THE NIGERIAN
22
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2013
Issues Nigeria:
Surge In Rape Cases
UNLIKE emotional or physical reactions in western societies, when an undergraduate university female student or married woman is sexually assaulted in Nigeria, quickly, not a few Nigerians would blame her for indecent dressing or seductive behavior. But what would one say when innocent female children in Nigeria suffer similar fate, especially in the hand of a clegy who ordinarily is seen as role model and an epitome of good moral. The case of a 47-year-old Pastor, Eze Eze Fidelis, Coordinator of Deeper Life Church, alleged to have simultaneously defiled nine and eleven year old girls, and that of a professional block moulder, Mr. Ogbe Felix, said to have waylaid, raped and dispossessed two married women of their monies and phones in Benin City, Edo state, on Saturday July 6 and Monday, July 8, 2013, including many other cases of rape has prompted many Nigerians to ponder what might have accounted for such gender violence. Similarly, on Thursday, July 25, 2013, in Ibadan, Oyo state, a 28- year-old, Taye Ige was arraigned before an Ibadan Chief Magistrate Court for allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl (names withheld) at Akinjobi-Ojaoba area of Ibadan. The prosecutor, Corporal Oriola James, said the defendant was arraigned on a one-count charge of unlawful carnal knowledge. The Chief Magistrate, Mrs. Ebeloku Riskat-Mustapha, however, directed that Ige be remanded at Agodi Prison and the case file be sent to the office of the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, for legal advice. Meanwhile, a serving Nigerian Army Officer with the Nigeria Defense Academy NDA, was made to appear before a Kaduna Magistrate Court sitting in Bamawa on Wednesday, November 28,2012 to answer charges of alleged sexual assault on a 16year-old girl whose name was given as Muimuna Inusa. In an application of direct criminal complaint against the officer, Inusa accused the officer who is a Lieutenant Colonel, of luring her into his house and forcibly having sex with her against her wish, leaving her traumatized. In the case KMD/19DC/ 2012, she is accusing the Colonel of committing criminal intimidation, rape, acts of gross indecency, abductions and threat to life, contrary to Sections 397,282,285,272 and 372 of the penal code.
According to the statement of claim, he alleged that on the October 22, 2012, the accused person called her on the excuse that he wanted to send her on an errand without knowing that the officer had an ulterior motive for the invitation. She noted that after inviting her into the house, he forced himself on her and threatened to kill her if she made any noise. She said all her efforts to resist him proved abortive since he was stronger than her. In Lagos state, in the month of June 2013, it was a pathetic story when a family of three stormed Ejigbo Chief Magistrate Court to witness the arraignment of a suspected randy man, who allegedly raped a housewife and mother of one. The husband, the wife who was the alleged victim and their son (names withheld) were in court to witness the arraignment of the defendant, Ifeanyi Amos, whose action has allegedly put the family in trauma. Amos, according to the prosecutor, committed the offence recently in council area of Egbe-Ikotun when he was alleged to have had unlawful carnal knowledge of the victim (names withheld). According to the four-count — charge preferred against the defendant, he was alleged to have conspired with others now at large to commit the dastard act. In other to actualize the alleged evil act, the defendant allegedly in concert with others now at large assaulted the victim by beating her to surrender to their alleged bestial desires. Besides, the defendant and his co-travelers allegedly stole a sum of four thousand naira from the victim before they had illicit sex with her. According to the prosecution, the alleged sins of the defendant offend sections 409, 258, 168 and 278 and punishable under sections of the Criminal Laws of Lagos state of Nigeria, 2011. The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to three of the counts while the trial Magistrate, Patrick Nwaka, declined to take his plea in respect & count two (the offence of rape). Meanwhile, in a related development, a commercial bus driver, Mr. Adewale Adeloke Adetayo, was in July 2013, arraigned before Court 6, Ikeja, Magistrate Court, for allegedly defiling his daughters (names withheld), aged 10 and 13 years. Adetayo, a native of Modakeke, Osun state, who plies Ikotun-Mushin route, was apprehended by Esther
By AKPESIRI OGHENERHABOKE
Child Right Foundation and Compassionate Women Initiative, following a tip-off by one of his neighbors. According to the president Esther Child Right Foundation, Mrs. Ogwu Esther, the accused confessed to the crime in his Police statement and when he was quizzed in a popular Yoruba television programme, “Labe Orun.” Adetayo reportedly confessed during the programme that he had been sleeping with the girls
dered an investigation into the incident and vowed that the suspect would be prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others. Like a scourge, these regular cases of reported rape by the media in Nigeria and its attendant stigmatization of victims confirm the absurd extent of the crime. For instance, in the United State of America, USA, where about eighty thousand cases of rape reported to the Police form
neighbors; strangers are offenders in about ten per cent of child sexual abuse cases, the studies revealed. But there are some pre-disposing risk factors; like poverty-induced child labour which forces some parents and guardians to allow their under aged girls to hawk petty items. In the process, these girls are unduly exposed and are usually lured by criminally-mind, dirty adults to be raped. When a young rapist who serially raped old women was apprehended and interviewed recently, he said they engaged in the act because they could not afford the services of hookers and they needed to satisfy their sexual
any victim shall be liable, jointly and severally, to minimum of twenty years imprisonment without an option of fine; where the offender is less than 14 years, he shall be liable to a maximum of fourteen years imprisonment and a minimum of 12 years, without an option of fine.” The Nigerian society should stop blaming rape victims for the assault on them. Rape is a crime, the long walk to minimizing it starts with rapist facing stringent punishments rather than society excusing their aberration for whatever reasons. This is in addition to the fact that, apart from the commensurate punishment, alleged rapists should be
RAPE: Some Nigerian female children who have become sexually vulnerable to male predators.
at his Abaranje home after he divorced their mother. A radio anchor, Mr. Ademola Olota, said he was called and informed the incident on June 26, 2013, by one of his listeners. His words, “it was just few minutes after my programme on that fateful day that a listener called me and pleaded not to mention his name because he wanted to discuss something with me”. In Ogun state, the Police command arrested a 45 — year — old man, Toyin Sodimu, for allegedly raping his 16— year — old daughter in Temidire community of Oke Apo, Akomoje, Abeokuta on Saturday, July 20, 2013. State Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, said in a statement that the teenager reported the incident to the Adatan Police Division after her father raped her about 2:00am. Adejobi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, DSP, said following Sodimu’s arrest, the 16 — year — old girl had been taken to the hospital by the Police for medical examination and treatment. He added that the state Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye, had or-
2004 to 2010, according to United Nations data, US Justice and Department estimates three hundred thousand American women are raped annually, and the Centre for Disease Control says one point three million. The six hundred and seventy-eight cases the Lagos State Police Command said it recorded between March 2012 and March 2013 should be seen as numbers. This is because unreported rape cases are on the increase. More alarming is that the epidemic affects underage persons. The media are replete with reports of young girls sexually violated, as young as three months. According to a 2009 study in Clinical Psychology Review, CPR, in 65 studies from twenty-two countries, the highest prevalence rate of child sexual abuse was in Africa (34.4 per cent). However, most child sexual abuse is by men About thirty per cent are relatives of the child — brothers, fathers, uncles or cousins — about sixty per cent are other acquaintances such as friends’ of the family, babysitters, or
urge. He said it did not have anything to do with rituals as it was hitherto suspected. There is no gain saying the fact that obstacles abound in fighting rape. Section 353 of the Criminal Code Act treats rape discriminately. While unlawful and indecent assaults of male person as felony punishable by three years imprisonment, Section 360 of the Act regards indecent assault of a woman, a misdemeanor, with two years’ imprisonment. More obstacles- the laws experts collaborated evidence of a witness for a crime committed mostly Secretly. If the case survives these encumbrances, the serious crime of having unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl of or above 13 years and under 16 years of age or of a woman or girt, who is an idiot or imbecile is punishable by two years’ imprisonment. The law never imagined rape of much younger people. Anyhow, a bill is before the House of Representatives. A section of the bill reads, “Any man convicted of rape is liable to life imprisonment. Persons convicted of gangraping
availed psychiatric assistance, not only to possibly rehabilitate them, but also to get information from them about why they rape. Obviously these are sick felons, especially those who defile little girls, too young to be considered as being sexually attracted. It would, however, seem that the bulk of the work of prevention belongs to parents and guardians whose responsibility it is to protect these hapless young children, especially as the establishment has adopted a callous attitude and is seemingly unwilling to enforce compliance with the law. Most importantly, parents and guardians should no longer take the trust of relatives and friends for granted as many of the felons who defile children have been found to be trusted friends and relatives who eventually betrayed such trust. The welfare department should also be alive to its responsibilities and remove the kids from the streets.