In a 10-minute video, a girl gang-raped begged to either be spared or killed. But who is she? Who are the rapists? Ugochukwu Eke reports that though no one doubts the video clips, unravelling the identities of the victim, the rapists and the location of the crime is like selling ice to the Eskimos.
Josephie Effah-Chukwuma, in her capacity as the Executive Director of Project Alert, champions women’s rights. So, when a 10-minute video surfaced on the Internet showing a lady believed to be a student being raped by a gang of five men, Effah-Chukwuma was outraged as were many men and women.
In the video, the lady repeatedly asked her assailants to kill her as they took turns raping her at a supposed university dormitory. The five men pushed her back down each time she attempted stand up.
The video has ricocheted around the world. Some Internet users, disturbed by it are even offering rewards for information to unmask the rapists.
Voices from the video claimed that the incident took place at Abia State University and that the victim and the perpetrators are students of the university.
“The perpetrators went further to record it and circulate it. It shows that they’re daring society to take action on it,” said Effah-Chukwuma. “It shows that there’s a high level of impunity.” The act appeard to have taken place in a single-room dormitory or student hostel.
But there is a huge controversy over where it actually took place. Initial reports said it was at the Abia State University, Uturu. Another report said it was at the Imo State campus of the Abia State University.
The university and the state government said their investigations showed that no such thing happened on the campus. When The Nation visited the institution yesterday, most of the students interviewed said that such a thing never took place in the school. They said the video clip has been circulating since February from one university to another.
The Dean of Students Affairs of the university, Udo Nwokocha, denied that the rape took place in the school. Nwokocha urged security agents to fish out the perpetrators. “The rape should be thoroughly investigated if the image of the country is to be protected,” he said.
Though a report suggested that the rape occurred on August 16, Nwokocha said the clip had been circulating prior to that day. He said: “The same video clip has been circulating in other universities in the country in the past few months and we wonder why it is being linked to our university.
“We want to vouch for the enviable reputation of our students and therefore want to disassociate them from this immoral, animalistic and dehumanising act. The Abia State University community is grossly embarrassed by the publication and its concomitant negative effect on the image of the university.”
The university said it engaged some students to watch the video clip and see if they could identify any of the persons in the video. Nkwocha said none of the culprits was identified as a student of ABSU.
Commissioner of Police Bala Hassan said no such matter was reported to the police. Hassan said the police cannot investigate in isolation.
Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Chibuzor Ogbuagu, said the incident never took place in the institution.
According to Prof Ogbuagu, the university conducted its investigation on the matter, “and found out that the video clip has been in circulation in the past few months in various universities across the country. So, why are they now saying that it happened in our institution.”
He said the Minister of Youth Development, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi has liaised with the institution to find out what happened. “I want to tell the people of the state and the country that the gang rape never took place in Abia University.”
Special Adviser to the governor on Information, Strategy and Social Orientation, Eze Chikamnayo, urged the parents of the raped girl to allow her come and tell the police what happened so that the rapists could be fished out.
President, Women Arise, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, said her organisation is investigating the issue through its structure in Abia State. She stressed that the group has already opened discussions with the police on the issue.
Certainly, the last has not been heard of the matter.
–Agencies–