•That some of our undergraduates are gang-raping colleagues right on campus
Universities are supposed to be citadels of learning where people are moulded, not only academically but also, morally. As a matter of fact, the moral aspect of the training in the university is as vital as the academic aspect, hence, university certificates are awarded only to students that have been found worthy in character and learning. This is why parents and other concerned Nigerians should be worried about news emanating from some of our universities, concerning students gang-raping their colleagues, or other hapless victims. Rape is bad enough; to now subject the victim to serial abuse by raping her in turns makes the matter even the more disgusting.
In March 2017, six students of a south-western university were granted N9 million bail by a Surulere chief magistrate’s court in Lagos, following their arraignment for allegedly gang-raping a 17-year-old female colleague in January of the same year. The six accused — Simeon Omowole, 18; Randy Chukka, 17; Samuel Oyefara, 18; Peter Adeboyega, 17; Chuka Chukwu, 19; and Peace Nwakanma, 18 (a female) — pleaded not guilty to the five-count charge.
Just on Tuesday, a Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos, was told how eight undergraduates of the University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, allegedly gang-raped a 17 year-old colleague and even blackmailed her with the video footage of the sexual assault. According to the victim, now 19 years old (the alleged gang-raping happened in 2017): “When they were molesting me, there was a guy, who was sitting down making a video recording of all that was happening on a phone. My first instinct was to get the phone from him but I was outnumbered. At the point when they were leaving, they led me outside the building and they told me that they had a footage of what happened.
“They said if I didn’t want to be popular in school, I had to answer them anytime they wanted to have sex. They collected my number and shared it among themselves.”
Just as in the 2017 case cited above, the victim in the instant incident was also lured into the trap by a female friend who happened to be her roommate. Five of the suspects: Moboluwaji Omowole, 19; Chuka Chukwu, 19; Peace Nwankaba (the roommate), 19; James Aguedu, 20; and Osemeka Josephine, 20, were arraigned on Tuesday on three counts of defilement of a child, permitting the defilement of a child on a premises and inducing any minor girl under the age of 18 to go from any place or to do any act with intent that such a girl may be, or knowing that it is likely that she will be, forced or seduced to illicit intercourse with another person.
We commend the University of Lagos authorities for promptly rising to the occasion immediately the matter was brought to their attention by ensuring that Omowole (the first defendant) was lured into a place where he was arrested and he subsequently provided the names of the other suspects. We also commend the victim’s friend who alerted the university’s authorities of the ugly incident. The victim, like most rape victims in the country, was hesitant to tell her story because of the stigmatisation which follows such disclosure in our environment.
We urge everyone concerned in this matter – the university authorities, the victim’s parents and other interested parties – to pursue the matter to a logical conclusion.
The reported offer of between N3milion and N5million by the parents of the suspected rapists to the victim’s family so they could bury the case, if true, merely confirms the extent to which values have sunk in the country. Would those parents have been pacified with such an offer if the victim had been their own daughter? It is heartwarming that the victim’s family made the point that money was not everything by rejecting the bribe.
We have enough issues to tackle in our universities; to add rape to the long list would be one too many. Parents should be able to send their daughters to universities, rest assured of their safety. A situation where a few spoilt brats would want to turn the institutions to dens of rapists should be frowned at and severely punished.
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