Police Rape Case: Can Maimuna Get Justice? By
Hamisu Gumel
Just of recent, Nigeria and the world
over marked the world day for the prohibition of violence against
women. And just about the same time a story appeared in some
newspapers of a 16-year old teenage girl who was kidnapped by some
policemen under the Kwalli Divisional Police headquarters in Kano
and subjected to serial raping by those policemen together with a
gang of civilian miscreants including a drug dealer. The poor girl,
as reported by the press, spent 28 torturous days under the custody
of her captors who turned her into their sex chattel, raping her on
almost daily basis.
This is a very heinous crime committed
against the defenceless, innocent girl by members of the police who,
by law, are supposed to be protecting our lives and properties, and
the fact that the crime was perpetrated within the vicinity of a
Divisional Police Headquarters makes it more awful and pathetic. If
the police will commit such a dastardly act, what then will become
of our effort to bring kidnappers, who now terrorize our country, to
book?
This crime and the similar ones being
committed by the men in uniform against the citizens of this country
is becoming alarming and is setting a dangerous trend where the
police, perhaps because of their uniform and the arms they carry,
harass, torture and even kill innocent citizens at will and with
impunity.
But the most irritating thing in this
development is the loud silence by the civil rights organisations in
the country. Not too long ago these same rights groups were seen
visibly running from pole to post and crying foul when Senator Ahmed
Sani Yarima married a young Egyptian girl, with some of them going
an extra mile to call for his prosecution and sack from the National
Assembly. In effect, they turned heat on the man and generated
uproar across the country. Many women activists, under different
shades of organisations, staged protests demanding for his
prosecution. But this time around, these defenders of women and
children’s rights are no where to be seen and not a whimper is heard
from them so far.
In the same vain, the National Agency
for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other related Matters
(NAPTIP), the National Human Rights Commission and the Federal
Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, which this
particular incidence fall within their responsibilities, are also
giving surprised silence on the issue. Of course, it is surprising,
considering the fact that these are the same agencies which were at
the forefront in the effort to punish Senator Yarima when the
controversy over his marriage with an allegedly under age girl was
still raging, using the excuse that the girl’s rights had been
abused. NAPTIP, in particular, even went ahead to invite and
interrogated the Senator. It makes one wonder whether these agencies
and organisations are been selective in their approach to issues of
human rights abuse. Or, is it because this particular case involves
the “hard target” – the police – and not an easy prey -a powerless
Senator from a non-ruling party?
Nigeria is a country of rhetoric and
superlative slogans with no sincerity of purpose to match. This
incidence, therefore will serve as litmus test to the sincerity in
the claims and slogans of the civil rights organisations in the
country. It is intriguing that the police in Kano are trying to sweep the matter under the carpet by releasing the suspects and intimidating the victim and her family to make them keep quite on the case, as has been reported by the press. And going by the nature and manner of Nigerian police, if the relevant authorities, organisations and other well-meaning Nigerians did not put pressure on the police to arrest and prosecute the culprits, in a matter of days the matter will be buried and forgotten while the victim is left to live with the scar and trauma for the rest of her life. |