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ABSTRACT
This study sought to critically analyze the concept of rape in Nigeria. This study employed a doctrinal method. Rape is a destructive crime on the victim across the globe. The victims are devastated physically, psychologically and emotionally. The trauma of rape leaves the victims with scars throughout their lifetime and makes it impossible for them to relate with other people and the opposite sex. The work analysed evolutionary psychological perspective on why people rape and with the emergence of permissibility and adoption of same sex relationships and marriage in some jurisdictions across the world, it is evident that a man can rape a man, a woman can rape a man and a woman can also rape another. Other developed countries have constantly amended their laws on rape, unfortunately under the criminal justice dispensation in Nigeria, the legal framework on the crime of rape needs urgent and necessary reviews both substantively and procedurally as canvassed in this study. The Nigerian Criminal and Penal code should be compared with other provisions of the world and reviewed so that the ambiguity in our laws can be clear and direct like other foreign jurisdictions. It is recommended that the concept of rape particularly in terms of prosecution should be urgently revisited and amended in order to ensure justice for the victims and meet up emerging trends of rape in the Nigeria. It is concluded in this work that except the laws on rape are reviewed, victims will continue to have their rights to justice breached due to the lacunae in the law while the perpetrators of this heinous crime will continue to live above justice and commit more of this crime.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Rape has always been with mankind. However, in recent times, the incidence of rape has increased in Nigeria. Early law on rape was enacted with a view to protecting virgins from rape, abduction and forced marriage. It was also the intention of the law makers to protect the interest of a father in the virginity of his daughter or the interest of a husband in his wife’s fidelity.[1] The laws were made to protect women mostly virgins and wives, this shaped the common law definition of rape which is maintained in some jurisdictions like Nigeria. However, there is a progression in the offence of rape, it is evident in recent years that men are also victims of rape and should be protected by the law. Also, they are other evolving sexual practices which can be used by a person intending to have forceful sexual connection with another, for instance, the penetration of the penis into the anus or the mouth, or the penetration of any other part of the body into the vagina. This has steered many countries to update their laws on rape.
Many Nigerian women who have been raped suffer in silence without reporting the incident to law enforcement agencies.[2] The culture of silence aggravates this problem partly from humiliation and intimidation of victims by the police as well as the embarrassment of public acknowledgement and also the rigor in proving rape. In addition to this, being ostracized by those who consider rape as bringing dishonor to the woman’s family and community worsens the situation.[3] Thus many rape victims are unwilling and afraid to testify about their experience and the rapist goes ahead for the next victim. It isn’t false stating that rape is pandemic in Nigeria, between 2001 and 2005, 10,079 rape cases were reported. The same study also indicated that only 18 per cent of rape cases in Nigeria are reported.[4]
Culturally, it is an offence which stands on the same pedestal with the offence of murder since a suspect accused of rape is expected to go into hiding while his people make efforts to cleanse the shame on the face of the family of the rape victim. Despite all these, the offence of rape in Nigeria seems to be on the increase and the question on every lip is what the cause is? Does it mean that the punishment stipulated for it in the extant laws is no longer heavy enough to deter would-be rapist or are there factors which ostensibly offer more incentives for rape than the risk of its punishment. Furthermore, there is the fact that women have always been perceived as the weaker vessel, and so have been subjugated and oppressed by culture in most African societies.[5] The culture is defined by inequality and the subjugation of the female folk. Forms of gender-based violence, including rape, domestic violence and other sexual abuses, have assumed serious dimensions globally.[6] Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without that person’s consent.[7] The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person who is incapable of giving valid consent, such as one who is unconscious, incapacitated, has an intellectual disability or is below the legal age of consent.[8]
Since time immemorial, rape which is one of the oldest crimes in the history of the human race has caused a lot of pain and agony to individual rights with different jurisdictions spelling out the punishment if anyone is found guilty of same. However, till date, rape has continued to occur with no sign of ceasing but rather on the increase in virtually every part of the world. This act which at a certain time was largely perceived to have occurred as a result of lust does not seem to be so anymore. However, victims of rape have no age limit as babies, and the aged are vulnerable to this menace. Interestingly 90% of victims of rape are female[9].
1.2 Statement of the problem
As far back as 2011, a human right lawyer Caroline Ajie, estimated that about 2 million Nigerian girls experience sexual abuse annually.[10] This estimation was also confirmed by the Nigerian Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development (FMWASD), Dame Pauline Tallen at the 2019 international day for Elimination of violence against women. These coupled with the most recent report of the rape of an 18-year-old Miss Barakat Bello in her home at Ibadan, the case of 11 men raping a 12-year-old girl in Kaduna, and also the rape of Miss Uwa Omoziwa a 22-year-old student of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) at a Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Edo province in Benin, clearly shows how rampant rape is in our Country Nigeria. This article seeks to forensically explore the offence of rape in Nigeria, the defects of the Nigerian Criminal Law as regards the issue of rape, and, viable and sustainable solutions that would help in curtailing its rapid increase in the country.
In Nigeria, incidences of rape are fast assuming a threatening dimension that requires urgent intervention considering the increasing rate. Rape, like other forms of violence against women, is an infringement on women’s rights, privacy, self-preservation and dignity. Available data in the print and electronic media reveal that the issue of rape has become a serious social problem of epidemic proportions and no longer an isolated criminal act affecting just a few women in the society. In recent times the incidences of rape have increased at an alarming rate in Africa and also in Nigeria leading to the death of so many women. There is little or no policy or law that helps protect the victims as they are most times blamed, stigmatized and humiliated by the public if it is brought to the public domain. This hinders victims from embracing a mindset of reporting such an inhumane crime to the appropriate authority.
1.3 Objectives of the study
The main objective of the study is to examine the critical analysis on the concept of rape in Nigeria. The following are the specific objectives of the study:
- To examine the causes of the increase in rape in Nigeria
- To assess the punishment for rape.
- To examine means to which rape can be curtailed.
1.4 Research questions
- To examine the causes of the increase in rape in Nigeria
- To assess the punishment for rape.
- To examine means to which rape can be curtailed.
1.5 Research methodology
The methodology employed in this research is doctrinal. That is, both the primary and secondary sources shall be employed such as the examination of statutes, Case laws, law reports, textbooks by renounced scholars. Other library materials such as journals, newspapers had been made reference to. Of course, internet sources were considered for current trends on crime detection and prevention. Encyclopedias, thesaurus and police diaries have been made reference to.
[1]People v Liberto64 N.Y.2d 154, p 167 (1984)
[2] Caroline OkwumdiMuoghalu ‘Rape and Women’s Sexual Health in Nigeria: The Stark Realities of Being Female in a Patriarchal World’ vol 19,No 1&2 2012, pg 33-41.
[3] Hutton, D., Omidian, P., Miller, K., 2006, ‘Psychological Challenges and Interventions for Women affected by Conflict’, Women for Women International, http://www.eldis.org.com
[4] Peters, O. and Olowa, O., 2010, ‘Causes and Incidence of Rape among Middle Aged and Young Adults in Lagos State, Nigeria’, Research Journal of Biological Sciences, Vol. 5(10): 670-677. Stanley, L. and Wise, S., 1983, Bj
[5] Maier, S. L. (2008). “I Have Heard Horrible Stories…”: Rape Victim Advocates’ Perceptions of the Revictimization of Rape Victims by the Police and Medical System”. Violence against Women. 14 (7): 786–808. doi:10.1177/1077801208320245 . ISSN 1077-8012 . PMID 18559867.
[6] Rape and sexual violence: Human Rights Law and standards in the International Criminal Court. Amnesty International 2011
[7] Krug, Etienne G.; et al., eds. (2002). “World Report On Violence And Health” (PDF). World Health Organization. p. 149.
[8] A critical analysis of the UK’s definition of rape shows that the offence can only be committed by a man, though a man, like women, could also be a victim. Under the Department of Justice’s definition, on the other hand, both men and women may be victims or perpetrators. It is observed that both the US and UK’s definitions make use of the word “penetration”, instead of “carnal knowledge” or “sexual intercourse” as found in the Nigerian definitions of rape, which means that rape may be committed where a person’s vagina, anus or mouth is penetrated with penis, object or any part of one’s body whether there is sexual intercourse or not.
[9] Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Centre, University of Michigan available online at www.sapac.umich.edu/article/49
[10] <https://www.icirnigeria.org/fact-check-are-2-million-nigerians-raped-every-year/> Assesed on the 2nd of June, 2020.