In January 2024, Ruth Ogunleye, a private in the Nigeria Army accused three of her superior officers of sexual assault. In the end, she was discharged from the Army on grounds of mental health issues, while the main accused had all charges dropped against him.
In March 2024, Idris Okuneye, a cross-dresser popularly known as Bobrisky was arrested, charged and jailed for abuse of the Naira at an event he had attended and ‘sprayed’ the Naira. When sentenced, Nigerians regularly questioned where Bobrisky would be jailed-in the male or female population? A few days ago, we got our answer. In a voice recording released by Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkman, contents of the recording alleged the voice belonged to Bobrisky who was narrating his sojourn to jail and beyond and how powerful individuals in his life had helped him secure alternative accommodation and was not a resident of the Nigeria Prisons Service. In the recording, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC) caught its own stray bullet as there was an allegation of a fifteen million-naira bribe to drop money laundering charges; I thought it was mutilation of the naira? Anyway, in a swift reaction based on various other allegations in the released recording, officers allegedly involved were suspended to given room for a thorough investigation while a committee has been set up to investigate the bribery allegation. The Senate has even invited Bobrisky and VDM to appear before it and shed light on these allegations.
A few days ago, ex-private Ruth came out again dissatisfied with the ruling of the Army infrastructure that cleared Col. I. B. Abdulraheem of the sexual assault while discharging her on mental health grounds. She questioned the Army and called upon the Minister of Women’s Affairs who had intervened and asked her to hand in a voluntary resignation to help her uncover why the reason of her discharge was changed. She also pointed out that not once was she invited to the panel to give her side of the story. She has further appealed for the Army to publish its panel findings.
Sexual assault is almost as notoriously difficult to prove as rape(even with the evidence in cases). While rape requires penetration of human orifices without consent, sexual assault is a physical, emotional and psychological violation of a person in form of an inflicted sexual act without consent. As you can see by the very definition, the line is blurry. Either of the acts have long lasting effects on the person in question.
Reading back and forth both stories a couple of things caught my attention. Sexual assault and rape were acts that were perpetuated at a period mainly against women. In recent times, there have been an upsurge of cases involving rape of men; either by women or men. The numbers remain largely small in comparison to the number of women that have suffered from this dastardly act. It is still unclear if the numbers have remained low because of stigmatisation which is worse for the man-“how can a man be raped?” and the culture of silence among men who are raped because of what the archetypical male represents. This is not taking into consideration the rape of minor or young boys.
Rape/sexual assault against women remains a perennial problem mainly because of three important factors: culture of silence, victim blaming and shaming, the role of women in the report of rape and prosecution of perpetuators and a patriarchal society that still views women as chattel. Another factor is the victim who feel guilty and ashamed and keep the rape to themselves. So, when a female comes out in a powerful institution like the Army and makes accusations against three high ranking senior officers, then there can only be two reasons: she is either delusional and mad (as in this case was the conclusion) or the accused committed the offence. There is no middle ground.
As I continued reading the two stories, I could not help but think that the struggle for women to be safe in their lives is still a long journey ahead. Even in the 21st century, with the strides taken in the emancipation of women and giving women a voice, once a female is born, she has a target on her back, because she is female. On the other hand, we have a man masquerading as a woman and has all the arsenals at his disposal including help that saw him live in a lap of luxury after been convicted of a crime and his predicament has more airtime.
Ruth was in the Army, with a career ahead of her while Bobrisky’s career is to be a cross-dresser, nailing being more female than many of us! While both stories are flying around with allegations, cross allegations, questions and all, my sadness is the severity of one woman’s situation that majority of women will at one time or the other will face in their lives simply because she’s a woman. With unanswered questions and Ruth’s persistence to have the truth uncovered, she is facing an uphill battle in a situation as I had said before that could happen to any woman. It is disheartening that the issue of sexual assault and rape is not on the decline despite efforts, and this is one case that should have been spotlighted if anything to get to the bottom of it. By declaring her mentally unfit to remain in the Army, suggests that she was delusional, and no such thing happened. But what if something untoward did happen? Where are the psychiatrist’s findings that adjudged her mentally lacking? Where is the independence of the whole investigation? Where are the lawyers, bodies and even social media outrage to push for taking a closer look into the case?
Crossing over the other “woman”, the social media is agog with the case. If you ask me what exactly is the case, that has garnered our attention, I can’t say. What are we fighting for in this instance that will be of benefit to other women? However, this saga has, a force of two legal cases: defamation suits and a lone lawyer against a well-known and renowned family of lawyers. I wish the force of lawyers would be more for the cases of women like Ruth: alone and fighting.
Both stories show the force of power and how justice can be easily subverted. The world is dire need of justice, equity and fairness and only us through our moral and legal systems can give us that. It all rests with us.
On a lighter note, when the recording released with the alleged voice of Bobrisky emerged, it reminded me of how to be careful who you talk to and how keeping quiet might be the best thing you can do for yourself.
As it is, I have my popcorn and a glass of wine because in a twisted way both stories underscore that it is indeed a man’s world.
