How I Escaped Being Raped – 16 Year-old Victim of Luxury Bus Robbery Attack Recounts Her Ordeal

When I read the news report of the attack and rape of some female students of Holy Rosary College, Enugu yesterday, my first reaction was – “Oh no, not another rape”. The victims were students who were travelling to Lagos on a luxury bus belonging to Ekene Dili Chukwu Nigeria Limited. They were attacked by armed robbers at the Oke-Odo end of Sagamu-Benin Expressway.

However, the recount of a 16 year-old girl Junior Secondary student (names withheld) on how she escaped being raped makes the case more real and emotional.

According to Vanguard News report, the girls, 42 of them, left Enugu for Lagos on the morning of Saturday, 31st of March 2012. However, the bus developed a fault along the way and they had to wait for another bus to convey them to their destination. This wait cost them many hours and they eventually had to travel at night. They were attacked around 11.40pm by robbers who thought they were business people whom they could steal from. However, when they got to know they were students, they were angered and hijacked the bus, driving it deep into the bush where they allegedly gang raped some of the girls.

At her Ajao estate residence in Lagos yesterday, one of the victims of the attack who narrowly escaped being raped said she was undergoing her menstruation at that time and so she used her blood flow as a deterrent to one of the robbers who wanted to have his way with her.

The girl, who according to the report was still in shock while narrating her ordeal was indeed lucky.

“I was sleeping and did not know how the bus was intercepted. But what woke me up was a bark and the next thing I noticed was that we were inside the forest. At that point, I started reciting my rosary on protection. Our phones were first collected and then cash. I was just with N1200, out of which I was to buy recharge card to contact my parents on approaching Lagos. That, they collected.

We were thereafter asked to lie down. It was at that point that they discovered we were students and one of them shouted in pidgin English ‘so na because of these small children we dey do all this wahala?’

Then, they started approaching us saying we should pull off our clothes. But one of them challenged the person that said so, asking if he did not realise we were children and it resulted in a shouting match between them. As the quarrel was on, another member of the gang came to me and said I should strip naked, pointing his long gun at me. I cried and begged him to have mercy on me but he didn’t listen . Out of fear of being shot, I pulled my underwear, only to discover I was already soaked in blood. I did not know what got into me then, but the next statement that came out from me was that one of them had already done it and I started crying. He pointed his torch light and said ‘ you want talk say you never do am before?’ and he went away. I do not know what would have happened to me had my menstrual flow not occurred”, she said.

The report further stated that no case of rape had been reported, only that of the robbery attack. Also that no arrest had been made.

This comes as no surprise as the victims might have thought that no hope of catching the criminals would arise from surrendering themselves to public scrutiny.

An earlier report said that parents of the girls had spent the night waiting for them at the bus park, worried and only for the girls to arrive the next day with blood stains and scratches on their bodies.

My heart goes out to all the girls and their families for the trauma they must have gone through. Their ordeal was something no parent would wish on any child and I pray for healing, peace and comfort for the girls and their families.

And to the police and government, more needs to be done to protect the lives and properties of people travelling on our roads at any time, day or night.

Put On Your Safety Belt Ladies – Rape Cases On The Rise as 4 University of Lagos Students Gang Rape 17year-old Female Student

This frequent news of rape is getting really creepy. What is happening in our citadels of learning? Why are the people who are supposed to have high moral standards, the so-called “educated” people in the country now turning into rapists? In Nigeria where there is a tough clamour for admission into tertiary institutions, much is expected from one who is sent to the University, rape not inclusive.

It is therefore annoying and at the same time saddening for me as a former female student of University of Lagos to read news of a gang rape among its students.

This is how Vanguard News reported it:

Four students of the University of Lagos were on Tuesday charged before an Ebute Meta Magistrates’ Court in Lagos for allegedly gang raping a 17-year-old girl.
The accused – Jeremiah Bamigbayan, 18; Lanre Olayemi, 19; Abisoye Atoyegbe, 18; and Nelson Onyeoziri, 18 – are facing a three-count charge of rape, conspiracy and assault.
They pleaded not guilty to the charges.
But the prosecutor, ASP Innocent Effiong, said the accused, all of the Business Administration Department, allegedly committed the offence when they conspired and raped their victim on March 17.
He said the alleged victim, a student of History and Strategic Studies of the same university, was overpowered and raped at about 10.30 p.m. at Ozolua Boys Quarters on the campus.
Effiong said the offences contravened Section 258, 259 and 409 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State 2011.
Magistrate Adesola Ikpatt granted the accused bail in the sum of N100, 000 each, with two sureties each in like sum.
She adjourned the case to April 30 for mention.

While we are still recovering from the shock of the gang rape at Abia State University last year where the students had the effrontery to shoot a video of their sexual assault of the victim, four Unilag students are following suit with an act such as this!

What is more saddening is the fact that the perpetrators and their victim are just teenagers. From the way it looks, they were probably friends with the girl who must have trusted them enough to go with them into their quarters.

I remember what Ozolua Boys Quarters was like as a student – the choice accommodation for the “big boys” who didn’t want to stay in the cramped student hostels. It was in a serene and secluded area of the campus belonging to lecturers who charged jaw-dropping rents for the students who stayed there. Without trying to sound condescending, these boys were probably children from affluent homes who might have been under the influence of alcohol or some substances to do this to a fellow student.

I say that for obvious reasons – Unilag is an institution that has one of the least records of cult incidences among other government-owned tertiary institutions in the country (at least that is how it was a few years ago). The environment was generally peaceful and free from threat. This is not to say students weren’t cautious of moving around dark places at night. However, for her to be at such a secluded part of the campus at 10.30 pm, she was probably dating one of the guys or planned to spend the night there.

In a society where cases of husbands brutalizing, stabbing, maiming and killing their wives is on the rise, this incidence puts more fear in the minds of young ladies. Isn’t it safe to stay around young men anymore? Who then can you trust, if you can’t trust your husband, your “friends”, your colleagues at school?

Early last year, another 17 year-old female Unilag student was drugged by a male “friend” when she went to his house for a visit. Sadly, she died from the effect of the drug the day after.

I think this is a wake-up call to ladies. Please be more careful with whom you trust, who you stay in secluded places with. If your instincts tells you to run, please run. Tread softly with people whose character you aren’t sure of. You can never be too careful.

PS: And in case you didn’t know, there is something called an “Anti-Rape Female Condom”. Also called “Rape-axe”, it was designed by a South African doctor. It features rows of jagged hooks designed to attach to a man’s penis during penetration. Once attached, the condom can only be removed by a doctor (at which time he will get caught). When attached, it hurts the man, he cannot pee and he cannot walk and if he tries to remove it, it will clasp even tighter. I’d surely like to see a rapist caught on this! Read more about it here.

News Source: Vanguard News