Lights Out for another Rape Victim in Nigeria

A silent epidemic rages at the background as our institutions and communities only make occasional sporadic motionless spurts in response to senseless dehumanisation and degradation of our most important human essence, women and children.

A colleague just shared with me a distressing episode he witnessed of how a judge threw out a case of rape in court in response to some submission by the defence that "she enjoyed it and even had orgasm". This is the level of (lack of) knowledge and backwardness in most of Africa as the rest of the world makes conscious efforts and progress at stemming this predatory warfare on human dignity by aligning with contemporary evidence based modalities and discarding damaging myths that have retarded any meaningful progress in this area, mainly in Africa. From the police who take a report of sexual assault, to state prosecutors and judges, a common mindset thread runs through the chain that blinds African societies to the realities of this horrendous assault on human dignity. The prevalent patrilineal slant in the African society has entrenched this culture of impunity. It is almost hopeless reporting a case of rape, as the victim is immediately re-victimised first by relations, community and the police who often  judge her appearance and demeanour; her clothing; life style and "what were you doing in a man's room (or alone with a man) if you didn't want sex?" arrogant and senseless posture. And the attendant stigmatization is suffocating.

The situation is so appalling and depressing that it is driving victims to take their own lives. The recent report widely reported in national dailies, 18-year-old gang-rape victimcommits suicide highlights the insensitivity of our community, and institutions to this malady and it is a call for urgent and concrete action by relevant institutions and agencies. This is just a tip of the iceberg; the scale of the problem appears to be beyond what our society is ready to accept and act upon. Husbands are sexually assaulting their wives; boyfriends their girlfriends; fathers their daughters; close family and authority figures their own relations and those who are deceived by their “sheep appearance”, when in actual fact these are ravaging and unconscionable wolves who abuse their position and betray trust.

We can't afford to keep writing this way. There is urgent need for action. First, relevant government agencies should set up Rape Crisis Centres as clearing houses for immediate and long term management of sexual violence. These centres will be One Stop Centres for both medical and forensic management of survivors by specially trained medical staff, social workers, police officers and others working as a team. We need to put a FULL STOP to having victims of sexual assault go to our regular police stations (as presently constituted and operated) to report such cases. Time after time, with one scandal after another, it is evident that continuing this manner of attending to victims of sexual assault by regular police officers and untrained medical personnel (in the area of forensic medical management of sexual violence) is essentially traumatic and a further victimisation of hapless victims. There is also need to tinker with the existing laws that are based on primordial understanding about sexual violence in most of Africa, and bring them up to speed with contemporary understanding and practice in this area. Our lawyers and judges will need to be educated on the facts of the matter based on evidence with regards to sexual violence. It is therefore time we invested in safeguarding our humanity from aberrant humans, mainly males, who inflict indelible scars on the honour, dignity and sanctity of life.