A lot of questions
have been on the minds of most people that have followed the recent rape story
fingering Dean Cyril Ndifon of the faculty of law, University of calabar,
Nigeria. The first thing we tend to hear about the man is his notoriety, how he sexually assaults and rapes female students, (well, no male has spoken out but
one can’t be too sure these days). Hence we ask; why have these victims not
spoken out all along? Why has he been getting away with it? Some say he
threatens his victims; that is not hard to believe, is it? I mean what rapist
or violent offender encourages his victim to go spread the news? The most
important question I’ll like to ask is, “will he get away with it this time?”
Apparently he belongs to a cult and his hound dogs will hunt victim down if she
squeals. If you ask me, he doesn’t even need to attempt to scare them that badly;
rape victims rarely speak out anyway.
WHY ?!
“The feeling of shame is so intense for rape victims that many never tell anyone what happened to them, I found it difficult not to feel ashamed when others reacted to me with embarrassment or discomfort. And this feeling of shame silenced me.” Nancy Venable Raine, After Silence: Rape and My Journey Back.
The reasons rape victims do not tell about their ordeals are
universal, same across ethnic groups, religions, countries and continents. These
reasons include, shame, stigma, fear of being disbelieved,
fear of being hounded (Ndifon style), and a desire
to get past the pain. Victims are
also concerned about their family and friends, they are anxious
about what the people in their lives will think. They also worry about “ruining” the
reputation of the perpetrator when it is someone known to them (better believe
it). Then there is the justice system
to worry about, would they get justice at the end? If not, why bother?
Back to ‘the Ndifon’,
someone finally squealed. Bless her mother for not hushing it. Bless the age we
live in, stories spread like wild fire so the whole world now has access to the
story of the serial rapist, (forgive me for not prefacing “serial rapist” with ‘accused’).
Oh right, he didn’t
do it, the 20 years old 400 level law students made it all up! She had it all planned. All
she wants is to ruin the perfect image of a very good man, the very first law Professor from his state of origin. She somehow
managed to get him to tear her test papers, so that she can get him to invite
her into his private office, just so she can set him up. How dare she stay
quiet when someone came to interrupt him? Why did she not use the brain God
gave her to scream? The hound dogs want to know. They have no idea what could
happen to a person’s God given brain in times like that. Maybe, just maybe they
do. Sometimes, the people that attack one the most are those that have actually
been there; those that resent themselves so much for not screaming when
screaming was the commonsensical thing to do. They will NOT pass up an opportunity
to attack someone who has acted the exact same way they hate themselves for
acting.
‘The Ndifon’ has
ruined a lot of lives. He has hurt one woman too many. It is time to put him
out of business. This last victim was brave enough to speak out and by so doing she has
encouraged some other victims to speak out too. She has encouraged parents who
hushed up the stories their daughters told them to speak out. This last victim should be exactly that, his “last
victim”.
Getting justice for
any one rape case has a ripple effect on the rate of reporting. For one thing,
it will encourage victims to speak out and perpetrators will be put out of
business. Let’s make our world safe for our women, for our daughters.
