Rape of a Nation!

Nigeria Politricks have long predicted that the just concluded Nigerian election would be a sham and a criminal act to legalize an unconstitutional process. We all know that the outcome had been predetermined. We salute the courage of millions of Nigerians who turned up their noses at the corrupt institution of the Obansanjo government by boycotting the election en masse. We are glad OBJ is going to retire in ignominy back to Otta farm come May 29th – good riddance! For the rest of the ordinary Nigerians, the struggle continues! We strongly believe there was no election and the so-called president-elect Yar’Adua was borne out of illegality and his regime will be a charade; the continued entrenchment of the wanton destruction of the Nigerian social, economic and political lives!

Moving on, here is one of the most disturbing article in the Nigerian news that calls for concern!

Ritualist beheads neighbour’s four-year-old daughter
By Niyi Odebode, Abeokuta - Punch Newspaper!
Published: Friday, 4 May 2007
A 25-year-old ritual killer, Owolabi Jimoh, was on Thursday arrested for allegedly beheading a four-year-old daughter of his neigbour, Timileyin Abiona, at Idofoyi area, Ayetoro, headquarters of the Yewa North Local Government of Ogun State.
The Commissioner, Ogun State Police Command, Mr. Joseph Apapa, who paraded the suspect at the state police headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta, said Jimoh and one Hakeen Ogunleye committed the offence on Wednesday.
Apapa, who said Hakeem was still at large, also paraded a herbalist, Matthew Ogunleye, whom he alleged asked the suspects to bring the head for money ritual.
However, in an interview with journalists at Eleweran, the herbalist said he was innocent of the crime.
But Jimoh, who was paraded with the decomposing head, confessed that he and Hakeem commited the crime.
He said, ”Hakeem said if we could get a human head and take it to the babalawo, we will become instant millionaires.”
The suspect stated that he and Hakeem lured the girl by sending her to buy bread.
”She was playing with her colleagues when Hakeem gave her money to buy bread at 2pm yesterday (Wednesday). She came back with the bread. Her colleagues also accompanied her to the bread seller,” Jimoh said.
According to him, while other children were sent back, the girl was taken into a room in the house where he lived.
The suspect added,”I strangulated her while Hakeem held her hands and legs. After killing her, we put the corpse into a sack and called an unsuspecting commercial motor cyclist that took us to Odorori, on the outskirts of Ayetoro.
”At Odorori, I held the legs and hands of the girl, while Hakeem was cutting the head with a cutlass. We were taking the head to the herbalist when we were arrested.”
But in an interview with journalists, the herbalist denied involvement in the crime.

We all might have experienced or heard worse stories from Nigeria, but to kill a poor innocent child in this manner is mind boggling! As a society, it is our responsibility to protect the innocent and the weak. And for the Nigerian Police to have the audacity to make a public spectacle of this gruesome act; parading the suspect with the victim’s decomposing head is despicable. How is the family of this poor child/victim going to find the healing and closure of this nightmare that befell them? For the animals that murdered this poor child, I have some few choice words for them! They are worse than dirt. They are the scum of the earth; the lowest of the lows that have been reduced to bestiality as a result of the get-rich-quick mentality that have now become the bane of the Nigerian society. I hate these animals from my gut, they are revolting and I feel strongly that justice needs to be done. But how much faith do we have in the Nigerian judicial system? How much faith do we have in a police state in carrying out justice? How much faith do we have in a failed system of government that cannot protect its weak?

This brings to mind Amnesty International report launched Nov. of last year, Nigeria: Rape - the silent weapon. Violence against women and children is endemic in Nigeria as is the abject failure of the Nigerian authorities to bring perpetrators to justice. There is the urgent need for Nigerian Federal and State authorities to urgently overhaul the legal and social systems that tolerate widespread abuse, arbitrary murder, rape and sexual violence against women and girls across the country.

The report draws upon the testimony of survivors and identifies disturbing trends of rape, domestic abuse and sexual violence against women and girls in their homes and by the society! The report also argues that these acts are compounded and encouraged by failures at every level of the judicial system and persist because of consistent failure by the state to tackle the abuse of women and girls by the police and security forces.

Whether abused in their homes and or in their community, by the police or security forces, the report outlines the enormous difficulties faced by women and girls who are raped or sexually abused in Nigeria. The harsh reality is that if you are a woman or a girl in Nigeria who has been at the receiving of injustice say rape, murder, domestic abuse, your suffering is likely to be met with intimidation by the police, indifference from the state and the knowledge that the perpetrator is unlikely to ever face justice,"
There are serious obstacles to the reporting and prosecution of domestic violence, rape and even murder in Nigeria, including inadequate training of police that results in the humiliation and intimidation of the victims and police investigations hampered by corruption and incompetence. On the legislative level, differences between federal, state, Sharia and customary law lead to uneven standards of justice and arbitrary decisions concerning the seriousness of the crime.
The report depicts the near total failure of the Nigerian state to protect women and girls from these terrible crimes. The Nigerian government has taken no meaningful action to translate its international legal obligations towards woman and girls into national law, policy and practice. It is now time that the state and federal authorities meet those obligations and offer real security and justice to women and girls in Nigeria!

In conclusion, the anguish of losing a child is a nightmare, but to lose a child this way and not get justice is just horrendous. My heart goes out to the family of this child as we say a silent prayer for the repose of her soul.