The rate at which the society is dealing with rape
in this country is upsetting, and the government is not helping issue at all.
What is rape, type of rape, cause of rape and rape cases in Nigeria and
governments contributions. At the end of this, comment and way forward i.e. how
this act can be curb in the society will highly appreciated.
It was Cicero who once said that “any systematic
treatment of a subject should begin with a definition so that everyone may
understand the subject of enquiry”.
Rape is a type of sexual assault
usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons
against another person without that person's consent. A person who commits an
act of rape is known as a rapist. The act may be carried out by physical force,
coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid
consent. Though, it is being giving different names like sexual assault or
criminal sexual conduct by the legal suit. The type of rape we have are,
generally categorized by reference to the situation in which it occurs, the sex
or characteristics of the victim or the sex or characteristics of the
perpetrator and they are Anger rape
and it is characterized by physical brutality, much more physical force is used
during the assault than would be necessary if the intent were simply to
overpower the victim and achieve penetration. This type of offender attacks
their victim by grabbing, striking and knocking the victim to the ground,
beating them, tearing their clothes, and raping them. Power rape, rapists’ rape becomes a way to compensate for their
underlying feelings of inadequacy and feeds their issues of mastery, control,
strength, authority and capability. The intent of the power rapist is to assert
their competency. The power rapist relies upon verbal threats, intimidation
with a weapon, and only uses the amount of force necessary to subdue the
victim. Sadistic rape, they have a
sexual association with anger and power so that aggression and the infliction
of pain itself are eroticized. So, sexual excitement is associated with the
inflicting of pain upon their victim. The rapists finds intentional
maltreatment of his victim intensely gratifying and takes pleasure in the
victim's torment, anguish, distress, helplessness, and suffering; he/she finds
the victim's struggling with him/her to be an erotic experience. It usually
involves extensive, prolonged torture and restraint. Sometimes it can take on
ritualistic or other bizarre qualities. The rapist may use some type of
instrument or foreign object to penetrate his/her victim. Sexual areas of the
victim's body become a specific focus of injury or abuse. The sadistic rapist's
assaults are deliberate, calculated and preplanned. They will often wear a
disguise or will blindfold their victims. Prostitutes or other people whom they
perceive to be "promiscuous" are often the sadistic rapist's targets.
The victims of a sadistic rapist may not survive the attack. For some
offenders, the ultimate satisfaction is gained from murdering the victim. Gang rape, these are another form of
sexual violence and are predominantly committed by young men. Sexual aggression
is often a defining characteristic of manhood in the group and is significantly
related to the wish to be held in high esteem. Sexually aggressive behaviour
among young men has been linked with gang membership and having delinquent
peers. Gang rape is often viewed by the men involved, and sometimes by others
too, as legitimate, in that it is seen to discourage or punish perceived
immoral behaviour among women, such as wearing short skirts or frequenting
bars.
The causes of
this criminal act are necessarily having a single cause, and causes may be
localized based on other social aspects of culture. According to the President of Gender Alliance,
Mrs. Adenike Atoyebi, in the vanguard
newspaper publication On April 18, 2012 she stated that “Yes, we have lived
with rape since the beginning of our existence, but the manner in which it is
happening in Nigeria now, is worrisome. But I have to put this sudden surge on
the socio-economic situation in the country, which has left many jobless and
hungry. But for idleness, what would make someone to rape a three year old girl
or a 60-year old widow? I think there’s no particular reason for rape. I consider
it an act of immorality and madness. I once heard a story about a teenager who
was raped on her way home. The offender said he had simply acted on his
impulse, claiming he aroused by the girl’s dress sense.” Susan Brown miller in
her book Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape which is widely credited with
changing public outlooks and attitudes about rape, promoted the concept that
“rape was not the victim's fault”. As some authors made people beliefs, she described
rape as "a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all
women in a state of fear.” She believes that "rape is a crime not of lust,
but of violence and power." She sought to examine general belief systems
that women who were raped deserved it in other to change people perception on
the issue.
Rape cases in
Nigeria are as follows: On April 18, 2012 the punch newspaper reported that three
men, Laide Sulemon, 26; Aina Samson, 24; and Ayomide Simpa, 25, were on Tuesday
arraigned before an Apapa Chief Magistrate’s Court in Lagos for allegedly
raping a 27-year-old woman. An Arabic teacher in Ibadan recently raped a 15
year old student for not passing her exams. Siaka Salimonu, 43, who teaches
Arabic, allegedly promised to give Yetunde holy oil for prayers to improve her
academic performance, and raped her when she came for the oil. Salimonu is also
an Imam and regularly conducts Friday Jumat prayers in the local mosque. As it
is in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, so
is it at Gombe, where a water vendor, Ahmed Manu, 22, of Tudun Wada quarters,
Gombe, was recently remanded in prison custody for allegedly raping a
26-year-old mentally deranged woman. The principal judge of the court, Malam
Mohammed Usman, gave the order when the accused pleaded not guilty to the
charge. The complainant, Malam Mohammed Hassan, who is a traditional herbalist,
told the court that the accused person had on February 24, raped one of his
patients who was being treated for mental problem. He said the accused person
was involved in hawking water during the dry season and had supplied water to
the home. Another pathetic incident of rape recently was that of a 16-year old
girl, who was raped by three police men. Policemen jailed for raping
16-year-old girl: The policemen were subsequently convicted and sentenced by
Kano State High Court for abduction, conspiracy and rape. The policemen were
former Insp. Dantalle Muhammed, who was convicted on three counts of abduction,
conspiracy and rape and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in addition to a
fine of N100, 000 for rape. He was also sentenced to eight years in prison for
abduction with a fine of N50, 000 and six years in prison with a fine of N50, 000
for conspiracy. The other convict, former Insp. Yusuf Ibrahim, was sentenced to
14 years with a fine of N200, 000 for abduction, eight years and a fine of
N100, 000 for conspiracy and six years
with a fine of N50,000 for rape. The third convict, Mahmuda Muhammad, was
sentenced to seven years imprisonment for rape.
The
contribution of the government in these epidemic is that the government,
however, is failing in its obligation to exercise due diligence, there are laws
that needs to be reviewed urgently, so as to serve as a deterrent to rapists
and would be rapists. It was the spate of rape that made the Federal Government
to constitute a Committee on the Review of Discriminatory Laws against Women,
which operated under the auspices of the National Human Rights Commission with
a mandate to review discriminatory legislation, including rape. This law needs
to be reviewed because some of these laws are most times outdated, and not
enforced, so you find people perpetrating the crime because they know they
would not feel the full weight of the law to meet up the rising rape cases,
because the crime is taking another dimension lately. If the current rate of
this madness must be curtailed, government must wake up to its
responsibilities.
