Is The Devil Winning The Game?

By Osondu Anyalechi

Ugly things have been repeating themselves in recent times. It is either a man is defiling his teenage daughter or a 70-year-old man is doing so with his neighbour’s daughter. The plea of one of them was that he was misled by the devil. Another man said that he did what he did under the influence of alcohol. Well, the effect is the same, irrespective of their plea. An innocent girl has been exposed to an evil practice. A little girl has been abused and cheated. A man is suffering from what his fellow man has done to his daughter. It is all about the devil, rightly called devil [deviser of evil].

 In one case, Uncle admitted that he defiled his daughter but blamed the native doctor, who had told him that it was a quick means of getting rich. And he obeyed! He must have put his daughter and wealth on the scale and then made his choice. Money became more important to him than his daughter. There are many people who are in pains because they have no children, and yet, they are very wealthy. To them, children are more important than wealth. Not Uncle!

The Shocking Rise Of Paedophilia In Nigeria

By Tony Ogunlowo

Hardly a day goes by when there isn’t a news report about a minor being sexually abused by a much older person. And the shocking thing is that for every case reported dozens are not because the young victims are either too scared of their attackers or embarrassed to talk to anyone. And it’s so bad now that it’s rising to epidemic levels and soon Nigeria will be overtaking Cambodia and the Far East as the paedophile hotspot of the world!

Currently the law stipulates life imprisonment for rape of a minor under the new Sexual Offences Bill but the law doesn’t deal with those who marry under-age girls to circumvent the law. Whilst it is a horrendous crime to rape anyone it’s even worse when the victim is a child and the perpetrator can get away with it by either marrying their victim or shutting them up. Most paedophiles get away with their crimes because they are much older and can intimidate or brainwash their victims. And most of the time the perpetrators of these crimes are people known to the victims as fathers, brothers, neighbours, uncles, in-laws etc.

Disturbingly, families are prepared to put up a wall of silence and pretend as if nothing is going wrong if there is a case of incest or paedophilia going on in their household. They all keep quiet, hoping it blow over, in an attempt to preserve their dignity often threatening the victim to remain quiet and not dealing with the perpertrator.

Some tribes even encourage paedophilia by marrying off their under-age daughters to men old enough to be their grandfathers. And over the years no government policy or law has been put in place to outlaw this practice until recently and it’s still not enforced. Our society needs to shape up; it’s not okay for a 50-year old to be seen walking down the road with his new under-age wife. It doesn’t matter if he’s the richest man in Nigeria, an Oba or Emir. It’s morally wrong and the person belongs in jail! And for those who disagree or hide behind the flimsy excuse of ‘it’s our tradition’, how would you feel if your under-age son or daughter was being sexually abused by a 50-year old? Some men even think it’s ‘cool’ to sleep with an under-age child. It’s not and anybody who sleeps with an under-aged child, whether it’s consensual or not, is a paedophile. On a sadder note thirty-five Nigerian Senators actually voted, recently, for the legalization of child marriage! And the Senators in question all happen to be from the North and Muslims! Somebody ought to tell them we live in the 21st century now and such barbaric acts are not tolerable despite what the Koran says about marriage.

Abduction And Forced Marriage Of 13 Year-Old Girl: Impunity Stretched Beyond Comprehension!

*The Victim - Ese Rita Oruru

1. On 12 August, 2015, 13 years old Ms Ese Rita Oruru did not return home 

2. Efforts made by the parents to locate Ese led to one Mohammed (aka Daidi) who informed the mother that one Mr. Yinusa (alias Yellow) had taken the said Miss Ese Rita Oruru to Kano with an intention to convert her into Islam, recruit her into an Islamic fanatical Group and marry her.
3. Acting on the above information, Mrs. Rose Oruru approached one Dan Kano, who not only confirmed the story but also promised to take her to Kano to recover her daughter.

4. Notwithstanding the above promise made, the said Dan Kano rescinded on his promise and rather sent one Rabiu to accompany Mrs. Rose Oruru to Kano.

5. On the 14th of August, 2015 the journey to Kano was embarked on, arriving after midnight. The said Rabiu took Mrs. Rose Oruru to the chief of a village called Tufa in Kura Local Government Area of Kano State on the 15th of August, 2015.

6. After relaying the purpose of their visit, the said chief was furious with Rabiu for bringing Mrs. Rose Oruru to Kano and told them that the said Miss Ese Rita Oruru has been converted to Islam and renamed “Aisha”, married and that the child was no longer her child. He also informed them that Miss Ese Rita Oruru was in the custody of the Emir of Kano Sanusi Lamido Sanusi at the Palace.

7. Moving forward, Mrs. Rose Oruru in the company of Rabiu approached the Emir of Kano’s Palace but met a stiff opposition by several youth, they were pushed out of the Palace.

Child Sexual Abuse: Call For Urgent Action

Nnaemeka Oruh

Statistics detailing the extent of perpetration of child sexual abuse is hugely alarming. Projections show that the number will increase if something is not urgently done. Therefore, the urgency of the situation demands that I do not waste time on preambles. So I will just get on with it.

(pix: redwoodsgroup)

Cases of child sexual abuse are not receiving adequate attention. In fact, while the cases skyrocket, less and less people clearly and completely understand what it means to sexually abuse a child. So this work is an urgent attempt to educate(and perhaps re-educate some others).Urgent because it is very important that we start this discussion now in order to teach as many people as possible while our children can still be saved.

Child sexual abuse simply refers to the engagement in sexual acts with a person under eighteen. Note that the word "consent" is absent in my definition. The absence was not fortuitous. This is because, a person under eighteen cannot really give consent. So even if the person accepted your sexual overtures, it is still deemed sexual abuse as persons under eighteen cannot legally give consent (in some states in the US, it is 16). I believe that a lot of people do not know this. Thus if we try to explore cases of child sexual abuse using this particular criterion, we will find out that so many people would be found guilty of having sexually abused a child one way or the other. That is why it is important that this piece of information is shared.

The Child, the Youth and the Country, Nigeria

 By Carllister Ejinkeonye

 When I saluted Nigeria on the occasion of her 53rd Independence celebrations last October, I was not too sure that my greeting rang out with joy and optimism. I, however, feel that an occasion like that, largely received with mixed feelings across the country, presents a wonderful opportunity to deeply reflect on Nigeria and share my very frank feelings about it. 

*Mrs. Ejinkeonye 

I have been around for close to half a century now. From the experiences that came with those years, my environment and the many occurrences we have witnessed in my beloved country, I find it difficult to agree with the dictionary definition of the word INDEPENDENCE as freedom from political control by other countries or as the freedom to organize one’s life, make one’s own decisions and plans without the interference of other people. Truly speaking, it would appear I even became more confused about the word when a couple of months ago when I was reminded that Nigeria had attained 53years as an independent country. As I tried to make calls, I heard a recorded voice scream melodiously into my ears: ‘God Bless Nigeria!’ Now, I am forced to wonder: how would a man feel, if after 53 solid years,  he sits down to take a stock of his life, and all he discovers are that his woes far exceed his joys, his disappointments overwhelm his achievements and his failures swallow his modest  success? Certainly, he would immediately become miserable; in fact, his misery would be worse than that of a captive. Now, at 53, how free is Nigeria?  Think about it.

I am not here to merely enumerate and analyze the woes, disappointments, failures, or even seeming joys, assumed peace and what have you, which our ‘FREE’ nation boasts itself of. (Well, so much of that flood our newspapers daily.) I only wish to call our attention to a particular group of people which this self-styled giant of Africa, NIGERIA, has been most unfair to.

I discovered that on Saturday, 12 October 2013, at about 3:30am, I was just rolling on my bed. Soon, these words were dropped on my heart: ‘The Child, The Youth and the Country, Nigeria.’  As I struggled with this, every bit of sleep departed from my eyes, forcing me to stand up to write down this burden of my heart, which I am quite sure, is also the burden of many well meaning Nigerians.

Child Marriage: Ahmed Yerima And Stella Damasus Slug It Out

VIDEO

Senator Ahmed Yerima, Stella Damasus (Nollywood Actress), Professor Ishaq Akintola (Lagos State University)  and  Aminu Gamawa (Lawyer and Doctoral Candidate At Harvard University) Discuss Child Marriage On  AlJazeera 

Ahmed Yerima                                                       Stella Damasus Actress 
Nigerian Senator

----------------------------

                    What A Passionate Debate...      
                       Capable  Of Drawing Tears...
                  But Wait A Minute! 

The Child-Bride In The Centre Of This Storm Is Also A Human Being With Flesh And Blood Whose Life Is Being Endangered By Callous Men In Search Of  Odious Pleasure... 
What Is Her Opinion On This?   

Professor Ishaq Akintola                                                                          

 Aminu Gamwa

         

Condoms, HIV/AIDS And You

[A Rejoinder To The Article, Nigeria’s Last Virgins] 

----------------------------------------------  

By Dr. Anthony Odoh

Some time ago, I met a friend who had just come back from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camp in Borno State, Nigeria. He had thoroughly enjoyed the vagaries of camp life and was eager to share his experience with me. At a point, however, he got a bit upset. Some representatives from UNICEF, he informed me, had come to the camp to address the corps members. His complaint: “They could not even bring some paracetamol for our headaches and pains from the drills; they only bombarded us with condoms…” 

This is indeed a sorrowful trend in the fight to curb the HIV/AIDS epidemic which has been ravaging the world for more than 2 decades now. According to the estimates from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO), 37 million adults and 2.5 million children were living with HIV at the end of 2003. This shows more than 50% higher values than those projected by WHO in 1991 using the data available then. In 2003 alone, some 5 million people became infected with HIV. At the end of 2005, an estimated 38.6 million people were living with HIV, with 4.1 new infections and 2.8 million deaths. In Nigeria, a greater percentage of HIV transmission results through sexual intercourse. The concomitant presence of Sexually Transmitted Diseases/Infections also increases the risk of spread since a disrupted skin surface offers a wider portal of entry for the virus.    

Nigeria’s Last Virgins!

(First published Tuesday, February 6, 2007)

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye
If you are a parent or grandparent, whose children or grandchildren are enrolled in Nigerian schools, and you read this article, and decide that the current attempt by a tiny clique of clearly depraved minds within the nation’s educational system, to carefully disrobe Nigerian kids of their prized innocence and healthy mind and titillate them to perdition should not attract your unreserved indignation, conscious action, and, in fact, public outrage, then, just know that you are not qualified to answer a parent anymore. 

In fact, your children and grandchildren will certainly wake up one day to curse your memory for watching passively while some desperate fellows, for totally self-serving reasons, subjected their tender minds to vile and ungodly lessons that are carefully and solely designed to make them become animals in human skins.

*Weep Not, Child!

A couple of months ago, when I was shown the topics to be treated under the subject called “Sexuality Education” or “Sex Education” which tender children in both junior and secondary schools in Lagos State are now being forced to learn, I could not imagine that anyone outside a mental home could be wicked enough to design a subject with such insidious contents, even for the kids of his worst enemy! In fact, as I think about it now, I consider the introduction of that subject in our schools the worst case of child abuse – brazenly endorsed by the nation’s education authorities and unleashed on today’s kids like a poisonous live snake. What kind of madness is this?