In 2011 the Nigerian social media erupted when the horrific gang rape video of a young lady surfaced online. The hour long video depicts a rape by at least 5 men and at a point she begs to be killed. Bloggers broke the story online which had before then reportedly circulated amongst the Abia State University student community earning it the ABSU RAPE tag.
In the fallout of the expose the full weight of social media, women and human rights organizations was mobilized in commentary, petitions, letters to Inspector General of Police, an interactive session by the then Youth Minister Bolaji Abdulahi, a special session with women and human rights NGOs with the House of Reps committee on human rights.
There were strident denials from the Abia State Govt. a mind-blowingly embarrassing statement from the Commisioner of Police in Abia saying the rape looked "consensual" and the usual blame the victim brigade. It was a virtual firestorm.
Fast forward to 2013. In March a police report indicated that the rape victim and accused rapists in the video had been identified and located not in Abia State but in Obite Rivers State.
It revealed that the victim was a married woman and at least one of her rapists a relative of her husband. Compared to the frenzied outrage of the rape video this news got the equivalent of a bored yawn.
There were no petitions or freedom of information requests to get more information from the police. No campaigns to raise money to investigate the claim and raise money for the victims legal fight or rehabilitation. We all failed in our duty, the ever loud #Mob No catchy hash tag.
Fast forward to August 2013: The Nation publishes a truly heartbreaking follow up story that reads like an over the top Nollywood tragedy.
The gang rape victims husband has been tracked down to Obite and he reveals the horrific consequences of the rape. His wife suffered a miscarriage after the rape, is now HIV positive and has lost a baby to HIV/AIDS. The suspects (some his relatives) are walking free. The arena for justice was a magistrate’s court? The couple lives in fear of the alleged big shot sponsor of the rape who he claims is influencing the case and has a band of thugs on call.
The now HIV positive rape victim is with her parents in Owerri. They are clearly on their own. Yesterdays outrage from strangers will not get them justice. The hashtag brigade has moved on, to another trendy # voyeur.
Ironically only thing the campaign may have succeeded in doing was alert the husband to the rape. His wife kept it secret and he found out when friends showed him the video of the latest Nigerian scandal.
.
No women or human rights NGO coalitions issued press releases or headed out to provide legal aid. Even the bounty offered online for information on the rapists wasn't used for follow up or converted to a legal fund.
While a victim lives with bone crushing injustice thoroughly unaffected by righteous intentions the #hashtag mob has moved to the next sexy hashtag. No closure. No ability to sustain. No strategies. No moral ground to demand anything better from our leaders. No impact on anything of value. We all need deliverance.
READ THE FULL STORY OF HOW HER HUBBY FOUND OUT HERE
*sad*
The irony of life.
ReplyDeletetoo sad. we are truly a failed nation
ReplyDeleteconcernedgirl
This is so heartbreaking! Naija which way? I don't blame d person that said we are all our own government. I mean you feed yourself, provide your electricity, provide security for you and your family and even to an extent provide jobs for ur loved ones. The government is an epic fail! Imagine what the commissioner of police said. I ask again, naija which way?!
ReplyDeleteHonestly, Nigeria is a disgusting country. it needs to be razed down and started again. The sins and atrocities going on and are currently going on in that country can never be erased. The thing is we all feel we are immune, so we encourage or look the other way. Fact of the matter is that which we ignore, encourage or contribute to will come and manifest itself in either out lives or the lives of our descendants. All these keeping quiet in fear and leaving things for God has killed us. We are the most religious but the most corrupt and morally bankrupt society. Its really sad when we think of all the potential. We leave government for illiterates and criminals because we refuse to get our hands dirty and demand better. Because you are in a comfortable situation today does not mean your kids will be even if you give them the best. So just in case, try to leave the country better than you met it. No one knows tomorrow. I really hurt for this lady. May her rapists and their generations including their families sheltering them never know peace, success or favor.
ReplyDeleteThis is so painful haba
ReplyDeleteTypical nigerian style, always ontop of the situation, with no positive result. What was all those media noise then for? Many things are not adding up here. Only God will show mercy. I pity the poor girl. What she need most now is repentance, and I believe God will show her mercy.
ReplyDeleteWhoa. Repentance?! Re-effing-pentance!?? From what sin? The SIN of being raped? Are you kidding me? *Mtcheeeeeeeeeeew*
DeleteIhekire Tony!wats wrong wit u?and hw do u knw she isn't born again dat ur sayin she nids repentance,or u min she nids repentance 4rm bein raped lyk she called it on herself?sum pple r pure stupid,if u dnt knw wat 2 comment,just effing shut up . GOSH!
DeleteIkheri Tony u're very stupid for dat statement. What do u mean by repentance? Why didn't u say d rapists should ask for repentance? Wat is her sin? Ewu!
DeleteThe nonperforming justice system in this country has really failed this country!
ReplyDeleteOMG.........
ReplyDeleteSo devastating
ReplyDeleteWe all need deliverance. Soon ChildNotBride will also turn into a big "*YAWN*..Oh..that..".
ReplyDeleteSad
ReplyDeleteStella pls paste the link to d video cos I don't remember hearing d gist pls.
ReplyDeleteStella talks abt d victim livin with AIDS n ur der askin 4 d link 2 d video. Ur a sick person.
DeleteSo sad only in Nigeria
ReplyDeleteshare your US visa experiences here
usimmigrationdiary.blogspot.com
where is dis country goin to......are we under spell or sumtin,**nawaooo* fold hand and walk away*
ReplyDeleteGod strengthen the victim and may the rapists be paid in their own coin
ReplyDeleteThis is fuckin pissing me off mahnnnnnn! Tfffff! Kill dose boyzzz! After such shame, wat the hell did the woman do dats all I wna knw!
ReplyDeleteHmm, this story eh! AH! Things are happening in Nigeria, they told the husband to let bygone be bygone! For a crime as serious as this?...To think that i can't even hurt a chicken, what kind of heart dose some human beans have!
ReplyDeleteBad thing bad
ReplyDeleteshame shame and pathetic.Ths nation makes us sick atimes
ReplyDeleteThis is too pathetic *sigh*
ReplyDeleteawfully disheartening....above all of the abuse she has HIV....and nigeria does not have no government aid. over here in england hiv patients live normally. No justice system...just greedy people at the top!
ReplyDeleteJ
ReplyDeleteGod some people are heartless.they deserve the capital punishment
ReplyDeleteI am truly heart broken by this I couldn't tell how much tears I had to hold back while reading and still can't tell how much I'm fighting while typing but imagine this: how will a girl grow from childhood and hv dreams and aspirations she grows into womanhood and on her way ther she discovers that it isn't an easy journey but she still holds on to those hopes for a bright future and then one day she sleeps and beleives to see the best for the next day and then she wakes up and she is attacked by rapists un awares? The video was so gruesome she was actually begging for death. That means the trauma began from the spot of the incidence and then as if it wasn't bad enough the video is everywhere and the world has seen her nakedness, she also has to fight with that. The most painful part is that the world heard of it and her nation couldn't protect or defend her upon all d money their embezzling? Then she realises she has contacted HIV/AIDS and the trauma+the stigma is enough to recreate her mind and make her feel like a dead person and then hear the non sense the police said? Now she and her family her left with God and her life has been destroyed all in one day! OMG Lord have mercy I pray for the best for her and God will surely show his face I stand strong in the faith and I'm sure God will do his work I'm certain about that.
ReplyDeleteI pray karma deals d rapist with the same blow. At least tgry should all be infected too by now.God has not evrm started his judgement on them sef.mschwwwwww.animals
ReplyDeleteExtremely sad.
ReplyDeleteOur short attention span is mind boggling.
ReplyDeleteI don't really understand this Story, my dearest Stella. In 2011, it was a gang rape of a young Girl. The location was Abia State University. And now this. I saw the gang rape video in 2011, and listened to the conversation. It was in Igbo. I am Igbo. There was no mention of husband or marriage. She mentioned her Aunty, more than once. She pleaded with the Rapists to let her go, that her Aunty would soon be back at her Store. There was also a mention of money. She told the Rapists her Aunty would give them money if they have mercy on her, and let her go. Husband, was never mentioned. She looked quite young to me. Stella, I followed up the case, but when I started getting threat calls on my Mobile phone, I had to stop. I was scared for my Life. A certain Emeka, asked me to meet him at a Hotel somewhere. He kept calling me. I also received strange calls from other Men/Boys, telling me the consequences of my Action. They told me to back off, or else..... I wish something had been done. Poor Child. Am sorry.
ReplyDeleteGbam!!
DeleteI think two different tale. Have been mistakenly linked here. That ABSU case girl was not married and lived with her aunty. Still today remember that case and feel sick in my stomach as a father of a six year old girl. Just like i feared,nothing came out of the blogging and Twitter activism. Bolaji Abdullahi spoke Big Bi. Grammar out of his fat cheeks and as info folks say; otu awu naezi. Just like the ALuu case,our ability to contain evil is so elastic. That one too is approaching a dead end. Folks don't even bother to read when Linda post the reminder again.
People freely watch rape videos on their BBs and we are almost desensitized from evil. In addition, our justice system is worse than the politicians and their parties. Total failure.
If I were d husband to dat wman,
ReplyDeleteWALAHI! #PointsForefingerToDMouthnSky, I hunt dos rapist 1 after d oda and kill dem slowly, n I hop d husband to d HIV infected lady reads dis!
Oga if u no say u no get mind abeg, try juju! Cos somtims God's justice is slow,for example na wish painful justice God wan give the infected rapist!
Oga abeg just try n deal wit dos rapist urslf, u av lost everytin alredy, a marriage, a wife n a son!
BTW I dunno y de don't legalize guns in naija, wen I stat working I wld buy a small gun, or carry around a pepper spray! Imagine bein raped by four men! Tufiakwa #Spits #ChinekeEkweneIfoJor
My heart bleeds. Mimie.
ReplyDeletehttps://m.facebook.com/adaobi.uchegbu/posts/451463361627532. This is Bianca ojukwu reply to chief Fani Kayode on her twitter handle. I did not sleep with him to the best of my knowledge. But I remember vividly that he kissed and sucked my breast then but no full sex.
ReplyDeleteDouble trauma...*sadface*..May God protect us always
ReplyDeletehttp://ThePaidTask.com/?refcode=66155
Sadly another reason why we are a failed third world country!
ReplyDeletewhat a pity. it high time relevant agencies take action
ReplyDeleteRepentance for what exactly?????
ReplyDeleteLet's be careful and not curse Nigeria unnecesarilly.. I remember this Absu case very well.. The lady was young,not sure if she was married but I remember they mentioned I.T student or something..
ReplyDeleteNow, everyone was out to help d lady involved, even international commmunity came out,infact, dey were ready to relocate d lady out of Nija but the lady wouldn't come out.. Are u telling me d police investigated,got who d lady was and she just refused to be helped? Why will she do a thing like that? Did her husband tell her not to talk about it? Was she thinking d man will stick with her if she gets AIDS? Now she's back home and she wants help..and u lot are cussing Nigeria.. When u want to give someone justice And dey refuse,there is little or nothing u can do..
Right now,d international community dat even want to help her have forgotten d case,there is little or nothing anyone can do.. People should stop cussing d nation at any given chance, d problem is u and I..
I like people like u who speak the truth no matter what. I see u as someone that hate injustice. It seems a lot of Nigerians have short memories and it's really a thing of concern.Something that happened just two years ago and even people that saw the video can't just remember what they saw. Now, every body is talking about married woman and Obite in Etche, Rivers State.
ReplyDeletewhere are all the churches raising money for blocks on blocks in the name of building for God? what of building the real church of people by supporting this woman for justice?
ReplyDeleteAnd an idiot came here to post a link about Bianca, height of insensitivity, example of what we are talking about.
ReplyDeleteGbeborun oshi, it is Bianca and Femi you should be minding when there are serious issues plaguing our nation.
Stella
ReplyDeleteWhat can we all do to help this rape victim?
Closing our eyes on one victim renders us insensitive to other sufferers. This has to stop. No one knows who will be next....All talk and no action leads nowhere
WriCre8@aol.com