The menace of rape

wditorialThe rate at which the Nigerian society is ‘breeding’ paedophiles and sexual predators has become quite frightening. The courtrooms are replete with cases of defilement while the tabloids report incidents of rape, especially of underage girls and boys virtually on a daily basis. This level of portrayal of social disorientation and perversion among aberrant persons in the society is appalling and dangerous. The cases are legion, ranging from male adults sexually molesting children as young as eight to stepfathers repeatedly defiling their stepdaughters who are minors for as many as seven years. Many of the cases are preposterous and mind-boggling. For instance, in Benin, Edo State, a man was arrested for cutting off the leg of a neighbour for defiling his six-month-old baby. Also, a man in Ekiti State allegedly wanted to kill his own son for trying to prevent him from continuously defiling his daughter. The reported cases are literally endless, not to mention the numerous incidents that went unreported for sundry reasons, including parents preventing their children from being stigmatised.

• Sexual abuse: Letter to our teens

Sadly, most of the social misfits who perpetrate this criminal and dastardly act are known to the parents of the victims. Friends, neighbours, uncles, teachers, drivers, gatemen and even Christian and Muslim clerics have been found to sexually assault minors who they ordinarily have obligations to guide and protect. This is especially so in the Nigerian society where communal living still holds sway and where every adult is assumed to owe it a duty to  protect and  teach  morals to all children and minors around them, whether or not they have a filial relationship. Ironically, the same set of undisciplined adults are the ones that often turn around to latch onto the trust and confidence reposed in them to engage in the criminal and morally-reprehensible acts.

Parents need to be extremely careful, especially traders and working class people who leave home early and unwittingly leave their children at the mercy of morally-unrestrained adults.  It is somewhat difficult to fathom what would attract a sane male adult to a girl-child and sometimes a baby who has yet to develop physical and sexual attributes like those of adult females. Or what kind of sexual pleasure can a male adult with a clear head and stable mind derive from concupiscence with a minor? It is rather puzzling and ridiculous but there must be something to a paedophilic act for it to be experiencing relentless upsurge in the country. In fact, one Tunde Vincent, 25, who was recently arrested in Niger State for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl, pointedly claimed that he preferred to be with young immature girls to satisfy his sexual urge.

Without doubt, the menace has reached a level where it should attract special official focus. Government and its agents must improve on proper enforcement of the law so that this crime is punished maximally. Occasionally, some form of  special judicial interventions are required to curb crimes that tend to increase owing to the false sense of impunity that perpetrators and would-be perpetrators tend to have because of the  slow legal process. The judiciary has begun to show more than a passing interest in the speedy trial of corruption cases in the country and the same disposition should be extended to the trial of rapists and paedophiles. The objective should be to bring offenders to book speedily to serve as a deterrent to those who may otherwise indulge in the crime. That way, the law and the justice system will be able to serve as instruments of social re-engineering.

Currently, the legal process is painfully slow. Too much time is wasted waiting for the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP). The police are also alleged to sometimes compromise their mandate of painstaking investigation and diligent prosecution of cases after allegedly receiving monetary inducements from the suspects or their relations. We urge the Department of Social Welfare and non-governmental organisations that are involved in women and children rights’ advocacy to begin to show interest in cases of rape and paedophilia within their jurisdictions, right from the police stations. A great deal of perversion of justice allegedly happens at that level. The incidence of miscarriage of justice or alleged police cover-up will reduce if there are credible third parties who show interest in the cases.

The office of the Public Defender is really working hard in this regard and actively supporting victims of rape in Lagos State.  Other states of the federation are encouraged to emulate Lagos. To rein in the menace of sexual assault in the country, all hands must be on deck. The law-enforcement agents should not toy with cases of rape. The government should intensify enlightenment campaigns on the evils of the anti-social behaviours and the need for the parents of the victims to always speak up, while the offenders should be made to face the severest sanctions under the law. Nigerian children deserve to be protected from the activities of irresponsible adults and sexual predators.