The title is not original to me.
The latest news on Olanrewaju James, also known as Baba Ijesha is damming. Reports say that the video of the 14-year-old said to have been defiled by Baba Ijesha was played in court a few days back. It is a recording done by a child forensic expert where the said minor was interviewed. The expert who conducted this interview is Mrs. Ajayi Kayode, a child expert and the Executive Director of Cece Yara foundation. (Yara Foundation caters for children who have been sexually abused)
The minor is reported to have given evidence that not only nails Baba Ijesha as a pedophile who had once abused her when she was just 7 years old, using his car key to penetrate her, and asking her to grind against him at another time…she also told of how his latest escapade resulted in his exposure and arrest.
It’s a sad that the minor had to been grilled again tell her own side of a story that has divided people in the last few months since it broke early in the year.
Those advocating for forgiveness of Baba Ijesha are either hypocrites or totally clueless, now I don’t know which is worse!
These are the same people who will rather slut shame Tiwa Savage for a sex tape she made,( a sex tape of two consenting adults) than condemn Baba Ijesha for getting caught on camera while preying on a minor!
Hypocrites!
I echo what my friend, Niran Adedokun’ said in his column in Punch titled, “The Tiwa Savage Sex Tape”
Niran, criticized Nigerians who have been slut shaming Tiwa for even doing a sex tape. He cited Subomi Plumptre’s article titled, “Nigeria, we’ve got a sexuality problem!”
“Subomi Plumptre disclosed that ‘Nigeria has overtaken the US for most search for pornographic content online…The number of average monthly searches by volume was 135,000 and the states with the greatest popularity for porn searches (from high to low) were Enugu, Oyo, Ogun, Rivers, Lagos, Abia and Cross River. The relative popularity of rape porn videos was also above 80, with Lagos State leading the charge.
In 2014, Nigeria ranked third globally for the most Google searches for gay porn!” In 2019, Pornhub claimed it gained a 32% increase in traffic from Nigeria and suggested that more Nigerian women were embracing the indulgence. That same 2019, Nigerians topped the list of searchers for videos on Big Black Women (BBW)“
This reality is scary; this data is damning, what we have in our hands figuratively and otherwise…is a sexuality problem with grave consequences.
Now, I for one do not even need to Google this to know Nigerians pounce on rape stories and everything sex with such speed and a predictability that it is scary.
Every day I take a look at our back end for the most search on our site, thisislagos.ng, the most search is…wait for it- “I enjoy getting raped…my rape with uncle that I love…he raped me and I enjoyed it…erotic rape stories…
I kid you not!
These account for the highest searches on our website and we aren’t even Google!
Stories that get the most read are rape stories of minors! And you would think people are reading because they are concerned (of course many are concerned) but the majority are getting jiggy with it!
At the rate at which rape, especially of minors has increased, one can begin to wonder that most of those asking for Baba Ijesha to be let off are either secret perpetrators…or they actually believe rape of minors is no grave crime!
In saner climes, even in prison, people who rape children are treated worse than murders, they are a depraved set of criminals that even hardened robbers feel they are better by far than them, so why are we asking for such people to be let off instead of facing the law for their crimes?
I hear someone say “he has repented,” maybe but what of those who will never repent but plead forgiveness just to be let go only to continue and never get caught?
We have a problem as a nation.
Thankfully, there’s hope with government agencies like NANPTIP (National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons) and non-governmental agencies like Hadis Foundation, Cece Yara, the Mirabel Centre and many others, rape, not just of minors but sexual violence I general is beginning to be taught as a crime.
But as individuals, we need to do more especially in our communities and among our own family and relations, sexual violence is a no, no. It is a crime and must be treated as such!
While some blame the internet for it, you know, now we have access to whatever depravity reigns anywhere in the world, that’s why Tiwa can even do a sex tape; but in a country with so called “high moral and religious values,” we fall short!
In a country where there are churches and mosques in every street corner; where vigils and constant call to holiness is rife, we fall way behind nations we call morally bankrupt!
Let’s talk to ourselves, o!