By Abdullahi O.Haruna Haruspice
To increase her knowledge base, she found solace in the sanctuary, while swotting over her books for an edge of wit, she met her death, lurking in the cover of darkness, they sprawled on her, smashing her head with an object designed to extinguish fire, instead of putting out fire, the extinguished her life. And our Uwa Omozuwa lies cold in the embrace of death while the world debates her end.
Her crime was to be born with breast on her chest, her undoing was to be weaker in sex and strength. They didn’t woo her for her consent, they choked her with their might, had their ways into her and ripped open her vagina while they vomited their cursed lust. In no time, they were through, while they heaved in satisfaction, she grit in excruciating pains as she eventually bled from her bruised and mutilated front- while others live to tell their sad tales, Uwa bled to death as the blood from her private part and her smashed head drained the strength in her as she becomes another statistic in the callous catalogue of rape.
As someone opined, ‘So after this what’s next? This is just one of the numerous rape cases we hear of every day and again, wrapped up in a mystery that a hundred research questions cannot unravel.
I ask again; after this what’s next? Another soul is shattered and sent to the abyss of extinction. After this solidarity, I ask again, what’s next? Have we considered that this girl could be any of our friends, sisters or even daughters? A lot of souls die daily from psychological torture, personality and biological mutation evolving from rape and its associate crimes. So should our tears and lamentations end on the pages of screens and prints? I think we have a lot more to do because justice for this girl today is justice for the unborn generation of women.’
Going totally contrary, I think the University of Benin saga shouldn’t be solely tagged a rape case, there is a deeper underlying crime we are not talking about. You kill a soul and hurried to label her death as a rape case, no! This is murder carried out and wrapped as rape. Who witnessed the rape, who saw when a fire extinguisher was used to smash her head, who certified she was raped, where were the security guards that watch over the church? To divert attention from this heinous crime, the story of rape is being bandied around and the victim of this callous crime is being shamed. This is pure murder in the Cathedral and all hands must be on deck to ensure we get to the end of this cruel extermination of this innocent young girl.
Most times, violent crimes are carried out by those around us- those we lose our guards for are usually the ones that take advantage of our vulnerability. Villains are found in homes, offices, worship centres, communities and schools. Our Uwa escaped the dangerous embrace of the street in Benin to be killed in the sanctuary of the lord. In times before, worship centres are safe heaven against the outside elements, today, more crimes are carried in mosques and churches than in the streets.
Like Goerge Floyd, let the death of Uwa mark the end of violence against women, let it be the end of using worship centres to take advantage of young vulnerable girls and boys. Let’s not use this ugly incident for publicity stunts by celebrities, beyond the TV and social media rants, lets besiege our state’s lawmakers to formulate laws that can wreck rapists, sexual predators, paedophiles, and murderers. Enough of the violent crimes in our clime.
Painfully musing
