Appreciation goes to all activists who take up the fight in an effort to make our society a better one. One of them organised a webinar lately with the aim of raising awareness on the matter of rape and rape victims. One of the speakers advised victims to not bathe before they visit hospital (see, The PUNCH, June 24, 2020). This got my attention. Why? He was saying something that had occurred to me somehow faintly in the past. The speaker stated that by not bathing before going to the hospital, it would help medics to ascertain the level of damage suffered by rape victims. From the report on the event, this was where this speaker’s intervention stopped. So, his submission didn’t exactly rhyme with what I had in mind, and for that reason this piece became necessary.
There have been several peaceful protests and advocacy visits embarked upon by women activists in regard to the problem of rape. Recently, Lagos State governor’s wife, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, stepped into the latest storm occasioned by increase in rape cases. During a peaceful rally she led to draw attention to the issue, she called on chairmen of Local Government Areas in Lagos State to ensure their territory was rape-free. In my view, this raging storm will require much more than a call, and certainly more than the awareness creation which activists have mostly engaged in. The time has come for some hard practical measures to be taken. From that position therefore, the gap between what’s being done and what remains to be done with regard to the rape pandemic is what I call attention to here.
For instance, we know that at the prosecutorial level, evidence is what the law courts need. This is something law enforcement agencies haven’t been able to deliver effectively on. Their orientation in regard to rape offence is a challenge, aside from having them devote time and resources to gathering incontrovertible evidence. Another angle is that even when there’s evidence, the structure and operation model of Nigerian law enforcement agencies being what it is, a good case can be messed up. But that’s not my focus here. Effectively collecting the evidence first as may be available at the scene of crime and on rape victim is what my intervention is concerned about. It’s where I think the Lagos First Lady, established NGOs, and other activists can play a role. The reason I particularly have Sanwo-Olu’s wife on my radar is because it’s Lagos State. Here, she’s appropriately positioned to take action and thereby implement what I consider the next phase in the battle against rapists. What is the action, and why Lagos State? First, I address the latter.
This is one state where Sanwo-Olu’s wife can best mobilise human and material resources, not necessarily government resources. She can also get the best of support and responses from the more enlightened public here, take steps, while other states take a cue from Lagos. I’ve always held the view that Lagos State could set the pace in so many areas; but it hasn’t fulfilled that potential. One that I stated recently on this page was on the issue of environmental sanitation; I was particular about safety of foodstuff in most market places (“Coronavirus: Nigeria where attitude spread disease”, March 27, 2020). That time, I noted that health officials in Lagos State could do better by enforcing laws against display of foodstuff in unhygienic manner especially in organised markets. I was convinced Lagos State with the better quality of its officials even at the LGA level could serve as an example in this regard. It costs the LGAs across Lagos State nothing to ensure that garri, for instance, a basic staple in many homes, is displayed in covered but transparent buckets. On the other hand, the LGA officials can do this by ensuring that the same food item, when placed in large bowls, is covered with at least transparent plastics. Instead, what obtains in major markets is a situation that ought not be found in a state that wants to be considered one of the best city states in Africa.
There are other sanitation-related issues like this which shouldn’t be found anywhere in Lagos State in this age. Many of such are what the LGA officials can resolve without stress. But it’s not happening.
Incidentally, the same LGA officials were the ones Sanwo-Olu’s wife called on to ensure rape incidents were curbed. If these officials can’t execute basic sanitary laws in markets that are easy to identify, how can much be expected of them with regard to curbing acts of rape in communities? These officials are essentially politicians and, naturally, how to survive politically is their number one priority. As such, I’m concerned that the call made by Sanwo-Olu’s wife might have travelled only as far as the four corners of the venue of her rally.
So, what practical action is needed, and where else should she and other women activists execute it if their campaign at this time must have impact? It can’t be with the law enforcement agencies. Uncountable number of calls have already been made on the law enforcement agencies, but incidences of rape and no conviction have increased. These agencies, not the LGA chairmen, have the officials who should curb acts of rape and convict rapists but we know what impedes them. One of such is lack of capacity to effectively investigate, gather incontrovertible evidence, and get conviction especially where there are no witnesses in a rape offence. This is where Sanwo-Olu’s wife in particular can make a practical difference and thereby help victims.
We know there are different issues and angles to consider when curbing rape incidents and helping the victims are in focus. There are the preventive measures, the investigation needed after offence is committed, prosecution etc. Activists have complained several times especially with regard to investigation and prosecution as handled by the law enforcement agencies. Where suspects are arrested, lack of adequate evidence has been known to set rapists free in law courts. Except when they get witnesses to come forward, a thing that isn’t so straightforward in this clime, law enforcers hardly get conviction from the law court. They don’t have the time, capacity, and resources to painstakingly gather whatever forensic evidence may be available at the scene of crime and on victims. With this dilemma, properly gathering forensic evidence is the way out. Law enforcement agencies aren’t configured to effectively do this especially in rape cases. Yet, evidence must be preserved to keep alive any hope of getting justice for the victim.
Some NGOs have provided phone numbers and office addresses where rape victims could reach them for legal action. The next thing that should be provided are dedicated lab units where available evidence could be immediately taken forensically and preserved for possible DNA identification of suspected rapists. What this does is that no matter what law enforcement agencies do, activists and NGOs have enough bases to seek to assist victims get justice from now into the future.
Such dedicated labs are what Mrs Sanwo-Olu could help make available. Regarding this, I make two suggestions. On her part, she can set up a special forensic lab in one major hospital in each of the three senatorial zones in Lagos State. (What’s mentioned here can’t take a 12 by 12 space). This facility is made widely known such that activists and residents of Lagos State know where to immediately take a victim. Here, available evidence is methodically taken by medics, recorded, and preserved.
As for the NGOs and other activists, I think they’ve done enough of advocacy and the next thing is to set up labs where evidence could be gathered. The NGOs sometimes have their donors. Therefore, the next project they should request funds is the setting up of small forensic labs in selected private hospitals (at least one in a senatorial zone) across the country. When victims report to the NGOs, such private hospitals are where they are taken. Here, evidence is collected and preserved until legal battle against alleged rapists commences. With the pandemic dimension rape crime has taken, all activists need to recognise that a practical measure such as this one is the next phase in their battle.
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