Rape had always been a crime. It is still a crime. It shall always be a crime. Even if strange things and immoral acts become normalized, rape shall always remain a crime—a savage act. It is not only a crime, it is also a sin. It is not a sin that is committed by humans in the sense that every human is a sinner. No! It is a sin committed by the most wicked and the most shameless among humans. Thus, rapists, under some circumstances, are ranked below animals in savagery and in worth. Do rapists even have any worth? Only to the extent that they can turn a new leaf if they escape the wrath of law. If they are eventually caught up by the wrath of law, under some circumstances, death is deserving of them just as they are deserving of death.
A bridegroom in Jigawa State invited his friends to ‘help’ gang rape his bride (new wive). Even in movies, this will be strange. If it happens in dream, our people would say: “dream is foolish.” This saying, in their wisdom, is meant to dismiss the possibility of strange things seen in dream happening in real life. Read the subtitle of this column again: “Bridegroom Invites Friends To Gang Rape His Bride.”
It is not a tale by the moonlight. It is not a fiction. It is not a cock and bull story that is suspiciously unbelievable. It is a reality that depicts how low humans can descend in the absence of cultural values and religious ethics. Are our cultural values dead? What happens to our religious ethics? For a man (not a walking ghost) to gladly supervise his wife being gang raped by his friends on his invitation is a disgraceful and precipitous fall to the lowest of the low, especially in a region that takes pride in being religious. This is the nadir of immorality. Any society or human settlement across the globe would cringe at this. It is cringe inducing.
How and where exactly did it happen? It happened that the police arrested one 20-year-old groom, Auwal Abdulwahab, and his three friends (all of the same age) for allegedly gang raping his bride to death just few days after wedding. The husband allegedly orchestrated it according to police preliminary reports. The incident happened in Tungo village in Albasu District, Sule Tankarkar LGA of Jigawa State.
The age of the bride is not stated in the report I read. Many have argued that the couple are unripe for marriage going by the husband’s age. “They should have engaged in courtship for some considerable length of time before they tied the knot in order to know one another better,” it is argued. I asked: under what cultural mores, religious practice, or constitutional provision is a 20-year-old man unripe for marriage? What length of courtship is needed to cure a rapist or prevent a sick man from inviting his friends to gang rape his wife? That is not the point. The point is that the moral fabric of our society is completely weak and has began to shred. All hands must be on deck to repair the moral fabric before it shreds completely into pieces.
Until investigation unravels what really happened and the motive behind the orchestrated gang rape, one can only make some guesses on what drove these 20 years old men to this dastardly act. It could be addiction to drugs and pornography or both. It could also be forced marriage that isn’t new in that part of the country. But how would a bridegroom choose to punish a bride who was forced to marry him with gang rape? I am more inclined to think it is exposure to pornography. Perhaps, the new ‘husband’ wanted a gang bang but ended up in gang rape. These are two different perverted sexual practice.
Gang rape is characterized by violence, coercion, and lack of consent where many people (men or women) sexually assault a single victim (man or woman) and often results in physical and psychological trauma for the victim. On the other hand, gang bang is a consensual sexual activity where multiple partners engage in sexual orgy with one individual (man or woman). The key difference is consent. Because it is consensual, it is considered non violent adult sexual entertainment. I don’t know if this is a crime in Nigerian constitution. Frankly speaking, it is detestable in most African cultures (including Nigeria) and a sin in all celestial religions.
Some youths that are exposed to pornographic websites with assorted sexually pervasive contents—including gang banging—might, out of devilish curiosity, develop a strong desire to practise what they watch for entertainment. It is possible that adult entertainment, as explained above, was the intention of the bridegroom and his gang but the refusal of the bride led to gang raping by the sexually charged amoral friends. If the bride had not been in the cold embrace of death, her explanation of what transpired would have painted the true picture.
It should be noted that this happened in a state that is becoming notorious for rape. In a 2021 report from the Jigawa State Ministry of Justice according to Daily Trust, rape was reported to be on the rise in the state. It was reported that out of the 196 case diaries on various offences received by the ministry between January to December 2021, rape cases topped with 90 case files, followed by 31 cases of sodomy.
What is the way forward? What is commonly proffered as solutions to ugly crimes such as this is to urge clerics, teachers, and parents to do their jobs or even blame them for not doing their jobs. While they are all stakeholders in addressing the problems at hand, addiction to pornography isn’t a habit from which addicts could be easily weaned. The first step is to block the means. I am happy that the Nigerian House of Representatives, having realized the psychological, sociological and mental consequences of viewing pornographic content, has recently instructed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to block all pornographic websites in the country following a motion sponsored by Dalhatu Tafoki, an All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker from Katsina. This instruction was given two months ago. I don’t know how long it will take to obey the instruction. I am not also sure if the instruction was given to be obeyed.
What I am sure of is that there are countries that do not even claim to be religious but do not (and would not) tolerate the nonsense Nigeria tolerates on her cyberspace. China and North Korea are known for their total ban on pornography. India and Russia have restricted access to it. Nigeria tolerates it with no restrictions despite her ‘religiousness.’ If the total ban of pornographic websites is the only thing the current Muslim-Muslim Government would be able to achieve, it would earn our commendation. And I strongly believe prominent religious figures among Nigerian Christians and idol worshippers will not hesitate to support the ban. It is also most likely that some porn addicts who are remorseful but could not help it due to free access will be happy to see it banned.
Should Nigerian government under President Tinubu ban pornographic sites, clerics and teachers would then be expected to do their jobs with some measure of success. For no amount of religious sermons and sex education can effectively minimize the menace of rape; I also doubt if severity of punishment (for instance death) will effectively curb this devilish act if the major root cause (pornography) is not addressed. This is not to exonerate these gang rapists. They should be made to face the wrath of the law. In fact, they should be given the severest punishment for their devilish behavior.
I fear we are witnessing the end of times that have been foretold. Let’s hope we can reverse the ugly trend. May the Almighty grant the family of the victim the strength to withstand this loss and console them in this time of grief.
Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com
