By
Rahman Owokoniran
All over the world, sexual harassment is handled with kid gloves. However, it seems to be handled with even more levity in Nigeria.
Women and men alike can be victims of sexual assault, but that of women by men takes far more precedence; it is women’s worst nightmare.
We can consider men who perpetrate sexual assault as men whose orientation and sexual relationships differ significantly from civilized society’s –men that can be regarded as subhuman! To state that they are like animals would be an insult to animals, as we know that these lesser creatures actually understand “courtship” see Nat Geo Wild for more education.
Religion and culture are also linked to sexual abuse in many societies. While these are almost separate entities, we find that they are vehicles through which women are treated differently from men –again constituting another impediment in the treatment and prevention of sexual abuse. Often, women who are subjected to sexual harassment and abuse are treated differently from their male counterparts.
Now in a society like Nigeria with multicultural and multiethnic identities, it doesn’t come as a surprise that victims of sexual harassment and discrimination rarely find support! This has to change; this is the more reason why we have a lot more to learn about women and their ugly experiences.
Speaking about the burning issue going on in the Nigerian Senate, I am not in the least bit surprised that either the Senate President or the senators treated with levity the issue of sexual harassment raised by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. This they did by disregarding the fact that she lodged a complaint, and not just any complaint, a complaint of sexual harassment, against not just anybody but the President of the Senate.
How can the majority (men) listen to one of the minority (women) for protection against abuse? Apparently, most men there probably don’t believe she belongs to the space she occupied in the first instance. And ironically, the other three female members could hardly recognize that they were being abused as well. After all, injury to one should be injury to all. Their indifference to this issue suggests that these female legislators do not believe the tales told by Senator Natasha. Again, one can argue that they are also being cautious not to be sent down a rabbit hole.
Interestingly, a few that could be sympathetic to the victim don’t have the benefit of information. Thus, the real issue is sidelined by the leading members of the Senate. Why? They want to paper over things and protect the integrity of the Senate.
But isn’t it laughable that the word integrity was compromised when they refused to do the right thing by investigating the matter raised by Senator Natasha, more so the speed at which the resolution on her “punishment” was delivered.
The Senate Majority Leader claimed that the complainant’s complaint of sexual harassment wasn’t known to the Senate. However, Nigerians all over heard Natasha’s complaints about sexual harassment on that Arise TV interview and its subsequent amplification on social and other media. Yet the Senate claimed it was unaware about the scandal! As far as these senators are concerned, the woman had violated the rules of the Red Chamber and should be deprived the Human Rights to cry WOLF!
This is not Natasha’s first altercation with the Senate President –the more reason her allegations shouldn’t be swept under the carpet.
Is this a case of the Senate President abusing his position and power?
Why is Senator Natasha his recurring victim?
Why this particular Senator?
The Senate is rather preferring to amplify the accusation that she violated its rules. I am still curious about the violation that warrants the loss of half of a year of Natasha’s time in the Senate, leaving her constituents in limbo for such a lengthy period of time. I cannot wrap my head around a Senate turning deaf ears to the earthquake noise of a sexual scandal only to raise hell about a member changing her seating position.
Why are they even disrupting the significant progress achieved by Natasha in her constituency since she won her election? Why would they perpetrate this reckless abuse of power? I can only imagine what they think of their own constituents talk less of somebody else’s. Perhaps Natasha is deliberately being harassed to slow her down and undermine her politically. How else can it be explained that she is all alone in this struggle.
Don’t you wonder that not even one of the three other women in the Senate stood up to speak against this injustice? Well, welcome to Nigeria where self preservation is the name of the game. Not even the First Lady of the nation, a former Senator herself, is sympathetic to the plight of sexual harassment complaint filed by another woman in the Red Chamber she once served in. More than most people in this country today, Madam First Lady should have shown better understanding of Natasha’s issues, having gone through the Red Chamber as a female Senator. Rather she expects us to believe that she went through the storm because she was strong. We know that is not true. Natasha wouldn’t have complained either if she has the kind of protection the First Lady enjoyed while serving her time in the Senate.
The First Lady is expected to contribute to the discussion on how to protect women facing sexual harassments and assaults in this nation. Given her exposure and experience as well as her background in politics, she is expected to proffer solutions to women’s sexual assault in the workplace, individual communities, organizations and the public.
In short, if the hallowed chamber could treat the complaint of its distinguished member with levity in this instance, it speaks volume to the need for the Judiciary and the people to be ready for a serious inquiry into this case as well as its possible threat to our nation.
Women have contributed immensely to the economic, political and social development of this nation and they are still significantly making inroads to greater heights, contributing positively to the advancement of our great nation. Our womenfolk deserve to be encouraged by all of our institutions rising up to the challenges required to provide for ladies, girls and all females a healthy, safe and secure environment from the nightmare of untamed and unmitigated sexual harassment. Women are not to be shut down and sexually harassed as in the current case of Senator Natasha versus Senator Akpabio.
RAHMAN OWOKONIRAN WROTE FROM LAGOS
