Rape Endemic: Contagious, Ravaging and Frightening, by Abdu Abdullahi

Cursing the ungodly rapists obsessed with obscured intents? Well done for the unrelenting vituperation of the contemporary barbarians. These are hard criminals who turn life miserable for fragile women and girls that are vulnerable to their indiscriminating attacks at homes, at schools, in offices, by the roadsides and even in places of worship.

Whenever they strike, they crudely operate as the notorious cult of ‘sex bandits’ even as the ill-motivated content of their spontaneous anarchy is enlarging and engulfing the world. Their dangerous game of moral disturbances portends an unforgettable portrayal of the adult world as the mean world. Haven’t you ever seen horrendous monsters with sexual fanaticism? Pure evils are the rapists! ‘They surely gonna pay the price one day’

With their sinister conduct of the procession of looting women and underage girls of their esteemed value, they savagely rape the victims who are naturally mothers, sisters and daughters to other people. Undoubtedly, the mainstream society owes their indefatigable innocence a societal bulwark against all forms of sexual aggressions. It is then mandatory that the unsurmountable wrath of the law should be outrageously deployed to frustrate and conquer their satanic adventure.

Recall that in August this year, a rape tragedy befell the delicate Rumaisa Sadiq, a 9-year-old female child who lived at the Fanisau area in Kano metropolis. She was taken to a chemist operator to save her life from the dreadful attack of malaria only to be sexually brutalised. In the end, the cursed sinner betrayed the trust reposed on him, dented the image of his humanitarian profession, horrendously subjected her to rape culminating in her painful demise.

Why are we silent in the wake of this child brutality and gruesome assassination? Are the long arms of the law still invisible? Only justice can heal our conscience of this devastating trauma. Amazingly, however, it is observed that some unscrupulous elements laden with poverty of conscience are vent on hijacking justice in this cold- blooded murder. But this is the era of rejuvenated justice for the late kid as mandated by the law of righteousness. Must we allow this perpetrated evil to be another winner? Justice must not be killed the same way Rumaisa was brutishly murdered! 

Rape has sadly and incessantly been all about an unlawful sexual activity, typically committed forcibly or under threat of injury, against a person’s will. This social cancer results in approximately having 35% of women worldwide experiencing sexual oppression according to the World Population Review Data of Rape Statistics by Country 2020. It is projected that a woman is raped in every two minutes in America, while India records an average of 85 rape cases daily.

Before we fall into the deteriorating ditch of these troubled countries with related widespread violence against women, Nigeria must intensify the fierce battle against these marauding assailants dwelling in our midst. Particularly, the synergistic performance of the government, the police, the judiciary and the various human rights groups should ensure the female gender class will heave a sigh of relief and finally redeemed of the continuous onslaught of this entrenched cankerworm.

Critics often label the law as blind. They indict the police as largely obstructing the path of justice for rape victims. However, the law is not blind but is mischievously blinded by some contemptuous and despicable elements in the police. For instance, a 14-year-old girl was raped by her neighbor when sent by her mother to help fix her phone. Unfortunately, when the matter was reported to the police, a female police officer slapped the girl, pulled her ear, scolded the mother for not giving her daughter a ‘good upbringing’. This unethical decorum of some police personnel is uncharitable. It is alleged that in some cases, the police extort bribe from the suspects of rape thereby aiding the crimes.

Years back in the ancient city of Kano, a brutal police officer lured a girl who was sent on an errand by her grandmother. He surreptitiously secluded her in a private room and sexually assaulted her for several days. Not only that, he invited his friends who joined him in the sinful act. When the complicity was laid bare, there were hues and cries emanating from different places. I still remember how the columnist Dr. Aliyu Tilde rendered his moral and financial support to ensure justice for the victim. If such a reckless police officer was an integral part of a rape syndicate, we can only lament for our social decadence.

While the judiciary is always rated as the mother of justice and much is expected of it, it is as well the last hope of the oppressed and ought to be reinforced by the famous dictum that justice delayed is justice denied. The accelerated trial and proper conviction of rapists can send a clear message to other people with the same evil designs. On this note, therefore, the judiciary deserves special accolades when in December 2023, the FCT High Court in Maitama sentenced an Abuja-based businessman to life imprisonment for the rape of two children, cousins, between 7 and 8 years respectively. Another culprit was also sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Lagos for defiling a minor.

For the government, it should go beyond the state of emergency declaration on rape in 2020 by state governors. That action could have been propelled by the fact that the lockdown of 2020 recorded the highest number of rape because of movement restrictions. Governments across all levels should ensure that the sustenance of stringent laws that will safeguard women, children and even the old against sexual violence are executed to their logical conclusion.

To draw the curtain, we are seriously enmeshed in a persistent rape crisis. The female gender dignity is plundered by the men of great dishonour.  

Abdu Abdullahi

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