FAGRO FLAYS: How to Rape a Child

‘Sola Fagorusi

I hear parents in urban communities now use the name Yerima to make pigheaded female children fall in line! Sani Yerima, who clocked 53 yesterday, is one of the 109 senators in Nigeria. He married an Egyptian girl in 2010 paying a dowry of $100,000 (about 15 million Naira). She was 13 years old then. Having ‘won’ 3 years ago, he is now seeking another fatal win. Human beings think. The diversity of opinions points to this. The variegation of our thoughts are however amazing given the constituent. It explains why there are preferences for the strange. It’s the closest narrative as to why far from culture, religion or social background, some make certain choices. But then, even liberty is not totally liberal, it is ringed when it comes to certain matters; the child right debate falls in this bracket. What happened in the chamber of the Senate last week met the appropriate reaction from the public.

In October, 2010, Amazon Digital Services Inc., that leading online bookstore got pummelled by thousands of people worldwide. Its sin was that it allowed a man self-publish an e-book and further put it up for sale on its cyber-shelf. The book bore the troubling title – The Paedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover’s Code of Conduct. Phillip R. Greaves II, the author explained that the book was meant to “make paedophile situations safer for those juveniles that find themselves involved, by establishing certain rules for those adults to follow.” In his view, he was hoping to appeal to the “better nature of pedosexuals.”

Greaves, 50 did not place the book out of reach; it was sold for a paltry $4.79 (about N750). The book was pulled down two weeks after. Greaves did not travel a lonely path. In 2002, David Riegel, a psychologist had also put up a book for sale. He titled his – Understanding Loved Boys and Boy lovers. There are versions of Yerima and his co-travellers in the western society but this is the closest they have come in the public domain.

What goes on in the mind of the 35 senators who chose not to have Section 29, Sub Section 4b expunged from the constitution should be of interest? If on a simple matter like this, they weigh to the side they are now, I am at a loss as to how they perceive and analyse other weighty affairs of state. There may be nothing hallowed about the Chamber enough to prevent Equation, a prominent thug at the Ibadan Motor Park from aspiring for office. Laws are meant to be reviewed as societies evolve and comprehend the implication of certain issues given the time and season. The Child Rights Act of 2003 which has done justice to this does not enjoy the same patronage as the constitution. The ear-splitting request that the constitution panders to this is justified. At least lawyers would find something in that legal document to further deploy.

Some of the senators who chose to insist that the section stays have borrowed the veil of religion to make their point. It’s however interesting to note that the North and South seem united on this given the volume of commentary thus far. The votes from Senators Odion Ugbesia representing Edo State and Ayo Akinyelure from Ondo State however sprung surprises. Their motivations must be worthy of a prospective thesis. Reading this morning that the latter has shed tears for his action is relieving, we can only hope the Senate recognises that, alters the vote and make his tears count.

It is important for Nigerians to milk this for maximum benefit to ensure the issues of child abuse are rightly laid to a safe rest. The depraved in today’s world seem to be growing bolder by the day, demanding for more after getting a little. Only a few children will understand the issues being debated. Already they are raped by the society they live. Those in Lagos are woken up by 4am so they can begin to prepare for school that opens by 8am. It’s so because they have to beat the traffic; then you see them serious in sleep as your car passes by their school bus or their parents’ car.

The average child in Ibadan learns swear words as he commutes to school daily, he hears his parents curse at the slightest infuriation and yet the society expects decent argument from the same child later in future. Their minds are regularly raped by a society where to curse is the norm. Even the ones in Abuja are not spared as they learn from their guardians and other adults as they curse other traffic users at the slightest provocation. We had better begin to count the jeers and sniggers from the international community.

But what shall it profit a man to have carnal knowledge of a child? In the last three days, I have had to ask children I see around of their age. I now have a perfect knowledge of what a 13 year old looks like. They are sure not up to the task Yerima et al wants to have them shoulder. This is the time to shake this issue in the sieve of debate, advocacy and activism so that the wrongs can pass out as chaff. There is also the need to address issues around child labour. How do we convince the business woman in Port Harcourt who has a 10 year old as a house help that that’s child labour? We need to explain to the tennis club owners in Enugu who have 12 year old boys acting as ball boys at odd hours that it negates the right of those children.

But then, what level of education does one need to have before understanding that the reproductive organs of a child are still delicate? I am compelled to also ask – what quality and quantity of books must one have read to understand that sex is deeper than just the rhythmic thrusting of the penis into the vagina? Possibly, if Joseph Conrad was alive, he would write a sequel to his 1902 novella Heart of Darkness; and maybe title it Heart of Total Darkness!

As for the Senate President, this moment of darkness he briefly allowed may come to define the highpoints of his leadership. He knows when to pander a debate in the direction he and his pay masters desire; this was about the people and yet he allowed darkness swallow the light of his heart. Yours sincerely watched the First Lady the other day on NTA. I can better imagine if she was taking the Senate head long on this. If she does, I bet she will do a good job knowing her antecedents especially now with her appointment as Champion for Child Online Protection in Geneva. She rattles Governors; she sure would frighten Senators! And where again is the Association of Serving and Former First Ladies, ASFFL? After all, we are a country that loves associations. This is when their service is mostly needed. From the innermost recess of the bedroom, far from the ostensible shindig of the press, they can cause the Pandora Box to remain closed. One would also have had sympathy for groups like the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Northern Nigeria Governors’ Forum if only they are truly pro-people. This is the time they should count; but they may not, since their passion is just power control.

The burden of motherhood is huge and the attendant health consequences of VVF and RVF are also troubling. If a girl is to have anything to do on the bed, it should be to play or to sleep and not to be laid by a man. Even the church has not been spared of this paedophilic urge and various races have also been hit by this. Wole Soyinka must be tired of speaking. The literary sage’s strength must be sagging having to lend voice to denounce one travesty after another. And lest I forget, rape is not usually committed by strangers; it is by those we know.  The elevated art of advocacy and activism is all we have. And we should throw them at this issue; else we all will be culprits in the ongoing rape of the Nigerian child.

@SolaFagro on Twitter