_“One life taken in cold blood is as gruesome as millions lost_ _in a
pogrom.”—_DELE GIWA (NIGERIAN JOURNALIST ASSASSINATED IN 1986)
After five whole years of seeking admission into the institution of
higher learning, Miss Vera Uwaila Omozuwa was eventually admitted to
read Microbiology at the University of Benin.
Obviously a very serious student, she was in no mood to joke with her
studies, probably, after considering how long it took her to secure the
admission. So, she would always go to the serene environment of her
Church when worshippers were not around to read her books. The Church
environment should be both safe and devoid of distractions.
But on this particular day, May 27, 2020, some wicked, callous and
barbarous assailants gained access to the Church auditorium where she
was immersed in her books, brutally raped her and ended her life by
hitting her on the head with a fire extinguisher which gave her a very
deep cut. They then fled leaving her in the pool of her own blood. She
was only 22 and in her first year at the university.
No one knew how long she lay there bleeding until the security man
arrived and saw her. She was already unconscious, probably due to the
effect of the brutal violation she had experienced, the cruel blow she
had received, and the amount of blood she had lost. At the hospital
where she was rushed to, the doctors tried their best but were unable to
revive her. She eventually died without being able to utter a single
word to anyone about what had happened to her or whether she was able to
recognize her savage rapists and murderers.
The gory picture of her body is the most horrible image I have tried to
look at in recent times. I had to remove my eyes immediately! A once
beautiful girl had suddenly been turned into a horrific and scary image
because of the primeval exploits of some brutish creatures.
Now, what exactly could so badly provoke human beings to descend so low
to the level of wild beasts to give free rein to their basest instincts
to unleash such a barbaric violence on another human being?
Lust, anger, hatred, envy, sadism, desire to conquer and dominate,
revenge, or what? Are more and more people losing their humanity? Has
the world gone irrecoverably berserk?
Daily, dizzying reports of grown men raping grandmothers, mothers,
single women and even underage girls are roughly slapped on our faces. I
have even read bloodcurdling accounts of ten or even eight month-old
babies raped, not by confirmed mentally challenged people, but by
otherwise sane human beings! What exactly is happening? I think this
should be a very rich research subject for our scholars in the fields of
psychology and behavioural studies. We need to urgently understand what
has gone wrong with our world.
The parents of Uwaila are badly heartbroken as outrage engulfs the
country over their daughter’s barbaric murder. In a video that
surfaced on twitter early this week, Uwaila’s father lamented:
_“It was not a mistake; it was not a fault; it was not stubbornness
for her to go to the church to study. She had been going there for
several years. She struggled for five years before she gained admission
into UNIBEN. I was waiting to celebrate her admission before she
died.”_
When has it become an offence for a serious and focused student to find
a conducive place to read, more so, a worship centre which should be
considered sacred and inviolable? Who could be so godless, wanton and
profane as to trail a girl to a church building to unleash this kind of
cruel and deadly violence on her? Such a person or persons should have
no place within the bounds of civilized society.
Narrating the horrific incident, Uwaila’s mother mournfully recounted:
“_I saw a friend, who came to visit me, off and before I came back,
someone had called my telephone thrice. When I got back, my children
told me that a church member, Mummy Osunla, had called me and when I
called her back, she asked where I was and told me that I should come
and that she did not know what had happened to my daughter._
_“I ran to the place but before I got there, they [had] already
[taken] her to a private hospital and when I saw my daughter, I cried.
They raped her; the dress she was wearing that morning was white, but it
had turned to red; all her body was full of blood. Her mouth and eyes
were tied; the hoodlums used a fire extinguisher to hit her head, which
left a deep cut._
_“We were asked to take her for an X-ray on her head; I did not have
money but my church members tried and money was raised and we bought all
the drugs that we were asked to buy, but Uwa could not make it. She was
unable to say anything till she died; it was just tears that were coming
out from her eyes._”
The national outrage this grisly incident has provoked is quite
reassuring, but the security agencies need to be more creative and
proactive about how to ensure that people that commit these hideous
crimes are apprehended and punished. It should now be made compulsory
that CCTVs must be installed in all public buildings including worship
centres. This will go a long way to deter potential rapists and other
criminals who will be tormented by the awareness that their criminal
activities are being observed and recorded by some sharp, hidden eyes.
The installation of these cameras should equally be extended to the
streets and even highways. No amount of money spent to enhance the
security of lives and property should be considered too much. The
police must equally be empowered to acquire more, modern
crime-unravelling equipment, so as to be able to track criminals no
matter how they try to evade justice
It is however encouraging that the Edo State Police Command has
announced the arrest of one of the suspected killers of Uwaila. Its
spokesperson, Chidi Nwabuzor, said that fingerprints on the fire
extinguisher used in killing the hapless girl has led to the arrest of
the suspect. We can only hope that the fingerprints reading is accurate
and that this first arrest will lead to the arrest of the remaining
criminals who are now on the run. We don’t want to hear tomorrow that
the suspect was wrongly arrested due to a malfunctioning machine. When
perpetrators of crimes are punished, prospective criminals are dissuaded
and society is made safer for everyone.
When the news of Uwaila’s murder broke, Edo State Governor, Mr.
Godwin Obaseki tweeted: _“I have ordered the Nigeria Police Force
(@PoliceNG) to thoroughly investigate the circumstances that led to the
death of Miss Vera Uwaila Omozuwa, a 100-level student of the University
of Benin (UNIBEN)._
Later, on Tuesday, June 2, President Muhammadu Buhari added his voice to
the high profile orders handed down to the police to their job. _”I
expect the Nigeria Police Force to speedily and diligently investigate
this case and ensure that all the culprits responsible for this barbaric
act are brought to justice,” _the president reportedly said._ _
Good! Heartwarming response! But I would always cherish a country where
the police and other security agencies can always do their jobs without
being ordered to do so by the governor or president. Each time there is
an attack by terrorists or bandits in which the casualty figures are
high enough to attract national outrage, we will be served with the news
that President Buhari has ordered the security agents to apprehend the
perpetrators. I always recoil with shame each time I stumble on such
strange reports.
It has even been reported in this country that the president had ordered
the Air Force to bomb terrorist strongholds! This one is even more
sickening and preposterous because it is like informing the terrorists
to relocate because bombs will soon start raining on their locations.
Who does that in any other country except our badly run and chaotic
Nigeria?
I would like to see Nigerian security institutions grow and be truly
independent. They should be able to do their jobs conscientiously
whether the crime attracted widespread uproar or not, whether they got
instructions from the president, governor or nobody. Unraveling crimes
and arresting the people behind them should be normal, routine work for
them. They do not need to be prodded or ordered to go after criminals to
apprehend and bring them to justice.
There is also this little but very injurious matter that deserves
mention here since it keeps reoccurring. When crimes like rape or any
kind of violence are committed against women, there are usually some
outspoken ladies who are quick to not just condemn the crime and call
for justice for the victim, but readily turn the incident into an
opportunity to initiate an anti-men campaign. They would stretch their
power of oratory and emotional outbursts to brand ALL men rapists and
women-killers in order to widen the valley of animosity between the male
and the female and swell the tribe of men-hating amazons.
This might earn them the very lucrative identity they are craving but
would not make our world any better. When the records of rape cases are
a thoroughly examined, it might even be discovered that male rapists may
not even constitute up to one percent of the male population.
Both genders are needed in the fight against this hideous crime –
which is even committed against both women and men. Demonizing all men
each time gender-based crimes occur may help those who insist on doing
so to achieve some self-serving credentials, but it will eventually
inject a serious setback in the larger campaign by depleting the support
from men which is highly required to lend the war some beneficial
balance and eventually win it.
All men are not rapists or supporters of rape, that should be very
clear. Since the Uwaila incident, many men have gone all out condemning
the crime and calling for justice for the victim. It will NOT help to
seek to discourage them by going into overdrive with a fallacious
generalization that aims to tar all men with the egregious brush of
women-haters and violators.
As I tried to tidy up this piece, another ugly news broke that an
18-year old female student of the Institute of Agriculture, Research and
Training, Ibadan, Miss Barakat Bello, has been raped and stabbed to
death in her own father’s house in Ibadan. Narrating the incident, the
obviously shattered father said: _“Somebody called me on the phone
that I should come home but he refused to tell me what happened. When I
got home, I saw that my daughter had been raped and stabbed to
death.”_
I hope the Oyo State Police Command will not wait for any “orders”
from the governor or a national outcry to thoroughly investigate this
heinous crime and bring the perpetrators to book. Rape is ugly and
ungodly and leaves a lasting injury on the victim. Let’s all help to
discourage it by ensuring that its perpetrators are always smoked out
and punished according to the law.
_*UGOCHUKWU EJINKEONYE IS A NIGERIAN JOURNALIST AND WRITER
(SCRUPLES2006@YAHOO.COM;@UGOWR