ABIODUN NEJO writes that Ekiti State Government appears set not to relent in its fight against rape and other sexual offences as it takes the war to the doorsteps of teachers, who ordinarily are supposed to be role models to their students
The Kayode Fayemi administration in Ekiti State is worried by the rising profile of the state in sexual related offences and determined to reverse the trend.
According to the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Olawale Fapohunda, while highlighting the statistics of most prevalent crime in the state last month, sexual offences have recently taken a prime position.
Fapohunda said, “Out of 273 criminal cases filed in Ekiti State between January 2019 and March 2021, 59 were sexual related offences, which cover 21 per cent of the total cases filed as against 12 per cent of same between 2016 and 2018, and suggested urgent need to come up with processes to fast-track the determination of sexual offences.”
The AG, who bemoaned the dimension of abuse of minors, painted graphic pictures of experiences in the state, saying the fight against the malaise required the collaborative efforts of all to prevent anybody’s child or relative from being the next victim.
He said, “One Saturday morning, a teacher caught her 47-year-old brother-in-law defiling her three-month-old baby. Her brother-in-law had placed his reproductive organ in the mouth of the baby girl who was innocently sucking it.
“The same day, one of the workers in the Government House sought my counsel about his daughter, who was assaulted by one of the garage men in the Oja-Oba Market, Ado Ekiti.
“The man had forcibly inserted his reproductive organ in the mouth of this seven-year-old girl. The girl’s throat had swollen up and she had difficulty speaking. We have referred her to the Sexual Assault Referral Centre.”
He also spoke on the case of an eight-year-old girl, who was raped by her uncle and needed multiple surgeries on her clitoris as well “a seven-year-old girl who was molested by her father and can no longer control the use of her anus and now has to wear diapers.”
According to him, a summary of the many cases that the Ministry of Justice is dealing with shows that the ages of the majority of the girls are between four and 14.
Worried by the alarming rate of abuse, molestation, harassment and defilement of school pupils, who are basically minors, by teachers in the state, the government has vowed not to leave any stone unturned in prosecuting the teachers involved and whip their unions into line to ensure that they did not condone or abet the heinous crimes.
Fapohunda, who opened the lid on the ugly development at an event, lamented the increasing rape by of students by their teachers, saying the state government was investigating over 45 of such cases.
The AG, who said his office was being daily inundated with reports of sexual abuse of pupils by teacers, lampooned the teachers’ unions for their silence.
He said, “I am particularly saddened by the open display of the culture of silence and complicity within the teaching profession in Ekiti State. It is disgraceful that even in the face of allegations of teacher-student rape, teachers, as a union, have maintained an undignified silence on this matter.”
The AG expressed concern about the conduct of teachers’ associations in the state, including the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools, on the issue of sexual violence in schools.
Fapohunda stated, “I say this against the backdrop of the increasing number of teachers, who are now being investigated for the rape of their students. All the matters that have come before us have been at the instance of the student victims of rape.
“We have had no single case where a principal or teacher has voluntarily reported an incident of teacher rape in our schools. Our teachers appear to pretend that this is not happening even when it is happening right under their noses. It is distressing that my office needs a megaphone to inform our teachers that some of their members are raping their students.
“It is now important that in addition to government policies, teachers’ unions must develop their own practical and achievable policy statement that clearly states their position on teachers that rape students and provide specific punitive measures.
“The Ministry of Justice is presently considering a law to compel heads of secondary and primary schools to compulsorily report cases of rape in schools with appropriate sanctions for non-reporting.
“For many of you, who continue to be cynical about the approach of the Fayemi administration to sexual violence, I fear that at the rate we are going, you will soon get the first-hand experience of what we are dealing with.”
The development has spurred the AG to embark on a tour of schools across the state, where he is encouraging schoolchildren to speak up whenever they are being sexually abused by teachers, relations or any other person.
The visit, whereby the AG is telling the young ones that there is nothing to fear in reporting if they are being molested and that their privacy and security are guaranteed, is to provide a platform for students to be able to report without the fear of being called the perpetrator or stigmatised or shamed.
Fapohunda said at Christ Girls’ School, Ado Ekiti, “There are many among you, who have been going through terrible experiences at school, at home or wherever, and you cannot confide in anybody.”
The Principal, Christ Girls’ School, Oluremi Esan, said the commissioner’s initiative was laudable, adding, “The visit of the AG is very apt and timely. We have been expecting it, because most of these girls do not know how to complain and where to go.”
A student, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said parents had not really been supportive, noting, “For example, in the family, if the child reports to the mother or father that ‘Mum, your younger brother raped me’, the mother will not want you to bring the family to public shame and shut you up. In that situation, the younger brother will continue.”
Teachers in the state, under the aegis of Nigeria Union of Teachers, however, said they were behind the state government in the war against sexual violence in all ramifications and as it affected teacher-student relationship.
The NUT State Chairman, Emmanuel Oke, said the body had taken steps as he disowned the teachers, who defiled pupils in the state, saying such individuals were on their own.
Oke said the NUT would employ all necessary measures “to fight against girl-child defilement in line with the state government’s policy of zero tolerance for all forms of sexual violence against women and children.”
“The union frowns on this dastardly act and rejects it in its entirety. Some people alleged that the government was politicising this issue, whereas it is not so. Sexual abuse is not a political matter, but a social malady, which decent and reasonable people should abhor in a highly civilised society like ours,” he said.
The NUT National 1st Vice-President, Kayode Akosile, condemned the act of teachers raping or sexually molesting pupils and lauded the government’s action against perpetrators, adding, “We want to see justice done. We want to see the cases followed to logical conclusions to serve as a deterrent to others.”
Akosile also urged the government to look beyond public schools to private institutions in a bid to clean the system of child molestation or defilement, saying, “Things are happening in the private schools. What are you doing about that area? We want you to beam your searchlight on private schools as well.”
However, Fapohunda disagreed with the reasoning that poverty was a main cause of the increase in sexual violence against children in the state, saying, “I am unable to accept this criminalisation of the poverty argument.
“In Ekiti State, stories abound of dignity and integrity among vast communities, where our people of modest means are living dignified lives. To say that poor people are likely to be rapists is an argument devoid of logic. The argument of poverty mentality, or more to the point of ‘get rich quick’, must also be discarded.
“A person who thinks that the road to riches is made faster by raping babies and girls for ritual undertakings is a mental case and should be referred to a psychiatric home for confinement. In any case, the statistics don’t fit this reasoning.
“An increasing number of those, who rape girls and sodomise our boys, are not below the poverty line category in this state. Indeed, what we have seen recently is that persons, who would ordinarily be classified as elites, now constitute a high number of child rapists.”
The Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools also condemned any form of sexual molestation or abuse by teachers of their students, saying such errant teachers must face necessary punitive measures following due process.
The ASUSS State Chairman, Sola Adigun, said the union abhorred sexual harassment and other immoral acts capable of affecting the students and dragging teachers’ dignity in the mud.
He said, “In all our platforms and every forum we have had the opportunity to meet our members through our different structures, we have been drumming it into their ears that the union will not support any member found to have molested students or involved in examination malpractices.
Adigun stated, “The union is totally in support of dealing with any errant teacher. However, the laid down rules by the Teaching Service Commission must be strictly followed. The union frowns on a situation whereby a teacher will be prosecuted without passing through the necessary public service procedure.
“Any errant teacher should pass through the public service procedure; after the administrative procedure has been taken, then, such a teacher can face the legal procedure. That is how it should be done in the public and civil services of the country. You don’t just come to school, pick up a teacher and lock him up without allowing the employer to pass through the necessary procedure.”
Shedding light on Fayemi administration’s activities on the tragic and inexplicable increase in reported cases of sexual violence against children, Fapohunda said, “Some progressive laws, including the Gender-Based Violence (Prohibition) Law, the Sexual Violence against Children (Compulsory Treatment and Care) Law, and the Child’s Rights Law have been enacted. We are now reviewing our Criminal Code Law to provide added sanctions against paedophiles.
“We have enabled strategic policies, including the ‘Name and Shame’ policy for convicted sex offenders; we have opened the Register for Sex Offenders; we have refused applications from convicted sex offenders seeking to benefit from the governor’s powers of prerogative of mercy.