A post on a social media platform yesterday prompted me to write this. Many of the comments on that post were outright disgusting and shameful.
Have you ever had a female rape victim narrate her ordeal to you? Have you ever watched them shed tears of pain as they relive their experience; one they would have given anything to have been spared from?
Believe it or not, there are young men who have devoted themselves to forcefully and mercilessly raping as much of the females as they could trap.
A particular sister I know was unfortunate enough to pass through this ordeal. These young men took turns with her from about midnight until six in the morning; leaving her half dead, bruised, destroyed, totally broken and defiled. She cried her heart out in the morning when she managed to regain some strength.
She was a virgin and her fiancé was to pay her bride price he next week. They were both inconsolable.
Beyond that trauma were medical examinations, tests and treatments for possibilities of infection which spilled into months. The nightmares would always come to haunt her in her dreams too. The injury inflicted deep in her privates is yet to heal as I write this.
These perpetrators weren’t caught and regrettably, they still walk among us today as free men.
Don’t ask me what she did to deserve this because no human should, no matter what.
This year alone I have heard about three of such demonic attacks within the environment in Imo State where I am domiciled, and all happened within a tertiary school environment and these devils are still on rampage.
Just last week it happened again. This particular lady was abducted on her way back to her hostel in the evening and taken to their hide out. She was raped nonstop from 8:00pm until 2:00am by young men who had obviously filled their systems with drugs and sex enhancement substances.
They would choke their victims to make sure they never scream out and torment them for as long as it takes for the substances they took to wane. What could be more heartless than this?
What if it was your sister, fiancée or wife? Must we wait for this evil to manifest in our lives before we collectively raise a cry against it? Why do we trivialize evil in our society?
It hurts me deeply each time I hear cases and mentions of rape trivialized by grown men and women who should know better. Trust me; there are very few circumstances in life that are more traumatic than rape.
There is nothing less brutal, barbaric, humiliating, debasing, and polluting than rape. It is inhuman in its totality and so is making jest of rape victims. It is the height of callousness no matter the offending gender.
This is a call to all. This is a call to individuals, families, and corporate bodies and especially the management and body of our tertiary institutions in this country.
SO MUCH RAPE IS GOING ON AND WE MUST ALL RISE TO PUT A STOP TO IT!
It is glaring that the institutions that should handle this issue are not doing enough. The orientation is weak and the perpetrators are waxing stronger. I have tears in my eyes as I write this.
Please let’s not trivialize rape!