Justice for Uwa: Why I will not apologize. 1
This originally should not be a lengthy article. In fact, there should not be an article at all due to certain considerations, but well, here we are.
Know this before you continue, I do not expect to echo your feelings, as a matter of fact, I would likely offend them and I do not care. I would not try to be politically correct, it’s such a puerile use of commonsense. However, in the event that you feel the need to express displeasure among such other things you may want to express, the comment section is rent-free. Knock yourself out.
The fight for justice in matters of rape and sexual violence has been a long overdue struggle. This menace has slugged on for so long it has festered and created a rot in the very pillars holding our society upright, that is chiefly, culture, education and religion. Thus, our already dysfunctional society which only recognizes crimes as crimes only when they directly affect us, which is why when they say Senator Lagbaja embezzles $20B, it is corruption but when my Uncle in the Ministry refuses to take that 20 million to help pass fake drugs into the market while his wife is in abject need of buying the new IPhone series, we say "dis one see free government money e no chop, e no fit better for am again na".
And thus, society has normalized a host of criminal acts by activating its Marlian Look Away mode. We could spend the next ten years discussing who is to blame for this rot. Buhari? APC? Jonathan? PDP? Our parents’ generation? Daddy Adeboye? Awolowo and Azikiwe? Lord Lugard? God? Lol… we could blame all of them quite alright. Drag them like generators on the thorny streets of freedom of speech and sentence them in the court of public opinion. After all, who among them is above that? Lmao…
Before we stray further, this is neither a metaphysical, epistemological nor theological discourse on the cause and effect of evil and its agents. Makes me yawn already. It is, as I hope it should be taken as, a renouncement of the system that allows the perpetrators of evil on Uwa, Barakat and millions of women before them and clarify what constitutes it, and how reactions can help shape up a better society. Some issues here are undisputable, our laws are weak, the system of enforcement is weaker still and the will to strengthen them is the weakest.
There have been clamoring to import foreign ways of dealing with the menace, specifically to shove all blames away from the victim and hold them on the perpetuator. Calls for castration, banishment, death by hanging, death by torture among others are not far away from this channel. For example, the Islamic legal system holds this same energy in its criminal code for rapists. Rape is classified under other similarly violent crimes like terrorism, armed robbery, first degree murder, arson, genocide etc. These are considered as crimes against humanity and thus, their punishment cannot be reprieved. They are punished by execution, by beheading, crucifixion, cross-amputation, exile, or a combination of these depending on the severity of the crime. Most often, domestic crimes like rape and armed robbery will also involve that the punishment be extracted in such a way that it delivers life-long shame on the perp to dissuade others from committing such crimes. And before these execution, a hefty fine will be paid by the criminal to the victim. So, it’s a three-way justice system for the society. Restitution for the victims, punitive measures on the perp and retributive justice for the State.
Continue reading here: https://sayeetwithyourchest.blogspot.com/2020/06/justice-for-uwa-why-i-will-not-apologize.html?m=1
Know this before you continue, I do not expect to echo your feelings, as a matter of fact, I would likely offend them and I do not care. I would not try to be politically correct, it’s such a puerile use of commonsense. However, in the event that you feel the need to express displeasure among such other things you may want to express, the comment section is rent-free. Knock yourself out.
The fight for justice in matters of rape and sexual violence has been a long overdue struggle. This menace has slugged on for so long it has festered and created a rot in the very pillars holding our society upright, that is chiefly, culture, education and religion. Thus, our already dysfunctional society which only recognizes crimes as crimes only when they directly affect us, which is why when they say Senator Lagbaja embezzles $20B, it is corruption but when my Uncle in the Ministry refuses to take that 20 million to help pass fake drugs into the market while his wife is in abject need of buying the new IPhone series, we say "dis one see free government money e no chop, e no fit better for am again na".
And thus, society has normalized a host of criminal acts by activating its Marlian Look Away mode. We could spend the next ten years discussing who is to blame for this rot. Buhari? APC? Jonathan? PDP? Our parents’ generation? Daddy Adeboye? Awolowo and Azikiwe? Lord Lugard? God? Lol… we could blame all of them quite alright. Drag them like generators on the thorny streets of freedom of speech and sentence them in the court of public opinion. After all, who among them is above that? Lmao…
Before we stray further, this is neither a metaphysical, epistemological nor theological discourse on the cause and effect of evil and its agents. Makes me yawn already. It is, as I hope it should be taken as, a renouncement of the system that allows the perpetrators of evil on Uwa, Barakat and millions of women before them and clarify what constitutes it, and how reactions can help shape up a better society. Some issues here are undisputable, our laws are weak, the system of enforcement is weaker still and the will to strengthen them is the weakest.
There have been clamoring to import foreign ways of dealing with the menace, specifically to shove all blames away from the victim and hold them on the perpetuator. Calls for castration, banishment, death by hanging, death by torture among others are not far away from this channel. For example, the Islamic legal system holds this same energy in its criminal code for rapists. Rape is classified under other similarly violent crimes like terrorism, armed robbery, first degree murder, arson, genocide etc. These are considered as crimes against humanity and thus, their punishment cannot be reprieved. They are punished by execution, by beheading, crucifixion, cross-amputation, exile, or a combination of these depending on the severity of the crime. Most often, domestic crimes like rape and armed robbery will also involve that the punishment be extracted in such a way that it delivers life-long shame on the perp to dissuade others from committing such crimes. And before these execution, a hefty fine will be paid by the criminal to the victim. So, it’s a three-way justice system for the society. Restitution for the victims, punitive measures on the perp and retributive justice for the State.
Continue reading here: https://sayeetwithyourchest.blogspot.com/2020/06/justice-for-uwa-why-i-will-not-apologize.html?m=1
Good write! I hope the government step up the plate and ensure people are punished properly for these crimes in order to serve as deterrent.
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