HASSANA Ibrahim said she was 17-year-old when she was raped by her class teacher in 2019. The teacher, simply identified as Umaru, lured her into his room while returning home from Islamiyya where she attended an Arabic night class in Sokoto.

Hassan said Umaru invited her home to greet his wife who had just given birth.

“After persuading me to follow him home to greet his wife who had just given birth, I responded that the entire class had plans to visit as a group. I didn’t want to go with him without informing my parents, so I won’t be beaten for coming home late.

“But he insisted that we should go together and I obliged because he promised we wouldn’t take long,” Hassana recalled the incident with a face full of regrets.

The story changed on getting to his house.

Upon getting to the house, Hassana asked about Umaru’s wife and the newly-born child but was told they were in the bathroom. Minutes later, she discovered that Umaru was lying.

She became agitated and attempted to escape. Unfortunately, it was too late. Umaru dragged her into the inner room and despite her refusal and loud cries for help, Umaru overpowered her.

“He went into an inner room, he pushed me on the mattress and removed my clothes. I was screaming but no one could hear me. When he was done, I told him God will judge him and he replied saying I am a useless coward.”

Umaru later drove her home.

Umaru’s act contravenes Section 283 of the Nigerian Penal Code Act which states that “whoever commits rape shall be punished with imprisonment for life or for any less term and shall also be liable to fine.”

The Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015 section 1 subsection 2 also states that the offence of rape is punishable by Life Imprisonment.

Double Trouble
For returning home late, Hassana’s mother beat her until she was rescued by a neighbour. She tried telling her mother about her plight but could not due to fear.

Months after Hassana’s horrible encounter, she became ‘sick’. The teenager was treating fever until one of their neighbours, a nurse, advised her parents to take her for a pregnancy test.

The result came out positive.

Not pleased with the first result, she requested another test and it was the same. To be doubly sure the results were hers, Hassana went for immediate scanning.

“It was after the test results confirmed that I was six months pregnant that I remembered my encounter with Umaru,” she said.

As expected, the test results left Hassana and her mother traumatised. The teenager narrated the encounter with Umaru to her mother, crying.

Mother and daughter eventually confronted Umaru. It was gathered that he didn’t deny any wrongdoing. Instead, “he pleaded with us not to discuss it at his residence.”

Hassana, now with a two-year-old child, a result of Umaru’s violent act, said he urged her to abort the pregnancy. But her mother declined.

Following the refusal of the victim and her mother to accept Umaru’s proposal, he became nonchalant, leaving Hassana to carry her cross all alone. Even when she gave birth, Umaru was nowhere to be found.

“He only gave money for ante-natal once or twice. He was called when I finally delivered the baby but all he offered was a prayer for the child before ending the call. He has since refused to make himself available,” she added.

Today, Hassana finds living difficult. She can only make ends meet because a non-government organisation, Nana Khadijah Centre in Sokoto gave her grinding and tailoring machines. Currently, she is learning tailoring to survive.

Forced out-of-school
The incident marked an end to Hassana’s education.

She was in Senior Secondary School (SSS 2) when the incident happened. The pregnancy took her out of school, and till the moment of filing this report, her hope of going back to school is uncertain.

Like Hassana, Racheal* said she was raped by one Korede Adewumi on July 10, 2020 and it almost ended her education in Ile-Ife, Osun state.

She was preparing for her Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) when the incident happened and it nearly brought an end to her education.

Giving accounts of the incident, Rachel’s sibling who asked to be anonymous to avoid stigmatisation and backlash said her sister was raped during her usual hawking of ‘Aadun’, a savoury Yoruba snack, around Olubuse area of Ile-Ife.

“Korede who sat on the verandah of his house called my sister to sell him Aadun. After buying, he pretended to go back inside and get money. When he finally came out, he stood by the entrance of the front door and asked her to come for her money.”

She took steps to collect the money but was forcefully dragged into the building.

“Unfortunately, no agile person was home at that time to rescue her. The only person at home was an old feeble landlord. Before the landlord could get to other neighbours for help, Korede had perpetrated evil and taken to his heels,” the victim’s sibling added.

Following the attack, Rachel avoided school for months and could not write the general examination with her colleagues.

The victim’s family reported the matter at Aagun Police station after a medical test at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital confirmed forced sexual intercourse.

Korede absconded for weeks but was later apprehended and charged to court.

According to WHO (2002), about one-third of all the women in Nigeria have at one time or the other been a victim of violence in its diverse forms.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/how-rape-sexual-assault-harassment-is-forcing-girls-out-of-secondary-schools/