Why Men Rape?
Why Men Rape
The recent acceleration in the raising tide of rape cases in Nigeria shows that there is need for the National Assembly to come up with stringent laws that will stop the “flood of rape” from corroding the future of Nigerians, especially the female who have been majorly at the receiving end of this social terror.
On 27th May, 2020, a student of University of Benin, Uwaila Omozuwa, was allegedly raped while reading in a Church located in Edo State’s Capital, Benin City and later died in hospital, days after. Less than a week of this occurance, an 18-year-old student of the Federal College of Animal and Production Technology, Moore Plantation, Apata, Ibadan, Oyo State, Barakat Bello, was also reportedly raped and killled in her father’s house.
While people were still mourning this great loss, another lady, a 17-year-old street hawker at the Oja-Oba Market, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State was also allegedly gang-raped by three armed men on June 1st. Though, this time around she was not killed but taught another lesson about life.
Amidst these cases, some great personalities and organizations embarked on protest both online and offline in order to called the attention of the government to the growing terror.
However, despite these protests and discussions, the cases of rape continue to accelerate at an unprecedented level in the country. Infact, according to the mother of a 12 year old girl that was raped by unknown masked men in Ajah area of Lagos State, on June 4, it was the discussion on the “wave of rape” in the country that she was listening to on the radio when she received the sad news.
Similarly, a day before the 12 year old girl was raped, the men of Ogun State Police Command had arrested a 25-year-old-man, Wasiu Bankole, for forcefully having carnal knowledge of a 70-year-old woman while asleep in her house at Ijoko area of the State on June 2nd. Though, the man claimed to be under the influence of achol.
Also, a lady identified as Favour Okor was allegedly raped, battered and slammed against the edge of a deep gutter by a 28-year-old Robinson Godday to the extent that her spinal cord was broken in Agbara areas of Ogun State ten days to her 17th birthday, on April 22.
Similar case was reported of a man in Suleja, Niger State who after being arrested by the police blamed Satan for raping his two daughters for seven years. This also seems to be the statement that always come out from the mouth of most lecturers caught in “sex for grade net”. However, looking at these cases, the question barely comes to mind is why men rape?
Basically, the reason most people rape is because of the crippled justice system in Nigeria. Infact, 80 percent of those that engage in this social terror leverage on the laxity in the system to lunch their attack on their victim while the victim continue to die in silence because of stigmatization and “delay-justice” syndrome in the country.
For instance, the alleged rape case raised by Busola Dakolo against the Senior Pastor of Common Wealth of Zion Assembly, Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo in 2019 is still going through investigations up till date without any conclusion. Though, the Pastor has repeatedly refuted the allegation.
Unfortunately, the way it is now, nobody could say who would be blamed at the end of the day but at the same time, it proved the reason men rape. Because, if this can be happening in a case that the wife of Mr President, Ashia Buhari publicly called the attention of the Inspector General of Police to, how much more is the case where the victim of the terror is not popular or connected to a popular voice.
Though, some people are of the opinion that the way female dresses now a days serve as an invitation to rapist because “men are not wood”. Infact, a federal lawmaker from Borno State, Ahmed Jaha, stated this while the House of Representatives members were deliberating on the domestication of the Violence Against Persons and Prohibition Act.
However, looking at the account of most of the rape victims, it seems the issue of rape goes beyond shape, size, cloth of the opposite sex because if it was to be, there wouldn’t have been cases of baby rape. But, because it is the issue of mind set people go down so low to rape babies. Though, this is one of the reasons why government exist.
Primarily, government exist to regulate human conduct so that there can be peace and prosperity because if everyone is allowed to operate without rules and regulations, the human society will degenerate to animal kingdom where survival of fittest seems to be the anthem.
Therefore, the National Assembly should come up with anti-rape bill in order to curtail the spread of this endemic disease so that Nigeria can be a secure place for all in respective of gender, colour and religion. Because, in a situation where justice is delayed and denied, to reduce the spread of rape will be difficult.
Femi Oluwasanmi,
Ibafo,
Ogun State.
