These false rape allegations

TWO fake rape allegations in the news caused consternation across the country recently. In one of the reported cases, a certain TikToker, Abigail Nsuka, popularly known as Mirabel, alleged through a video she posted online that she had been raped in her apartment. Her sombre and tearful act drew millions of views and prompted emotional responses from the public. Few days later, the police found inconsistencies in her statements, and confirmed that she had fabricated the entire story. Her allegations were found to be a false alarm used as a weapon for personal reasons! She later claimed to be under depression. The other case is that of an Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) student, Adeife Adewale, who falsely accused a fellow student, Ojuko Adefesobi, of rape in a social media post. In defence of his innocence, the accused person filed a ₦15 million lawsuit against Adeife. Confronted with facts, the accuser later publicly retracted her claims, acknowledging that the accusations were false. She apologized for using the false claim as a weapon of self-interest. Her parents also reportedly met with the family of the accused young man. The damage control came after considerable social and psychological harm had been done to the victim.

 Rape is one of the gravest crimes known to law and conscience. It is an offence that carries life imprisonment under Nigerian law. It is not bailable. It is not trivial. It is not theatre. It is not a prop for emotional drama and social media spectacle. False rape allegations are not merely “mistakes”; they are detonations. The South African-Australian writer, John Maxwell Coetzee reflects in his novel, Disgrace: “It is not whether he is guilty or innocent. It is that he is accused.” This means that truth can become secondary to accusation, and moral courage can become powerless against collective prejudice. False accusations inflict profound and lasting damage on individuals. Reputations can be destroyed overnight by a single accusation, even when it is later disproven. Careers can collapse, families can fracture, and mental health can diminish rapidly. In an age of instant Internet amplification, retractions of false accusation rarely travel as far, and as fast, as the original claim. The principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ becomes ineffectual when judgment is rendered through social media headlines and hashtags rather than through factual evidence.

There have been accusations of sexual violence and sexual harassment levelled against some prominent men in the Nigerian society which were not clearly ascertained. The accusers did not retract their claims, and continued to use the claims as weapons. False rape alarms stain innocent people, and amount to a weaponisation of rape and sexual harassment for selfish interests. False accusations can ruin people’s lives, and we condemn them as heinous hypocrisy, just as we have always frowned on actual sexual offences. False rape alarms do three profound injuries. First, they stain innocent people, often permanently. Second, they divert institutional attention and resources from real victims who desperately need swift justice. Third, they weaponise a sacred category of suffering, turning one of society’s most serious offences into a tactical instrument in personal conflicts. To falsely accuse someone of rape is to commit a grave moral and legal offence. It can destroy careers, reputations, marriages, and mental health. It can place an innocent person inside a brutal custodial system. It can reduce families to public shame. And it can corrode trust in victims, institutions, and due process.

We sympathise with the real victims of sexual assault, as well as those wrongly or falsely accused. It is true that around the world, cases of false allegations are not more than actual cases of sexual violence. Surely, the current hoaxes do not diminish the reality of sexual violence in Nigeria. Every year, countless numbers of men, women and children endure abuses, many of which go unreported, hidden by stigma, fear and other unfavourabe factors. Still, false allegations should not be condoned. The cases under reference show how weaponised accusations serve parochial purposes, and how they amount to character assassination and a manipulation of public perception. The fabrication of sexual violence for the inordinate sake of getting undue attention, revenge, sympathy or even financial gain harms both individuals and the larger society, and should be decried in the strongest terms.

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Sexual harassment accusations should not be used by unscrupulous females to evade responsibility. They should not be used as a shield after contravening rules, regulations, work ethics, directives, policies and instructions in work places. A male boss or a male lecturer should not be unduly labelled a sex offender simply because he is insisting on a right course for his female subordinate or student. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, if many of the ethically uncompromising and disciplinarian female lecturers, administrators and chief executives were males, they could have been victims of false rape and sexual harassment accusations by defaulting female students, staff and subordinates. This is gross. Our stand against crime is firm; so is our stand against false accusations. Rape is not a child’s play. No one should be made to bear the brunt of being falsely accused of such a grave offence. Rape suspects go through a harrowing experience even when eventually found innocent. Also, the internet does not forget whatever is put there. That is why great caution, in terms of evidence-based investigations, should be exercised before raising alarm. Allegations deserve to be taken seriously, and should be examined carefully, impartially, and promptly. Presuming guilt helps no one, and neither does indifference.

The OAU case cannot be taken lightly. Institutional image is implicated. Academic communities must remain spaces of integrity, not theatres of reputation lynching. Being online offers no immunity from prosecution. Social media is not a courtroom, and ‘trending’ is not evidence. We are of the view that the institution should be involved in the case of Adeife because its image is at stake. Again, the names of persons falsely accused should be legally cleared of reproach because of their future endeavours. False accusers can at least benefit from an out-of-court settlement. When allegations are substantiated, penalties should be firm. When they are demonstrably false and malicious, there should be consequences as well. Accountability cuts both ways. Nigeria must fight sexual violence, and legislate against the rising tide of false allegations too.