With the economy in technical recession and Nigerians struggling to make ends meet, spiritualists, clerics and concerned individuals have attributed the rising incidence of rapes and child defilement in the society to the quest to survive the harsh economic conditions by whatever means.
Cases of rape and defilement have recently taken an alarming dimension across the country, with statistics emanating from cases reported to the Police and care centres by victims, their relatives, human rights groups and some Non-Governmental Organisations, showing an increase to 76 per cent from about 34 per cent recorded three years ago.
So disturbing had it become that every week, multiple cases of rape involving minors are reported in the media.
The Point reliably gathered that the Federal government, on its part, has also acknowledged the sharp increase in recorded cases.
This explains why it recently set in motion a process aimed at spreading awareness about the frightening development.
According to statistics by NOI polls, rape incidences as recorded across the six geo-political zones in the country show that the North East has an occurrence rate of 32 per cent, the North West, 38 per cent; and the South East, 36 per cent. The South South is recorded to have a rate of 23 per cent, South West, 34 per cent; and the core north, 49 per cent.
Consequently, the development has left parents, guardians and care-givers on the edge and in perpetual watch over their wards, with some even employing private guards to keep allround vigil over their children, especially females.
However, while opinions as to the cause of the preponderance of rapes have been diverse, some spiritualists and clerics, who spoke with our correspondents, disclosed that “what makes men hunt minors, especially girls, certainly goes beyond the ordinary.”
They linked the ugly trend to the quest by some desperate Nigerians to remain economically buoyant and relevant in the face of the biting recession, arguing that “defilement rituals” have now become the in-thing.
According to Chief Kayode Awolumate, a trado-medical doctor from Irun, Akoko, Ondo State, defilement of minors is a form of power for those who want to remain at the top.
He said, “What I am explaining to you can best be understood by insiders. Within the cloudy realm, if you need sustainable power, the blood from a virgin could form part of the ingredients. But those who use blood to accumulate wealth too have been noted to revel in this type of a thing.
“Ironically, our generation relies so much on scientific proof. As such, you may not know what we are talking about. The Bible says my people perish for lack of knowledge. However, we do not do such things for people because we are white herbal practitioners. Whatever you sow, you reap. That is why, we are known as Awolumate.”
On their part, religious clerics expressed the belief that rape could not be ordinary having now become a daily occurrence. While some held on to this opinion, however, others blamed it on the state of the nation.
Speaking with our correspondent on the issue, a cleric, the General Superintendent, Christ Apostolic Church, JP Adeoloye James Oluwamakinde, said only the intervention of God could curb the incessant rapes of minors in the society.
According to him, only people motivated by evil could be caught committing such dastardly acts.
Like the spiritualists, Adeoloye also agreed that the rape cases had ritual undertone. “Certainly, most of those cases have ritual connections because this time around, people do everything possible to get money at the speed of light,” he said.
The cleric noted that there should be ways to minister the gospel to rapists, even as the law takes its course on them.
The idea, for him, will enable the offenders come out refined and re-orientated. “Putting them behind bars does not solve the problem alone because, the spirit is still there and must be addressed with spiritual effort to change the person,” he argued.
One of the leaders of traditional practitioners in Ijebuland, Chief Ifaneye Adesina, also confirmed to one of our correspondents that most of the rape cases that involved minors were for rituals.
He said that a lot of Nigerians were now desperate to survive than ever before, especially in this recession period.
“This is one case that has been a big concern to traditionalists. People now go to any length to find solutions to their financial problems. But we, the traditionalists in the country, especially in Ijebuland, have been making efforts to ensure that from our end, such things are not encouraged,” he said.
Commenting on the abuse of traditional practice by unqualified people, Ifaneye said, “In the past, there were laws guiding traditional practice, but nowadays, evil people have hijacked the practice. This is one of the reasons different atrocities are being committed by criminals under the guise of trado- medical doctors.”
Another reason adduced for the unwholesome trend is somewhat psychological. And this was echoed by Dr. Bala Hassan, a criminologist who recently retired as an Assistant Inspector General of Police.
He said, “You need to study the intelligence quotient of the offender. He could be a loner who does not know how to approach a lady, but has ammunition in proximity to the victim. Therefore, he is not a threat to the victim. The two often know each other. It is this advantage that the offender would use to have his way. Therefore, the psychological call card of the offender is the close relationship.
“What I am trying to explain is far away from what sociologists would refer to as the person being a paedophile.”
Hassan told The Point that the hydra-headed monster had various negative effects on the victims, ranging from psychological, emotional to physical trauma.
“The psychological impacts include self-blame and suicide. It could lead to gynaecological effects and pregnancy. While some have died as a result, studies on sexually-abused boys, for instance, have shown that one in five of such children are likely to abuse other children when he grows up,” he said.
Human right groups confirm ritual connection
Meanwhile, some human rights advocacy groups also expressed fears of ritual undertones to the rape cases. The founder of Esther Child Right Foundation, Mrs. Esther Ogwu, said it might not be immediately possible to attribute the practice to the situation of the country, but maintained that the cases were certainly not ordinary. She said, “For a 57-year-old man to have raped a three-yearold girl with no female features to attract him on the girl’s body, then he must be looking for other things, which may either be spiritual or ritual. “In one incidence involving a father and a daughter, the girl told us that after the evil deed, her father used a new white handkerchief to clean her private part. Definitely, the man did it for a purpose. We have a lot of cases like that and we don’t handle them with kid’s glove.” The Lagos State Coordinator of Child Protection Network, Mrs. Ngozi Okoro, believes the reason for the problem may also be psychological. She stated, “I think it is more of psychological sickness. What of those that are sleeping with children? It is sickness. They are sick. We call them paedophiles. And for this reason, we always advised the law enforcement agents that locking them up alone was not the solution. On the other hand, one may say it is for ritual purposes, especially those that usually clean private parts of the children with things like handkerchiefs, black soap and other things after the senseless acts. “On several occasions, the suspect will confess to the crime, saying that they use it for ritual, especially those ones that came from areas like Ikorodu because of their cult issue there. I remember a case involving a woman who told me that since a man forcefully defiled her daughter, she could no more see her monthly cycle. And the woman said the man used her daughter for ritual. But be that as it may, I believe they are sick.” Agreeing with the position of Mrs. Okoro, Dr. Adebayo Francis
