SGBV is Widespread in Oron, Akwa Ibom and Justice is Served in “Hush Money Courts”

On November 25, 2021, a mentally challenged man sighted a big nylon bag inside a gutter Opposite the Apostolic Church in Oron, Akwa Ibom State and quickly jumped in hoping for at least food to eat but the sight and stench that greeted him saw him shouting on top of his lungs. A few passersby ignored him until they noticed he was really in shock, drawing close, what they saw was a bag containing the remains of a young girl who the people recognised as a hawker of baked goods in a shop not far from the river.

According to sources, she had worked with her boss for over a year but the boss’ wife, simply described as Favour, had accused her of sleeping with her husband and openly visited the snacks shop to threaten her should she continue the relationship. Sources (two persons who patronizes their snack joint and One neighbour who lives in her compound but refused to be named) again confirmed that on the night of Sunday 21st November 2021, a few weeks after the threat, thugs visited her residence, raped her and took her away. Nothing was heard from her until the mentally challenged man stumbled on her body cut into pieces in the gutter.

Favour and her husband whose name is withheld even by the police have been arrested and are still in police custody at the Area Command in Oron as at the time of this report,  The Area Commander, ACP Sarbi confirmed the incident but referred Dataphyte to the State Police Commissioner  citing that only on the orders of the Commissioner can he speak on the issue 

In Esuk Oron, Uduak (not real name) age 12, sat looking forlorn and lost as she narrated how the person who sexually molested her had been released from the police cell 5 days after the incident.  Her father had listened to the plea of Uko, the perpetrator’s family, collected money to keep silent and dropped the case. The cost of the violations against her was N50,000, probably the first time her fisherman father had ever gotten such a “huge” sum in his lifetime. 

Her mother had no say in the matter; to her husband and onlookers, she had raised a ‘prostitute”.

Uduak’s offence was hawking sachet water, a chore she usually did after school. Uko, the perpetrator described by Uduaks mother as a perpetual drunkard in his 50s, had lured her into his carpentry workshop and sexually violated her.

Uduaks mum, Iquo (not real name) blames herself for exposing her daughter to the violence of rape. She also thought Uduak should have kept quiet because the blame is on both of them and it breaks her heart to see her daughter in pain while the perpetrator is bragging that he has paid them off and that he is a free man.

“I am poor, my husband doesn’t give me money for my upkeep, as you can see, I squat with people at this market stall, assist them in selling their wares and get paid afterwards, that is where I get money to feed us, me and 4 kids, Uduak is hawking for herself so as to have a few coins to survive in the public school where she is struggling to get an education”. Said Iquo

“If Uduak’s father happens to come to see me, all he does is to steal from me and disappear to drink with his people. He is a lazy man and I can assure you that we will not smell a kobo of that money, which is why he quickly negotiated to collect money rather than punish Uko” Iquo added

“If I had that kind of money my husband collected, we will not suffer again, Uduak will not be hawking sachet water again, she will join me in my stall and we will sell whatever we could lay our hands on”. She added

Iquo revealed further that her daughter was blamed by almost everybody for allowing herself to be violated, her father topping the list of her accusers. Others say she had since been eyeing Uko and had wanted to sleep with him all along, “everybody blame my daughter even her father, my husband”

Uduak’s father already had plans for the N50,000 settlement that had nothing to do with her health and wellbeing, his budget was to hang out with friends, drink and visit the mothers of his other children. 

Prevalence of SGBV in Oron

According to Obongawan Nkoyo Effion Ating, who is the leader of the market women of Esuk Oronwho and married to the village head spoke to the reporter about the spate of gender based violence in their community. According to her “between 2019 and 2020, there was hardly a week passing without rape cases mostly of children being reported but we usually refer them to the Police who often say that it was beyond their jurisdiction and is a government issue”.

She said further that “each time they come, we refer them to the police and we don’t follow up to know what happened, they settle the cases there and we don’t hear from them again” said Obongawan

Mrs Ating described the community’s attempt at deterring abusers “The way we handle it here in Esuk Oron is that we will use the town crier to beat his gong and expose the perpetrator, after which he will be brought over to the Palace and I will take permission from my husband to call the police and hand them over”.

According to a research by the African Journal of Drug and Alcohol Studies, Data from in-depth individual and group interviews with 413 men in 6 villages in Oron, Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria revealed that men use violence in various ways towards their spouses to curb attempts to spurn traditional gender roles.

Findings also revealed that in Oron generally, “the underlying factor on most of the incidences of male violence is heavy use of alcohol, which is a potent cultural symbol of masculinity. Heavy drinking is common in these communities and its role in the incidence of violence against women is established by the accounts of participants.”  

The report posited that solving the problem of gender based violence must consider traditional perceptions of masculinity and alcoholism as drivers of violence against women. “Policy on alcohol problems and gender-based violence needs to recognize the metonymic significance of drinking and violence in the definition of manhood”.

State of Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Nigeria

On June 12, 2020 while the COVID 19 pandemic was raging, the Nigeria Governors Forum [NGF] had declared a state of emergency on Sexual and Gender Based Violence, [SGBV] but rather than wane, the menace has spiked, Nigeria witnessed a disturbing surge in cases of Sexual and Gender Based Violence.

Before the pandemic, violent and domestic attacks on women were common. However, the lockdowns caused a significant spike in incidents.

Akwa Ibom had in June 2020 domesticated the The Violence Against Persons Prohibition(VAPP) Act which prohibits all forms of violence against persons in private and public life  and provides for life imprisonment for rape offenders and 14 years imprisonment for offenders aged 14 and below. 

After the rape and murder of Iniubong Umoren, a graduate of the University of Uyo, who was raped and killed by Uduak Akpan, under the guise of possible employment, Akwa Ibom state government established the Sexual, Gender-Based Violence Response unit within the Ministry of Justice on May 10, 2021. 

The department is expected to collaborate with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Health and other critical agencies to tackle the rising cases of SGBV in the state.

In 2021, Akwa Ibom jailed 23 rapists. Dr Gloria Edet, the State Commissioner of Agriculture and Women Affairs, expressed displeasure over the rise in rape incidents in the state and  asked citizens to speak up and report cases of rape and other forms of violence against women.

 “The number of rape cases is becoming alarming every day and I am calling on the citizens to report incidences of rape and other violent crimes against the female gender to law enforcement agents and other relevant government agencies for prompt intervention.”

Edet said as part of measures to tackle rape incidents, the state government had approved the establishment of gender-based violence referral centres in each of its three senatorial districts.

President Muhammadu Buhari, in his October 1, 2021 speech also proposed the establishment of a special court for swift justice for Victims of SGBV. 

No Response From Women Affairs, Police

The Gender Desk officer of the Ministry of Women Affairs in Akwa Ibom, Eno Jerome, refused to speak to Dataphyte upon presentation with questions around the availability of data on gender based violence in the state.

The Gender desk of the Area Command Oron Division also refused to respond to queries on cases of gender based violence. The Area Commander, ACP Sarbi referred Dataphyte to the State Police Commissioner who in turn forwarded the request to the Police Public Relations Officer of the State, who asked for the questions to be written so he could forward to the Area Commander with an instruction for them to respond. Although the PPRO said that he had instructed the Area Command to respond, no response was given and the Assistant Commissioner of Police did not respond to repeated calls.

In Nigeria there is always a challenge of implementation which is compounded by the absence of data. Media and development actors often find it hard to track developments and flag lapses in policy implementation on issues such as gender based violence. This is despite laws like the Freedom of Information Act.

Sexual and Gender Based Violence continues to be a stumbling block to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 5, and actions must match policies quickly to stem the tide.