Tackling the menace of sexual abuse in Gombe

To agencies such as the police, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA) and the Nigerian Bar Association, the rising wave of rape of minors in the state has been a major source of concern. The most disturbing aspect of the whole scenario is the perceptible […]

To agencies such as the police, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA) and the Nigerian Bar Association, the rising wave of rape of minors in the state has been a major source of concern.

The most disturbing aspect of the whole scenario is the perceptible sharp contrast in the ages of the perpetrators of the crime and their victims.

Imagine a 70-year-old man raping a nine-year-old girl or a 55-year-old man raping a six-year-old girl! Incredible as it sounds; that is the true picture of the situation in Gombe State.

DSP Abdullahi Kamba, the Public Relations Officer of the Gombe Police Command, says that in the last three years, 57 of such cases have been recorded and prosecuted.

The police officer says that the perpetrators have ages ranging between 45 and 70, while their hapless victims are within the “six-to-nine’’ age bracket.

Kamba insists that the extent of the crime in the state is definitely higher since many rape cases involving minors go unreported because of the fear of the victims’ stigmatisation in the society.

“In most of these cases, we arrested the culprits, only with the help of informants. Only few cases were reported to us and it’s unfortunate that parents are not helping matters,’’ he moans.

Kamba implores the government to impose maximum punishment on offenders to serve as deterrent to others, while appealing to parents of rape victims to always report such cases to the police so as to ensure the culprits’ apprehension and prosecution.

The police are not alone in efforts to stamp out the menace from the state, as the NSCDC says it has handled some cases involving the rape of minors.

Hajiya Altine Sani, the Gombe State Commandant of NSCDC, says that 27 cases of minors’ have been reported to her command within the last one year.

Sani laments that the ages of most of the victims range between nine and 11, while the ages of suspected rapists are between 45 and 70 years.

“After parading the culprits, the victims’ parents often withdrew the cases for fear that the matter may tarnish the image of their families,’’ she says.

Sani says that available statistics reveal that most of the rape victims are adolescent girls hawking on the streets, blaming the parents for mortgaging the security of their children for material gains.

“Some of the girls hawking come back home with money that is more than the expected proceeds from the sales and their mothers gladly collect the money without asking questions,’’ she noted.

All these, notwithstanding, the country’s laws on rape appear stringent and deterrent enough.

Mr Caleb Ubale, the state Chairman of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) says that because of the damaging effects of rape, suspects are not entitled to bail and if found guilty, they could face life imprisonment.

Ubale also re-echoes the viewpoint that parents of the rape victims are not helping matters by being reluctant to allow the cases to be taken to court.

“The law enforcement agencies should not allow rape cases to die prematurely even if the victims’ parents wanted it so,’’ he says.

Mrs Dije Reubainu, Director of Social Welfare in the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, says that the major concern is on the rape victims, who, in most cases, are juveniles.

“We always counsel the victims on how to live without having inferiority complex and how to overcome societal stigmatisation,’’ she says.

As a way out of the problem, Reubainu calls for a legislation that will place a limit on the age of children who could engage in street hawking.

Besides, Mrs Anita Dogo, Gombe State Coordinator of WRAPA, says that in the past few months, her organisation has handled 13 cases of rape of minors, out of which two have been prosecuted.

“The greatest challenge we are facing, however, is that some parents do not cooperate with us and this often results in the culprits going scot-free, only to perpetrate the crime again on another day,’’ she says.

A father to a rape victim, who preferred anonymity, recounts how a family friend, aged 52, raped his six-year-old daughter.

“We had been relating with him (the culprit) for 13 years, even before my daughter was born. One day, he lured my daughter and raped her.

“When the case was taken to court, his father, a village head, intervened and ensured the dismissal of the case,’’ he moans.

Looking visibly angry and frustrated, the man advocates the dishing out of “jungle justice’’ on anyone caught committing such a heinous crime, saying that such criminals should be lynched.

Reacting to arguments that such mob actions negate the rule of law, the man wonders if the laws are meant to protect the less-privileged members of the society.   

“Where is the law when my daughter was maltreated?’’ he quips.

“When the mob punishes a culprit, he is a `nobody’ and nobody comes to his rescue.

“Culprits who have relations who can bail them out always go scot-free, especially if the victim is from a poor family,’’ he says.

A 39-year-old mother of another rape victim, who also preferred anonymity, narrates how her nine-year-old daughter was gang-raped by four men.

“My daughter later tested HIV-positive after screening but my husband warned me not to take any action in order not to taint our family’s image.

“When I insisted on reporting the matter to the appropriate authorities, he threatened me with a divorce. I was later made to understand that he was coerced to take things easy,’’ the woman says.

Rev. Micha Yaute, vicar of ECWA Good News Church in Gombe, describes rape as a violent act of wickedness that could attract the wrath of God on the perpetrators and the society as a whole.

“Any society where such acts are being committed would continue to experience calamities,’’ he warns.

Sheikh Mohammed Al-Mahdi, an Islamic Scholar, said that God outlawed fornication, adding that sexual sins could result in unpleasant consequences for the society.

All the same, many concerned citizens continue to lament about the rampant cases of rape in Gombe State and call on parents, the authorities and society at large to concertedly make efforts to address the menace.

They also admonish parents to be wary of sending out their daughters to hawk on the streets because of the untold dangers inherent in the action.

They, nonetheless, advise parents whose daughters were sexually abused to ensure that justice is done, while overcoming the fear of stigma.

The observers insist that unless more drastic measures are taken to curb the menace, the girl-child in some northern states may soon become an “endangered specie’’. (NANFeatures)