Faces of Rapists in Nigeria
By Isaac Asabor
When the phrase, “Stubborn as a goat” is used to describe how obstinate anyone is, the impression that readily comes to mind about the person being referred to is usually that of seeing the person as not obeying simple instruction or order. To say that anyone is as stubborn as a goat is very simple to understand particularly to some of us that grew up in villages before coming to the city in search of the proverbial greener pasture.
One of the most annoying behaviors in goats is that chasing them away is very difficult and frustrating. For instance, after chasing a goat away with lashes; no matter how brutal it was dealt with, it easily forgets and comes back again to the same spot where it was mercilessly flogged, and sometimes hit with hard objects.
There is no denying the fact that goats are the same way everywhere. To be able to get around this, you have to learn how to think like a goat, if something is blocking their way from getting food or water and they don’t know how to solve it, they need their Rearer being the one with the higher mental power to solve this puzzle for them.
To this end, it is expedient to ask, “Why Do Rapists Share Similar Behavioral Pattern with Goats?” The expediency and exigency of answering the foregoing question cannot be pooh-poohed as rapists have been on rampage in the past few days, despite the upsurge of condemnations that trailed the recent raping and killing of 22-year old Uwaila Vera Omozuwa who was studying microbiology at the University of Benin, Edo State. It appears not to have deterred them, or at least compel them to exude some certain level of moral restraint.
It is germane to say that screaming and gruesome news headlines in newspapers cast in the similitude of “Man rapes, kills brother’s wife in Zamfara”, “Another student raped, killed in Ibadan, Ekiti hawker defiled”, “Kano state serial rapes: Man arrested after 40 rapes in Nigerian town” since after the raping and killing of Uwa are really making right thinking Nigerians to think that rapists in this part of the world are indeed goats as they share the same obstinate behavior. Otherwise, what would make any right thinking person not to be sad in the face of rising cases of rape and killing of our mothers, aunties, nieces, sisters and daughters despite the condemnations and women demonstration that swept across the nation in protest against unprecedented raping and killing of women?
Without overstating the fact, the recent times have been characterized with sad stories of young girls and women being assaulted and raped across Nigeria, particularly since the raping and killing of Omozuwa in Edo State became a public knowledge. For instance, just as many Nigerians and even members of the International communities were bemoaning her killing, that of Barakat Bello in Oyo State, who also died from similar assault carried against her began to trend in the media.
As the statistics kept increasing, that of a 12-year-old girl in Ajah, Lagos, who was raped by four masked men in her home was also reported in the media. According to a family member who did not want his name published because of stigmatization said the pupil was not only raped but also brutalized.
Since the murder of Uwa, the Ekiti State Police Command arrested two suspects in connection with alleged rape of a 17-year-old minor. The sexual assault happened at Oja Oba area of Ado Ekiti around 7.00pm.
The victim was said to be hawking sachet water when the boys, who were regular faces in the area, allegedly pounced on her and forced her into a corner and gang-raped her.
The teenager was taken to the hospital, where the case of rape was established.
Report has it that the office of the wife of the state governor, which was notified of the incident, paid for the hospital bill of the survivor. In the same vein, and within the same period, police in the State also arrested a 15-year-old boy for allegedly defiling a three-year-old girl. The incident occurred in Osi Ekiti, Ido/Osi Local Government Area of the State. It was gathered that the young boy allegedly lured the girl with a confectionary, commonly called sweet, to the room, where he perpetrated the dastardly act.
To recall a moral story that depict how thoughtless and foolish a typical goat is, and whose behavior rapists share, it is expedient in this context to illustrate my view with two goats that came face to face while crossing a narrow bridge. “Let me pass”, said one of them. “Never, you get out of my way”, said the other goat. They quarreled with each other and lost their balance. They fell into the stream down below and died!
A few days later another two goats came face to face while crossing the same bridge; despite what happened to the other two goats that died. Both of them also died as the goats were not mindful of their actions. Without any iota of exaggeration, the moral lesson to learn from the foregoing anecdote and how it concerns rapists is that not only were the goats senseless, they were also too stupid to learn from the mistakes of the past.
Interpretatively put, so as to bring the moral lessons to bear in this context, it suffices to say that rapists behave like goats as they do not know the gravity of what they do on themselves, to their victims and relatives and the entire humanity. How on earth can anyone be reading on daily basis in the newspapers , and on other news sources about the rising cases of rape, and still remain unrepentant over the crime.
I must confess that the collective recalcitrant and unrepentant disposition of rapists is being fuelled by the absence of highly deterrent law to curtail the act in a country where there are stringent laws against armed robbery and other criminal acts.
To the view of this writer, a drastic situation requires a drastic solution, otherwise, rapists in this part of the world will continue to exhibit goat-like behaviors that would continue to make rape look like a culture. Once it becomes a culture, nobody will be able to stop it. Rapists should be chemically castrated as I advocated in an article I earlier wrote as it would likely serve as a deterrent. I recommend chemical castration for them. It should be implemented; there shouldn’t be a sacred cow.
As I conclude this piece in this context, the question, “Why Do Rapists Share Similar Behavioral Pattern With Goats?” still remains relevant, and need to be answered by the appropriate government authority, and perhaps maybe by doing so solutions needed to solve the problem will emerge.
