective reason for rape? Because most of the write-ups that we came across in the rape saga alluded to the “fact” that rape is becoming rampant in the society because of “INDECENT DRESSING”.
Last week, I engaged a public health expert/psychologist who runs an NGO that takes care of rape victims by reintegrating them back to the society and giving them all the moral, mental and physical support in their rehabilitation process in the hospital, especially minors. We discussed elaborately on this topic. She showed me a litany of cases of people that were raped, to my dismay most of them were minors and elderly people. I was stunned and kept on wondering why sane Nigerians would attribute rape to indecent dressing, thereby excusing the acts of rapists and partially blaming the victims that are tortured psychologically, humiliated, violated and most of the time abused physically in the forceful sexual act.
According to the Inspector-General of Police, since the beginning of 2020, we have had over 700 reported cases of rape in the country, which has fuelled the advocacy against gender-based violence by civil society groups and all concerned Nigerians. It is becoming a norm that cases of reported rape with evidences do not lead to convictions and many at times the rapists are not tried and convicted. It is amazing that till date, some states are yet to domesticate the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act 2015 and the Child Right Act of 2003.
It was reported in the media barely two weeks ago that Gombe state recorded over 26 cases of rape in the past 4-months and most of the victims are minors. Mrs. Anuli Aniebo, the founder of HEIR Women
Development describes rape in Nigeria as a pandemic, adding that the country has
sexualized and suppressed women and girls to the extent that most rape cases go unreported. “It is disgusting, disheartening, ridiculous,
disappointing and a shame to us as a nation. In 2018, Nigeria was ranked as the ninth most
dangerous country to be a woman/girl and we
can clearly see it is true by what is happening
now. The constant rape and murder of women and teenagers
is a tragedy, shame and disgrace.”
According to Dr. Abbas Yaugarba, the manager of Sexual Assault Referral Centre(SARC) in Jigawa state, while lamenting on the case of Farishina who was gangly raped by 11 heartless men who were allegedly being aided by the victim’s mother, over 80% of rape cases in the state are minors. According to the report, the victim’s mother was collecting paltry sum from the rapists each time they wanted to have carnal knowledge with her daughter until they met their waterloo.
According to a survey carried out by UNICEF in Nigeria sometime in 2015, one out of four girls and one out of ten boys have experienced sexual violence before they turn 18 years. Child sexual abuse is an offense under several sessions of chapter 21 of the Criminal Code. But how far have we gone in prosecution and conviction? We all know how most rape cases die a natural death when they are reported to the police. How funded and equipped are our law enforcement agencies to handle cases of rape that are reported?
We have seen cases of rape that were reported to the police station and they weren’t investigated because of lack of money from the victims and their families and perhaps due to the influence of the alleged perpetrators.
So the big question now is: Are Rape Victims To Be Blamed For The Evil Act?
As an organization that’s committed to the welfare of the masses and foremost in the campaign against drug abuse in Nigeria and across the continent, in line with one of our cardinal objectives under the SILEC Initiatives Project Four-24 which has to do with enlightenment on sexual molestation and abuse of children which we have helped to addressed several cases involving minors that have been raped by adults, tears will flow from your eyes as there’s a current case of a boy of 4-months old that was molested by a grown lady of 38years who was on drugs, aiding to fulfill her sexual urge is on our table, I lost my sleep, angry in my spirit and became very worried that even our innocent children are not safe from rapists.
As a result of my professional conduct as a social worker/activist and commentator with a decade of experience, after conducting series of researches on this topic, we have come to the realization that rape victims can’t be blamed, because there’s no justifiable reason(s) for abusing the bodies of people unduly. We have seen cases where kids within the age bracket of 2-10 years were raped. So will you blame an innocent for being rape? We have also heard of cases where teens within the age bracket of 13-18 were abused sexually and gangly raped by 5-8 guys and presently the case of a girl raped by a 13-man gang which occurred in Gombe state who we heard was induced by drugs. This is madness of the highest order and peak of moral decadence. Two weeks ago, I engaged a fellow who was of the opinion that people are raped because of indecent dressing and I asked him a simple question: “Kids below the age of 5 years and elderly people from 60 and above that are victims of rape, were they INDECENTLY DRESSED?” He was dumbfounded and couldn’t answer my question.
Presently, there’s a trending case of rape involving a little girl named Khadija, a 5-year old child that was raped by a heartless and evil fellow. She was raped by her cousin, someone she saw as an uncle, a big brother and a family. She died as a result of the health complications of the evil act.
The mere imagination of an adult having carnal knowledge with a 5-year old child is bizarre, demonic and disgusting to say the least. It is true that factors like DRUG ABUSE and ADDICTION can induce someone to commit an act of rape when he’s hypnotized and his/her blood is fully charged to carry out the ungodly mission. Does that mean the rapist can be excused on the guise of drugs? Capital NO!
Now let’s look at some of social reasons why rape is on the increase in order for us to fashion out ways to limit the reoccurrences in our society. Let’s critically look at these factors that need to be addressed in order for us to mitigate the scourge of rape:
1. CHILD TRAINING:- Over the years, much emphasis has been placed on the training of the girl child, without much attention given to the male child. Of a truth, out of the over 13 million of out school children in Nigeria according to the United Nations, the girl child has suffered a lot of setbacks especially when it comes to child molestation. Cntemporary family set up place much emphasis on the guidance, protection and nurturing of the girl child, while the boy child is on a free flight to moral decadence and bankruptcy. Families these days don’t really monitor what the boy child is doing, because they are of the opinion that he’s a man, hence he’s given freedom to associate with all calibre of people in the streets where he becomes vulnerable to be indoctrinated into all forms of social vices such as drug abuse and criminality.
2. ASSOCIATION :- Parents these days don’t really create time to know who their wards are associating with. Teens in secondary schools mix up with all calibres of people, they make friends with other kids and even with some adults. We all know how crucial and delicate teen age can be for a growing child-male and female. Parents don’t know the contents of the relationships that their children engage in, what and what they do and what their objectives are. At these adolescent ages, a lot of changes take place in the bodies of both genders. They start experiencing biological and physical changes in their bodies and there’s this tendency to explore and to engage in sexual immorality.
3. UNCULTURED AND INDISCIPLINED MIND:- Like armed robbers, like rapists. They don’t filter and evaluate whatever thoughts that come to their minds. Any evil thought that comes to their minds, they just go ahead to execute it to satisfy temporary pleasure without considering the pains of their victims and the consequences of the actions.
4. SOCIAL MEDIA/VIDEO
CONTENTS OF MUSIC:- Parents no longer censor what their kids watch. Children of nowadays are exposed to pornography on their phones and most parents are not aware. These days, kids and adults see a lot of junks and sexual contents on social media and on t.v. Most of the negative and unrefined contents we see on musical videos and social media like facebook and instagram have a way of influencing our thoughts, especially when the person has a feeble mind.
5. SPIRITUAL PURPOSE:- Someone told me that the reasons why some evil people even go as far as raping kids within the age bracket of 2-10 years and aged people from 60 and above could be for spiritual purposes. Because it beats the imagination of a sane entity imagining an adult having carnal knowledge with a child of 2 years that has an innocent mind. You will be wondering what the motivation and attraction could be for a full-grown man to defile a baby of 2 years.
6. FAMILY DISINTEGRATION AND POOR PARENTING:- I grew up as a community trained child. That is, once a child is given birth to, the responsibility of training that child lies in the hands of the parents and the people within that community. Training in form of correcting such child in the absence of their parents was prevalent then, but today such ideology has gone into extinction. Broken homes have contributed to the increase in rape cases in the sense that some of these children could not experience parental love and affection. The only option left for them due to that disconnection is exposure to street life which causes more harm than good.
What should be the solutions to this rape pandemic in Nigeria?
1. EDUCATING THE MALE AND FEMALE CHILD:- Giving the needed knowledge to the children could help save them from the hands of these demons.
2. STRICT PUNISHMENT:- Most times because of the political undertone in rape cases, the perpetrators walk freely in the society leaving the victims with lifetime injuries and mental miseries and social stigmatization consequently leading many into drug abuse and addiction. Most of these rape victims go into drugs as a sole means of escape from the terrible memory of the ill-treatment. Those who commit this crime should be punished according to the laws of the land.
3. LEGISLATION:- The government of the 36 states need to give priority and urgent attention to the laws that are meant to protect rape victims and to convict offenders. If need be, there should be capital punishment for rapists in order to send warning signals to all potential rapist. The laws need to be implemented and the punishment must be backed by it. The Child Right Act must be given its full implementation across the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.
4. EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES:- Creating more jobs for the teeming youths population will go a long way to help solve the problem. Many female folks who could not find their hands in productive ventures are lured into prostitution thereby increasing the risk of being raped. Government at all level must give this a priority. The unemployment rate in Nigeria is alarming. Initiating various skills acquisition programs and developing the agricultural sector will help absorbed many of our youths into productive ventures.
5. STIGMATIZATION:- Nigerians are known for stigmatization at all level, and stigmatizing rape victims is thing that’s common amongst Nigerians, hence most victims can’t muster the courage to speak out. The culture of silence has not helped matters and speaking out is shameful to many because the society where we live in has no place to protect the rights of the victims couple with the need to protect family name. Most victims are silent because of the fear that there won’t get justice at the end of the day.
6. AWARENESS CREATION/SENSITIZATION:- The general public needs to be aware of what rape is and it’s consequences. By so doing, the average man on the streets will know the consequences of any form or act of rape. With the help of the media and NGO working in synergy, the rape curve will be flattened. Weak government institutions also must be funded in order to help get the needed result.
In conclusion, at Silec initiatives, we call on the federal government of Nigeria to declare a state of emergency in tackling drug abuse and rape in the country. If a boy/girl of 4-months can be molested and a girl of 1 year can be molested as well, we are doomed as a people. We as a civilized society must not go to sleep. If we go to sleep, God will not sleep over the cases of these little ones whom He said; “allow the little ones to come to me”. So therefore, all hands must be on deck to stem the tide of rape in our society. From families, schools, government, churches/mosques, civil society organizations, the police and all concerned Nigerians, we must all play pivotal roles in this collective fight to restore sanity and morality to our society. we must all come together to fight this societal scourge to save the future for our kids. Apparently speaking, rape has become a pandemic in our society and people are dying silently from it’s miseries. Those who commit this evil and atrocious acts should not go unpunished.
#Stoptherape
#JusticeforUwa
#JusticeforKhadija
#Justiceforrapevictims #Saynotodrugabuse
#SaveNigerianchild
#Prosecuterapists
#Silecinitiatives
Amb. Sunny O. Irakpo,
Founder/President
Silec Initiatives, (IVLP USA)
U.S Exchange Alumni.
Public Speaker, Anti-drugabuse Activist.
E-mail us @: silecinitiatives@gmail.com