By Julius Ogunro

It is probably only in Nigeria that five young men
would brutally rape a woman, record the vile act on
video, circulate it on the internet, and yet go scot
free. Even in a country where murderers
sometimes walk free, the ABSU rape scandal was a
new low for us. It captured popular imagination,
caused outrage, and made the international news
circle. Not because it was the first rape incident in
Nigeria, far from it; but its brutality coupled with
the unusual callousness displayed by the rapists
who recorded the act and circulated it through the
social media was perhaps a first. The first digital
rape, if you like.

The men in the video beat the unfortunate girl and
took turns to molest her. Her cries for mercy fell on
deaf ears and only caused the men to laugh and do
her more. Everyone who saw the recording of this
shameful behavior were either moved to tears or
outraged. Mostly both. It touched the core of our
humanity and made us one with the victim, a girl
who appears to be in her teens. Her tears became
our tears and even though we didn’t know how she
got into the room of the rapists, or her first name,
we could feel her pains and were vicariously
exploited.

There was unanimity in condemning the incident.
It became a cause célèbre for human rights
groups, women and especially young people who
took to Twitter and Facebook to condemn the
mindless rapists. For a people generally regarded
as docile in fighting for their rights, the rape
scandal galvanized Nigerians to speak up and act.
Women groups protested, men disowned the boys
in the video and the police promised N500
thousand reward for anyone who provided
information leading to the arrest of the rapists.
It was agreed that what those boys did was so un-
Nigerian. We are generally modest and coy about
sex. The common attitude being that what happens
in the bedroom stays in the bedroom. So unlike
Americans or the British, it is rare for Nigerians to
display sensual feelings outside the privacy of their
homes. It is abnormal to catch a boy and girl
kissing outside, let alone doing the actual thing in
the open. The rape of that anonymous girl put sex
out in the open, in all its dirty ramifications. And we
rightly denounced it.

But it is a few months after and the uproar
generated by the incident has quietened down. We
have all gone back to our various businesses and
have pushed memories of the vile act to the
recesses of our mind. The rapists, who notably
were not caught, may be somewhere drinking beer
and laughing at the ineffectual Nigeria police. Or
even worse, raping another girl and being cautious
this time by not recording their immoral pleasure.

For the anonymous victim, she may nurse the
wound for the rest of her life. It will certainly not be
business as usual for her as the psychological and
physical trauma may live with her for a long time.

The fact that she didn’t come out to identify herself
and assailants should tell us about her state of
mind and the grave fear she had for her life, or of
secondary stigmatization.

But it is not business as usual for one man. That
man is Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the Minister of
Youth Development. When the rape story first
broke, Mallam Abdullahi was the first government
official to put out any kind of response. He
described the behavior of the young men as
depraved, despicable and immoral. He also noted
that their behaviour did not represent the essential
spirit of the Nigerian youth, and promised to
rehabilitate the victim if she would make herself
available to his ministry. He contacted the Minister
of Police, the Human Rights Commission and other
government officials in the bid to ensure that
justice was done. In spite of their best efforts
however not much was achieved as the rapists
were not arrested and the victim failed to identify
herself.

But beyond these public actions, the minister
grieved privately about the incident. For weeks
after he saw the vile video, he managed to turn
every private conversation to the fate of that
young girl. He wondered what trauma she must
have gone through, and how the men could be so
heartless to sexually exploit her for hours on end.

“This is unacceptable”, I heard him say countless
times.

And being a man who walks his talk, the Minister
insisted that we must have a conference and begin
an advocacy campaign to stop the violence against
women, especially rape. The result is the White
Ribbon Conference, which will hold soon. The White
Ribbon initiative focuses on the capacity of the
individual to change and encourage change in
others. It hopes to change the attitude and
behaviors that lead to men’s violence against
women.

It is a novel idea in that it will focus on young men
who are likely to perpetrate violence against
women. According to statistics, 90 percent of the
time a male is likely to be the aggressor in a rape
incident. It is then surprising that in Nigeria the
focus is usually on the women, victims and
potential victims, who usually attend conferences
or come on TV shows with dour faces to recount
their sad stories. The objective might be to curry
our sympathy, but this has not stopped the violence
against women over the years. The White Ribbon
will bring young men, behavior specialists and
motivational speakers together with the objective
of dissuading the men from becoming perpetrators
of violence against women, and if they already are,
to stop. The goal is to catch them young, to use a
cliché, and drum it that this behavior is
unacceptable and that violence against women is
violence against self. The theme, “Rape and Sexual
Violence in Nigeria”, is apt and will help to drive
home this point.

Yes, we agree one conference may not change the
hostile behavior of all young men toward the
female sex. But coupled with a strategic advocacy
campaign, it may cause more than a dent, and
perhaps prevent the kind of mindless rape that
occurred with the ABSU case.

Ogunro is Special Assistant (Media) to Minister of
Youth Development

First of all,let me make it clear that what transpired should not be encouraged but looking closer you will see we have alot of silly young ladies around. Now the girl in question followed a boy (Uchenna) into his MALE hostel (which she knew was wrong) for a sexual romp. After that other boys decided to join in. From the video you will see she was never beaten in any way. Her resistance was next to zero (after the fake kill me pleas she was telling them to hurry up that she needed to get back to her aunty's store) and after the whole thing she just dressed up n left as if nothing happened. Let stop flogging this issue. That girl was wrong in the first place and so where the guys. What where they all thinking?,

funkyfella:

First of all,let me make it clear that what transpired should not be encouraged but looking closer you will see we have alot of silly young ladies around. Now the girl in question followed a boy (Uchenna) into his MALE hostel (which she knew was wrong) for a intimate romp. After that other boys decided to join in. From the video you will see she was never beaten in any way. Her resistance was next to zero (after the fake kill me pleas she was telling them to hurry up that she needed to get back to her aunty's store) and after the whole thing she just dressed up n left as if nothing happened. Let stop flogging this issue. That girl was wrong in the first place and so where the guys. What where they all thinking?,

gbam! don't mind the o.p, minister is organising a 'white' elephant project to line his pocket, you are here crying more than the bereaved