Ejigbo women assault: The need to rise against impunity

For the umpteenth time, the video was being shown to the public. This time, it was within the hallowed chamber of Lagos State House of Assembly where a committee investigating the brutalization of  the two women was holding its first public hearing.Before the proceeding started, a unanimous decision was reached among the committee members and […]

For the umpteenth time, the video was being shown to the public. This time, it was within the hallowed chamber of Lagos State House of Assembly where a committee investigating the brutalization of  the two women was holding its first public hearing.
Before the proceeding started, a unanimous decision was reached among the committee members and other stakeholders present that the sordid video which had actually gone viral on YouTube/ internet should be  played again.
It is a gory eight-minute video shot. One that easily reminds one of impunity that characterized what is now known as the Dark Age. In the clip, two helpless women were stripped naked even as they were on their knees. They pleaded with some group of men who apparently were their tormentors.
These men were supposedly local vigilante team who suddenly turned themselves to law enforcement agents and the trial court at the same time.
The repeated pleas of the women were unheeded for several minutes even as they confessed under duress in Yoruba language that they actually stole and sold pepper belonging to other market women.
The elderly woman appeared to be the worst hit as she was pounced repeatedly by her assaulters whose faces remained obscured.
“A fe jeun nii. E joo…Ata ni mo gbe, I didn’t steal cloths…mo ti jewo…” She said repeatedly in Yoruba as she was being hit from both ends.
 This means in English language: “We are only finding something to eat, please, be considerate with us….we stole pepper, we didn’t steal cloths… I have confessed,”
The video clip however got to its climax when some of the vigilante guys mixed what looked like local dry gin popularly called ogogoro and dry pepper together, forced the women to spread their legs and poured the mixture into their private parts.
That was the emotional pinnacle. Many women among the viewing public who could not hold their emotion wept freely. They wailed and cursed the perpetrators of the dastardly act even as it was apparent that they were helpless in apprehending them.
The clip ended and the deliberation followed. The emotion being expressed by the viewing public was enough to generate spontaneous reactions from the lawmakers with  Dr Ajibayo Adeyeye, the House Majority Leader who also doubled as the chairman of the investigating panel, mincing no word in their determination to get to the root of the matter.
He said: “The Constitution in Chapter 4 section 34 states clearly that ‘every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person and accordingly, no person should be subjected for torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment’. The treatment carried out on the women as shown in the video which went viral on the internet is barbaric, inhuman and condemnable in its entirety.
“ This is Lagos, the centre of excellence. We will not condone any act of man’s inhumanity to man. The essence of this hearing therefore is to try and answer a few questions arising from the video of that barbaric act. “Who are the women that were assaulted? Who were the people that assaulted them? Where did the incidence take place? When did the incidence take place? Has the incidence been reported to the police? Who shot the video? Who posted this video on YouTube or how did the video get onto YouTube? And many other questions?”  Adeyeye said.
But even as each of the invited stakeholders including the community people, market leaders, local vigilante officers and the staff of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area took turn to explain what they knew about the incidence, not much of the questions raised by the committee chairman could be unraveled at the sitting.
The Local Council Development Area Chairman of Ejigbo, Kehinde Bamigbetan, said he first got to know of the incident when a friend in London alerted him on facebook, adding “ the person who uploaded the video on YouTube  has since closed his facebook account, making it difficult for me and the police to track or get necessary information that may assist investigation,” Bamigbetan said.
Bamigbetan said he was able to uncover the fact that the incident truly took place in Iyana-Ejigbo market which happens to be the largest market in his domain. He said it was from investigation that he got to know that the incident actually took place in February 2013 even though, the video only went viral in November and early December. He said he also got to know later that the victims are the wife and step daughter of a palm wine tapper who had to leave the community after the incident.
But for Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, the National Coordinator of Women Arise, the group which kick-started the campaign to get the culprits of Ejigbo women assault punished, Bamigbetan’s effort has not really been impressive.
“Why did it have to take him ten good months to blow the whistle and acknowledge this bestiality to the public? Why does it appear that he turned a blind eye to the ordeal of the victims? Or is it a case that he lives of poor victims like the Ejigbo two who are pepper sellers from the household of Mr Palm-wine tapper are of no value?” Okei-Odumakin quipped.
The rights activist was not alone. All other contributors condemned the dastard act, saying the Ejigbo scenario is a sad reminder of how the girl-child and women in Nigerian society have become victims of indescribable abuses and inexpressible horrors of brutality.
They cited the case of Cynthia Osokogwu who was raped and murdered by her male facebook friends in Lagos as well as Alice Ossai, the female staff of Toppan Packaging Company Ltd who was said to have been atrociously attacked by Kaveh Noine, a manager at the company which led to the loss of her seven months pregnancy.
The House Committee, promised N1.2 million naira reward for anyone who can come up with information that will lead to the arrest of the culprits of the dastardly act.
The lawmakers’ sitting seemed to have triggered positive responses. First, the Police DPO in Ejigbo was transferred. Thereafter, the traditional ruler of the community, Oba Morufu Ojoola was arrested after a raid on his palace. Then, the Iyana-Ejigbo market wherein the act was said to have been committed was eventually shut down while the crack team of police began investigation. And on January 20, 2014, the  alleged suspects in the ignominy were eventually arrested at the palace of the traditional ruler.
Already, the victims of the sodomy have been identified. The step daughter who was the second person tortured in the video who has now been identified as “Juliana” is said to be now late while the elderly women’s baby was also said to have died as the woman was prevented from attending to the baby while being tortured.
The elder woman in the video and her husband, identified as “Mr Freeman” have also met with officials of the Lagos State government.
Currently, a case has being instituted against the culprit by the Lagos State government and observers are saying the extent at which the long arm of the law deals with the perpetrators will go a long way in determining whether or not impunity can be curtailed in the country.