THE nation must have been appalled by the bizarre defence put up for a rapist in Adamawa State last week. Seemingly wihout any moral compunction, the Adamawa State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) refuted media reports that a teacher, Mr. Nathan Yusuf, had raped a 12-year-old schoolgirl in Namtari village of Yola South Local Government Area. After his arrest by the NSCDC, Yusuf, a welcome guest in many homes of the parents and guradians of pupils of Gurel Primary School, Namtari, had reportedly confessed to giving the victim codeine before having carnal knowledge of her. However, speaking to the Nigerian Tribune at the union’s secretariat in Yola, the Adamawa NUT chairman, Comrade Rodney Nathan, stated that the claims made by the state commands of the Nigeria Police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) regarding rape were premature. But according to the chairman of the NUT, “Proper investigations were not carried out before going to the press.”
Apparently having carried out “proper investigations” himself, Comrade Rodney declared that the relationship between the accused and the victim was known to her parents and the Namtari community at large. He added that when the alleged rapist was arrested, the victim had the keys to his room, which suggested that the duo were consciously engaged in a mutual relationship. He said: “One cannot call a mutual relationship between a schoolgirl and her teacher who are mutually in love a rape case. At what point did the rape take place, was it six months ago, or now that it was discovered the schoolgirl is carrying a six-month pregnancy? She is carrying a six-month pregnancy, an indication that a long term relationship had existed between the teacher and the schoolgirl.” He added that from the report submitted by a panel of enquiry set up by the NUT to investigate the matter, the fact was established that the schoolgirl and Nathan had been lovers for at least six months. He blamed the parents of the minor for encouraging the relationship, claiming that the accused teacher, a 37-year-old, was always in her house and her parents were aware of the relationship. But according to the NSCDC, it was the parents who had in fact reported the matter when they noticed changes in her physical appearance
To all intents and purposes, the Adamawa NUT chairman needs help. It is not only absurd but tragic that he attempted to justify rape on the basis of alleged marriage to a student, whereas sexual relationship between teachers and students is universally viewed as unethical and criminal. Among other factors, there is a relationship of power that subsists between teachers and students and carrying out sexual relations with students constitutes a callous exercise of that power. Teachers who abuse their students betray the trust reposed in them by parents and the larger society. They are, by their actions, not only setting up such students for future pain but in fact rupturing society’s moral fabric. Such students are not in a place to give consent.
And then, even if anyone wanted to talk about a relationship with students, it surely could not be with an underage student. If, as the Adamawa NUT established, the alleged victim and the errant teacher had indeed been romantically involved for “at least six months” prior to the allegation of rape, then it is clear that Teacher Nathan began exploiting her at only 11 years old. This, we say without any equivocation, is gross abuse that must be punished with the severest sentence provided by the law.
In case Comrade Nathan is unaware of the fact, there is a subsisting Child Rights Act, a federal law that says a girl has not reached the age of consent until she is 18. Although this law is yet to be domesticated by many of the states, the fact remains that it is an extant federal law. Besides, biologically, a 12-yr-old is not ready for childbirth. She is still, by any definition, a child. Child brides face severe risks, including pregnancy-related injuries and death. The fact is well known that underage childbirth predisposes girls to several medical challenges, including vesicovaginal fistula (VVF), a subtype of female urogenital fistula (UVF). VVF is an abnormal fistulous tract extending between the bladder and the vagina which allows the continuous involuntary discharge of urine into the vagina. As experts have noted, it is not only a medical disorder but a social calamity. It is estimated that between 400,000 and 800,000 girls in the country are living with this ailment, and the fact that the country reportedly has only about 12 surgical repair centres handling only 4,000 cases annually means that it is already walking a tightrope. Why would the Adamawa NUT chairman want to justify a practice that exposes young girls to such misery as VVF?
The point must be stated clearly that any culture that robs children of their childhood years is a flagrant anachronism that must be resisted with all the social, constitutional and political resources available to the country. Just how do you justify the rape of an 11-year-old on the basis of culture? Why should culture serve as a tool of oppression and retrogression? Tragically, the rape of a minor is being justified by a state chairman of NUT, an organisation that is supposed to promote the ethics of teaching. In effect, the Adamawa NUT chairman is saying that what he and his colleagues feel no scruples about making underage students wives. How can a teacher’s union be presiding over teacher-student debauchery? How does the NUT boss intend to, in his own words, “deal decisively with any teacher found in the act” of rape when he does not even realise that his members cannot lawfully be married to an 11-year-old, resulting in pregnancy and childbirth at 12?
We are in full support of the Adamawa State commands of the Nigeria Police and the NSCDC in their bid to get justice for the abused primary schoolgirl and her traumatised parents. The country must send a strong message through this case that it will not condone acts that endanger the lives of its youths.