The rage has subsided but the fire isn’t completely out. OLALEKAN OLABULO, AYOMIDE OWONIBI-ODEKANYIN and MATTHEW ASABOR dug into an infamous open rape case and the potential for it to happen again.
About eight months back, every corner in Lagos State felt the vibration of what was generally considered an unprecedented act. Five male students of Ireti Grammar School were caught trying to have carnal knowledge of two female students of neighbouring Falomo Senior High School, in public glare. This had happened moments after the students wrote their final Senior School Certificate Examination of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) papers. Everybody was scandalized to learn that the sexual assault was a yearly ritual, only that a more concerned eyewitness in the person of a certain Ms Michale Matthew decided to go public with it, thereby bringing everybody’s attention to the after-SSCE crime.
Case no longer with us –Police
The image maker of the Lagos State Police Command, Chike Oti, while speaking on the development of May 4, 2017, open rape incident, said the police had done its duty by charging the students to court.
Oti also said that the present police leadership in the state had put everything in place to forestall such occurrence, adding that apart from the increased police presence along the major roads in Lagos, the police had also created Citizens Call Centre.
According to him, “since the case has been charged to court, police have completed their duties. What is now left is the court to decide. The present police administration in Lagos under CP Imohimi Edgal had put strategies in place and such incidents cannot happen again in the open.”
The police spokesperson added that “the police under the administration of the present CP has not only ensured that the presence of policemen along the major highway was increased but also created a special call centre with 10 phone lines for residents in distress to report. In Lagos now, police do not condone any form of gangsterism and I can tell you that no crime of such nature can happen again without being tracked.”
Abandoned trial?
Almost a year after the social media was awash with the sordid details of the attempted rape and assault, not much has been heard about the matter as regards the trial. The five boys were accused of assaulting their colleagues (names withheld) sexually and tore their school skirts. Though they were arraigned before an Igbosere magistrate’s court, Lagos, sometime in May 2017, the matter is still pending before the court while the accused persons await further directive from the Department of Public Prosecution.
The students (names withheld) were docked before Magistrate Partick Adekomaiya and were granted N500,000 bail. The magistrate, after the arraignment, which was done behind closed doors, directed that the case file is forwarded to the DPP’s office for advice.
The boys accused of tearing the skirts of the victims valued at N1,150 comprised two 17-year-olds and three 16-year-olds. They are facing a four-count charge of conspiracy, a misdemeanour, unlawful assembly, threat to public peace and “gross indecency by forcing themselves on a female pupil and wilful damage” preferred against them by the police.
Though the arraignment was held behind the camera, the prosecutor, Mr Olaitan Soetan, told the court that the defendants and others, who are still at large, committed the offence on May 4 at Normam Williams Street, Ikoyi, Lagos. He said the defendants unlawfully assembled themselves along the highway and threatened the peace of the neighbourhood by indecently forcing themselves on their fellow pupil. After the last adjournment in October 2017, there has been a deafening silence from the end of the prosecution and by extension, the state government.
A visit to the schools
Saturday Tribune visited the two affected schools which are domiciled on the same premises without any form of physical demarcation separating them. After initially refusing to speak on the matter, the principal of Ireti Grammar, Mrs E. N. Azeez, eventually opened up on the directive to the principals by the leadership of the district.
Though she did not grant Saturday Tribune audience during the visit, she later spoke on phone. She notified she would be retiring from service in March and that SSCE had been shifted from March/April to May/June but added that she was currently meeting with the management of the school in order to ensure that the kind of last year’s incident never get to repeat itself again in the history of the school, whenever final examination is conducted for the final year students.
“Although am retiring, I am leaving a recommendation file in a document for the incoming principal on my suggestion on how to avoid the sexual abuse that happened last year where the boys of my school molested their female counterpart.
“The document contains affidavit done in a competent court by the parents of the students, stating that their wards would be of good conduct and anyone found guilty would be punished accordingly. And for the issue of rape not to happen again, the students and parents have been informed about the recommendation reached by the management of the schools around the Education District, which is that any student found attempting such act would be arrested by the police and a yellow gown would be sewn for him with the name of the school boldly written on it and be made to clear the drainages within the community in the presence of the principal of his school and teachers, students as well as the media, which will be present to cover it. And we believe this will serve as a deterrent to any student who still has such thought in mind,” Mrs Azeez said.
Stakeholders’ views
The Second Deputy National President, National Parents Teachers Association of Nigeria, Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, condemned the conduct of the boys assaulting and sexually abusing their female counterparts in broad daylight, describing it as an act condemnable in the night not to talk of the day.
He said the recommendation of the association is mandating guidance counsellors in all schools across the state to teach, counsel and list the consequences of rape, sexual abuse and legal implications of sexual abuse. He added that if after all these are done and anyone is now found guilty, such student should face the wrath of the law.
Also on the issue of improper dressing, he said it also lies on the table of the counsellors to educate the student on the need to dress according to the recommendation of the school and anyone found guilty of contravening the codes should be dealt with.
Efforts to reach the President, Nigeria Union of Teachers, Comrade Michael Olukoya, were abortive as his phone indicated that it was switched off as of press time.
Provocative uniforms
During Saturday Tribune’s visit to the school, it was observed that students, especially those in higher classes, were in tight-fitting uniforms, including girls. Findings showed that the practice is prevalent in nearly all public secondary schools in the state.
It was also discovered that some Senior Secondary School students are in the habit of hemming their skirts with needles and thread to reduce the length as soon as they leave the watchful eyes of their parents.
A resident, Mrs Titilayo Ogunsanwo, who first raised eyebrows about the practice, recalled that some of the students would wait until after assembly before looking for a corner to change their clothes.
“I sell snacks just opposite the school and I am always shocked at the practice. The girls, with the aid of needles and thread, reduce the length of their skirts. This practice is alarming and is an invitation for students to be raped or assaulted. The school authorities should take note and caution these children. The way some of these girls dress after school is also a source of concern. Right after school, you will not be able to distinguish who is a student again,” she added.
We have approved uniform pattern –Ministry of Education
The Lagos State Ministry of Education stated categorically that there are approved patterns of uniform in all the schools in the state.
Mr Segun Ogundeji, one of the directors in the ministry, explained that there are no excuses for sexual harassment and anyone found guilty must be ready to face the law. Ogundeji emphasised that “it is very important for parents under whose roof these children go to school to be aware of what they wear and put up moral talks about their dress pattern which expose them to sexual harassment.”
He went further by saying they should know that dressing scantily in a way that reveals their features, leaving nothing to the imagination, is not in our nature in this part of the world, adding that “it is not everything they see in the Western world they should copy. They should copy new technologies and think about how to break records at a tender age and not involved in things that are at variance with the society.
“The society also has a lot to do in the upbringing of children and not look the other way when the child is misbehaving. The teachers also have a responsibility in ensuring students adhere to the dress code given by the authorities of the school. The parents are also at fault in the way their children dress as they don’t allow other people to comment or correct the indecent dressing of their children.
“Everybody should be involved in the training of a child because when the society decays, everyone would partake of the consequences. The Ministry of Education has approved samples in the sewing of uniforms but the implementation is with the authorities of the schools because skimpy dresses and fitted trousers are not the standards of Lagos State Ministry of Education, and we all owe responsibilities in correcting these anomalies and not looking away. If not that the woman happened to be at a scene the day those boys went on the rampage, your guess is good as mine. Some parents would not caution their children and sometimes when others do, they raise dust and it eventually leads to complacency,” Ogundeji explained.
“In order to avert what happened last year when the boys from Ireti Senior Grammar School molested and assaulted their female counterparts, the school should let the students know the consequences of their exuberance, stating categorically they could end up in jail while their peers make it to the universities.
“The security agencies and the larger society should also be on the guard. Everyone should emulate the woman that dislodged the boys on that fateful day and also understand that the society belongs to everyone. The children are the future of the society and if they are in decadence now, what would be the fate of the nation? Everyone should be involved, the teachers while the pupils are in school, the society while they go home and the parents when they finally get home, if all these are put in check, the society would be habitable for everyone,” he added.
Rape is not all about indecent dressing –NGO
The coordinator of Youth Against Crime, Juliana Francis, who is also a journalist, in her reaction, said: “Let me first make it clear that a girl’s dressing, either indecent or otherwise, has nothing to do with being raped. We have seen cases where Christian and Muslim ladies, clothed from head to toes, with no figure shows, having been raped.
“Rape is actually in the mind and heart of the perpetrator. And no matter what a girl did or didn’t do, a perpetrator will act, sometimes to show he can have his way or for the purpose of subjugation. I am a rape survivor. I wasn’t raped because I dressed indecently. I was raped because I said no to sexual advances which, at that age, I knew I was not ready. If rape has to do with dressing, the mad, naked woman on the streets would be raped on a daily basis.
“Back to the Ikoyi incident, we, as parents, should never make an excuse for rape, which is what your question clearly points to. The way a lady dressed is not a reason for her to become a rape target.
“As parents, we should begin to inculcate this culture and belief into our boy-child. It usually starts with the boy-child witnessing caustic statements from adults around him, on a girl, believed to be indecently dressed, walking past. He learns from them and sees nothing wrong in toeing the same line, catcalling and throwing insults. Some youths go as far as slapping girl’s buttocks or grabbing her boobs on the streets, thinking it’s alright.
“Indecent dressing cuts across both genders, so why is it the female that gets raped? Boys are every day now, leaving their trousers to fall down their hips, to display their boxers or naked buttocks. Some wear trousers that hug them, outlining their manhood, but they don’t get raped. Many of them wear body-hugging T-shirt, displaying their pebble hard nipples, but nobody rapes them, why then must a lady get raped for alleged indecent dressing?
“According to reports from the Ikoyi secondary school incident, rape had been going on in that school for long and nobody had bothered to do anything about it. The girls lived in fear, while the boys, who are the perpetrators, lived like the king of the jungle – raping at whims and probably gathering somewhere to discuss and laugh about it. It is just so crazy, a society being overtaken by young boys who are rapists. I was stunned. Where did they get that idea? Movies? Internet? Streets?
“Away from the arguments; parents should pay more attention to the way their children, girls and boys, dress. I don’t even allow my six-year-old son to sag his trousers. I don’t allow them to go out into the street without their clothes on. That’s the foundation. We should start from there; mould them before they become too hard to be moulded.
“I don’t understand why a child leaving for school would hide another dress or clothe inside her school bag. This is absolutely wrong and the end of such outings is usually disastrous. Teachers in schools are not only meant to teach academics but also morals. Teachers in most schools are likely the first that would notice a girl bringing another kind of clothes to school or a student becoming unruly. The teacher should quickly alert the student’s parents.
“Parents should make out time to monitor their children dressing. Pay unexpected visits to the school. Moreover, most of these clothes are bought by parents. They should carefully scrutinize the kind of clothes they buy for their children. Parents shouldn’t follow trending fashion.
“Parents should monitor what their children wear, either at home or outside the home. The way a child dress speaks a lot about her family. She is the ambassador of her family. Parents shouldn’t be too much in a hurry to want their children to catapult into adulthood.
“School authorities should head the school, not the students. There should be a prototype of how the school uniform should be; not too tight and not too short. This is the responsibility of the school, teachers and parents. Students that fail to comply with the norm should be placed on suspension until the parents go to the school and ensure their ward complies.
“While I don’t agree that indecent dressing influences rape, I, however, strongly believe that the way a girl dresses matters a lot in terms of image. There is a way you dress which makes people see you as being loose and unserious. You may call it stereotyping, but there it is. How you dress matters a lot. If you want to be taken seriously, you have to learn how to dress attractively without baring your breasts and showing off your buttocks for the world.
“A lady doesn’t need to be half naked before a guy can find her beautiful. Most importantly, a lady needs to dress to feel and look good for herself. Attracting a guy with our dressing or looks should be secondary. Moreover, most guys these days prefer a smart lady to a bimbo.”
“Men, right from their childhood foundation, should be taught about rape. They should understand the legal implication, shame and stigma if they are caught in such a web. They can’t take what is not given or offered. And they must realise that something offered could be withdrawn even in the middle of handing over the gift.
“They shouldn’t go around touching and grabbing ladies because they feel ‘she’s asking for it’ by the way she dressed. They should also understand that when a lady says no to sexual advances or sex, it means no. When a lady says no, it doesn’t mean she’s playing hard to get. No is no. There is no other definition for it.”