By Mike Ozekhome
INTRODUCTION
There appears to have been a surge in incidents of rape in Nigeria in recent weeks. The tales have been gory and grisly. The victims: Women of all ages! The girl child in Nigeria is perpetually at risk of invasion by sexual predators. She is a victim of close family members, friends and associates of her parents. The society appears to be in cahoots with these bloodsucking predators.
Victims of rape are made to suffer unquantifiable anguish. Some suffer post-traumatic stress disorder all their lives. For some, dissociation from reality, depersonalization, enduring of physical violence, avoiding social life, become their life. Some even get infected with sexually transmitted and infectious diseases. Some encounter serious difficulty in remembering events. Some perpetually relive moments of sexual assaults and unwanted pregnancies. Some suffer from Stockholm syndrome.
Activism and advocacy against rape has gained traction in recent times because of its resurgence in the advent of rampaging COVID-19 pandemic.
Let us see the other side of this ugly coin, because a one-sided coin is a bad tender. Some alleged victims are actually not victims, but predators themselves. They prey on innocent persons, especially celebrities, super stars, VIPs, society men of nobility and distinction, and famous, wealthy people.
I stand stoutly against rape. We must kill the scourge. But I am equally against fake rape peddlers, who use it as an instrument of vendetta, or to make money from innocent people through cheap blackmail.
SOME EXAMPLES
The Guardian reports that Vera Uwaila Omozuwa, a 22-year-old microbiology student, sought the quiet of her empty church in Benin City, as a place to study. Hours later, she was brutally raped and murdered, in a crime that has since sparked outrage across Nigeria.
On 27th May, 2020, a church security guard found Uwa, unconscious in a pool of blood. She was rushed to hospital, where she died subsequently.
The rape and murder of Uwa in a church generated anger, condemnation and protestations from a large spectrum of Nigerians. Amnesty International condemned the brutal rape and murder of Uwa with the following hastag: “Rising cases of rape across Nigeria is a result of the failure of law enforcement to ensure that rapists face justice. We are deeply concerned that perpetrators of rape in Nigeria invariably escape punishment. #JusticeForUwa #RapeIsACrime,”
On 31st May, 2020, the Jigawa Police Command revealed the arrest of eleven men in Dutse, for raping a 12 year old, Farshina Ibrahim. A 12 year old?!! Eleven men? Apocalypse! Armageddon!!
One of them was allegedly caught in an uncompleted building after luring the girl for the illicit act.
One 57 year old Alhaji Zuwai of Ma’ai village, in Dutse, was seen at Limawa market luring the 12 year old Farshina Ibrahim, of the same address, with intent to rape her.
During interrogation by the Police, the poor girl opened up and mentioned eleven persons who forcibly and severally had intercourse with her against her will, on different occasions. The suspects allegedly made confessional statements that equally indicted them.
Only few weeks ago, Premium Times reported that a student, identified as Grace Oshiagwu, was reportedly raped and killed in Ibadan, the third in the state in two weeks.
The 21 year old, was a National Diploma student of the Oke-Ogun Polytechnic, Saki. The incident was confirmed by residents of the area. The Police only confirmed her murder.
One Baraka Bello, a student of the Department of Science Laboratory Technology (SLT), Federal College of Animal Health and Production, Moor Plantation, Ibadan, was also allegedly raped and killed on June 1.
These few examples of gruesome rape and murder of women and the girl child do not even scratch the surface with respect to the rape pandemic in Nigeria.
Inspite of the outrage against rape in Nigeria, rapists remain undeterred. Rape, defilement, and sexual harassment crimes keep rising.
The case of the girl child is most heart-rending. What demons will inhabit a man to rape an innocent vulnerable child of between 1 and 5 years? To me, such is sheer insanity. Such people must be plucked away from decent society through legal and lawful means.
WHO IS A GIRL-CHILD?
A ‘girl-child’ as defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary is a ‘young female child’. The Child Rights Act defines a child to be any person under the age of 18. Though human rights are universal, (civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights) and belong to all human beings (including children and young people), the girl-child is particularly vulnerable to certain human rights violation, especially rape. Children and youth are expected to enjoy certain human rights specifically linked to their status as minors that need special care and protection. Such human rights of the girl-child are explicitly spelt out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history), African Children’s Charter, Nigeria’s Child Rights Act, 2003; etc.
THE LAW ON RAPE AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA
In discussing the law on rape and sexual violence, the provisions of four major legislations will be highlighted. These legislations are the Criminal Code Act, The Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act, 2015, The Penal Code Act, and The Child’s Right Act, 2003. But, first, what is rape?
WHAT IS RAPE?
Wikipedia defines Rape as a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without that person’s consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person who is incapable of giving valid consent, such as one who is unconscious, incapacitated, has an intellectual disability or is below the legal age of consent. Occasionally, rape is used interchangeably with sexual assault.
The Encyclopedia Britannica defines rape as an act of sexual intercourse with an individual without his or her consent, through force or the threat of force.
The United Kingdom Metropolitan Police adopts a more graphic, if obscene, definition of rape: “Rape is when a person intentionally penetrates another’s vagina, anus or mouth with a penis, without the other person’s consent”.
Rape in simple parlance can be said to occur when sexual intercourse is not consensual, or when sex occurs as a result of a person forcing another person against his or her will. In IDI V STATE, rape was defined thus:
“Rape in legal parlance means a forcible sexual intercourse with a girl or woman without her giving consent to it.”
ORIGIN AND CLASSIFICATION OF RAPE
‘Rape’ as a concept originated from the latin, ‘Rapere’ (supine stem raptum), “to snatch, to grab, to carry off”. It means “to sieze and take away by force”. It could be sexual violation, “rape and pillage”. In 2012, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) changed its definition from mere “carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will”, to “the penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim”.
It has thus become recognized that rape with an object can be traumatic as penile of vagina rape. The most important ingredient of rape is CONSENT. A victim may be unable to give consent either because he/she is asleep, is physically helpless, mentally incapacitated, inebriated by alcohol, drugs, or other noxious substances, and thus unable to give consent. It could be by verbal assault, intimidation, duress, threats of force, violence, or misuse and abuse of authority.
Majority of rapes are committed by persons known to the victim as an acquaintance, friend, dating partner, or family member. Such does not involve weapons or physical force. It could be between persons of the same or opposite sex. Other rapes may be committed by predators who simply pounce on a victim in the bush, dark alleys, lonely streets, deserted places, etc.
GLOBAL STATISTICS OF RAPE
Legislation alone cannot abolish rape. It is a serious societal scourge. Countries must look inward, at the systemic and systematic dysfunctioning of their cultures, customs, traditions, beliefs, religions and social norms that have combined to increase sexual violence, rape and attendant cold-blooded murders.
South Africa is said to have the highest rate of rape in the world- 132.4 incidents per 100,000 people. The United States has a rape ratio of 27.3, coming 14th on the global rape index. The 13 other countries ranking before the USA are South Africa (133.40); Botswana (92.90); Lesotho (82.70); Swaziland (77.50); Bermuda (67.30); Sweden (63.50); Suriname (45.20); Costa Rica (36.70); Nicaragua (31.60); Grenada (30.60); St Kitts and Nevis (28.60); Australia (26.60), and Belgium (27.90). Egypt has 0.10. The least country in the world is Liechtenstein (0.00). Nigeria is rated 0.5 (cases per 100,000 persons); actually one of the lowest in the world. This is despite that she recorded 717 rape cases in just 5 months (January- May, 2020)
SPECIFIC LEGISLATIONS AGAINST RAPE
In Nigeria, there are four (4) specific laws that deal with rape:
The Criminal Code – this is applicable in all the Southern States
The Penal Code – this is applicable in all the Northern States
The Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act – this is applicable in only the FCT Abuja.
The Child Rights Act – this is only applicable in the States which have domesticated it.
THE CRIMINAL CODE ACT
Section 357 of the Criminal Code Act defines Rape in the following words:
“Any person who has unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman or girl, without her consent, or with her consent, if the consent is obtained by force or by means of threats or intimidation of any kind, or by fear of harm, or by means of false and fraudulent representation as to the nature of the act, or, in the case of a married woman, by personating her husband, is guilty of an offence which is called rape.”
From this definition, rape occurs when a man has sexual intercourse with a woman or a girl without her consent. Rape also occurs whenever a man has sexual intercourse with a woman with her consent, if such consent is obtained by fraud, coercion, force, threats or intimidation. Similarly, rape occurs whenever a man has sexual intercourse with a woman by impersonating her husband and pretending to be her husband. (To be continued).
FUN TIMES
“Worrying is a waste of time. It doesn’t change anything. It messes with your mind and steals your happiness.” – Anonymous.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
Rape, mutilation, abuse, and theft are the natural outcome of a world in which force rules, in which human beings are objects. (Chris Hedges).
