Police
Rape Case: Can Maimuna Get Justice? Unfolding Plight Of A
Young Nigerian Muslim Girl
03 January 2011By 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.
©
EsinIslam.Com
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