Some weeks ago, a celebrity photographer, Ms Busola Dakolo accused a Pastor of the Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA), Mr. Biodun Fatoyinbo, of raping her when she was 17 years old. She buried this blast from the past in the bowel of her heart for many years. Then she decided to receive healing by speaking out. She and her musician husband, Timi Dakolo, have pursued the project with single-minded dedication and the public has latched on to the story. The tap of publicity has been turned on because rape has become one of the scourges of today globally and the parties involved in this allegation, accuser and accused, have high wattage visibility.
Mrs. Dakolo allegedly reported the matter to the police in Lagos some weeks ago and the police have not shown much or any interest in the matter. There may be several reasons for the inability or unwillingness or both, of the police to wade into the matter. The police may not want to dabble into a criminal matter they may consider difficult to prove. Or they may not want to talk to a “man of God” about sinful matters of the flesh because a man of God is expected to be a godly man. Or they may not have petrol in their car for ease of investigation. Or somebody influential or affluential may have spoken some sweet words into the ears of the police or something like that.
However, despite the loss or lack of interest in the matter by the police, the rape allegation has not been aborted. It is a pregnancy that is in its third month now and by its phenomenal growth trajectory, it is unlikely to be aborted now or anytime soon. This foetus will reach delivery room. To fill the gaps for you, the accused person or somebody sympathetic to his cause has filed a case of conspiracy, threat to life etc, against the Dakolos and the police have responded with phenomenal alacrity. They have written a letter asking the Dakolos to come and interview the police, a police language I am familiar with having received such a letter before.
In 1983, Duro Onabule, Deputy Editor of the National Concord then, had brought a letter in which the police asked me, then Chairman of the Concord Editorial Board, to come and interview them. Duro said to me, “carry your toiletries” and I said to him “but I don’t need that for the interview”. We both laughed. I went there and instead of my being the interviewer, I was the interviewee. At the end of the day, I cooled my feet in detention. So the Dakolos apparently have known what lay in wait for them at the interview session, so they raised an outcry. The police followed up the letter by sending some armed policemen to their residential area. The motives of the police may have been:
(a) To arrest them, or
(b) To keep a tap on them so that they do not escape through the NADECO route to somewhere outside the country or
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(c) To put them in protective custody. Out of the three motives you can choose anyone that turns you on. When the Dakolos smelt a rat, they raised their voices and our activist First Lady, Aisha Buhari, heard. She promptly told the Inspector General of police “no intimidation” of the alleged rape victim. Aisha’s voice though feminine, is the equivalent of a baritone, resonant. The IGP responded with positive alacrity. He assigned a Deputy Inspector General of police to supervise the investigation and deal with both allegations. There is an old police trick in which the complainant can be turned into an accused person if the conditions are right. That nearly happened in this matter. Even though the alleged rape was reported several weeks ago, no arrest had been made but the later accusation generated rapid result as the police tried to dance chachacha, an old dance step that was the rage in the 60’s.
The police cannot dance Chachacha effortlessly today. The times have changed. Such tactics are archaic, outdated, and anachronistic and such dance steps are doomed by the gift of technology and the growth of citizen activism. Besides, the 36 States First Ladies have lent their voices to the campaign against rape and the failure to punish alleged rapists. So this matter may not die in infancy through want of diligent investigation or want of diligent prosecution. The matter will prosper because many pro-women and anti-sexual violence groups have put it on their radar. In this matter, the police are being put under the public observatory by better society activists and presumably by the Police Service Commission.
Today, communication is open, free and viral so people can achieve more good for society with a finger on technology’s button. It is in Mr. Fatoyinbo’s interest both as a person and leader of a Church that is supposed to be a beacon of light to young people to step out and clear his good name. He is innocent because no court of competent jurisdiction has convicted him. But the allegation against him is weighty, criminal and the members of his church cannot intimidate into cowardly silence those who want a full airing of the matter. The truth must be found. Truth is like pregnancy; you cannot hide it for too long. Some days ago, the members of COZA arrested, intimidated and detained Ms Abimbola Adelakun, a Punch columnist who visited their church in Abuja. The lady, according to reports, is researching into Pentecostalism and decided to visit the church. Some members of the church recognised her and invited their security men who arrested her on a charge of spying on their church. If a church is not involved in any wrong doing, why should it be afraid of being spied upon?
Anyway, she was taken to Asokoro police station where the police threatened to charge her with “criminal trespass” conveniently ignoring the issue of her illegal detention by the church members. I see no room for “illegal trespass” into a church because all churches I know organise special welcome activities to people who are attending their churches for the first time.
Of course, they may have read Ms Adelakun’s article on Modele, wife of Mr. Fatoyinbo and when they saw her, they turned themselves into attack dogs. Nigerians must learn to conduct public conversation decently.
If Mrs. Fatoyinbo had any objection to any remarks in Ms Adelakun’s column, she had a right to send a right-of-reply article to the Punch instead of using strong arm tactics. We must accept that rape is a serious crime and the rape of a minor is an unpardonable abomination. Many cases of rape have occurred in Nigeria without being revealed or investigated. But the #Me Too Movement in the United States has pushed the matter to the front burner. Women who had locked up cases of sexual harassment or violence for years have now found the courage and the voice to speak out against their tormentors. This has taken the matter out of the closet to the market place of public opinion. Victims are now seeking healing, help and retribution. Before now, these issues never received ventilation openly.
They were underreported due to the shame of stigmatisation, the difficulty in proving it, the lack or loss of interest in the matter by law enforcement agents. Victims also feel that they may be made to feel guilty and ashamed even though they were not responsible for being abused or did not ask to be abused. Rape is a complicated matter and only victims with courage and self-confidence have the guts to talk about it. But the good thing about it is that people who are willing to talk about it receive healing because a heavy burden is lifted from their heads and hearts. Rape is an old sin.
It does not smell as fresh as green tea but it is there, stinking, especially in many underdeveloped countries because accused persons hardly get punished. Whether they get punished or not exposure can inject the incubus of fear into would-be rapists. But when nothing is done by way of punishment, it can encourage people to live in fashionable sin that is also criminal. That is why in all known cases, society must insist that action is taken. Nothing must be swept under the carpet irrespective of who is involved highly or lowly placed.
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