TRUE CONFESSION FROM DOMESTIC ABUSE IN NIGERIA!
‘My Aunt’s Husband RAPED, DISVIRGINED ME at the age of 13years’-heartbroken Chinwe Udeze lament
* Forcibly had sex with me multiple times, even when my aunt was asleep at night, he sneaked to where I slept in the palour to rape me
* He threatened to kill me, boast : “you can tell but no one will believe you including your aunt”
* My Aunt (Martina Bobogini Julius) and treated me like dirt, her husband (Julius Elemotse) threatened me severally not to tell anyone
* She got pregnant at 15 years, recalled ordeal and aspiration of becoming a lawyer
* Begged in tears: “I want Nigerian government to help me get justice, despite it’s been over a decade. I still get panic attack and trauma from what my in-law had done to me. I want the government to do a thorough investigation on this case”
BY GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU/AMERICAN FOREIGN BUREAU CHIEF
NAIJA: Can you tell us about your childhood?
I was born in Edo state, later moved on to Anambra state where I had completed my nursery education. I am the second child out of seven other siblings and also the first daughter. I later moved on to Lagos state at the age of eight years old to join my Dad’s elder brother and wife, where I competed my primary school in one of the private schools in Lagos and returned back to the eastern part of Nigeria.
On return to the east after my primary school in Lagos, I got a sponsor for my secondary education. I was registered in a good school in the east but never liked staying there. My Mom’s younger sister reached out to my mother pleading with her to allow me come live with her in Lagos. I was excited about it but my mother refused me going. After several persuasion from her sister’s hubby she finally allowed me go.
NAIJA: We heard you were raped at a teenage age by your in-law (your aunt’s husband). How did it happen?
When I got to their house in Lagos, I noticed my aunt was never satisfied with whatever I did, as she started talking about how I don’t look anything my age and later graduated into beating me for anything. She will beat me mercilessly and also strip me in front of her husband and young kids. Initially, her husband didn’t find it funny cause it was always happening but she accused her husband of liking me so he stopped complaining, her abuse continued and she saw nothing wrong with what she was doing cause according to her I was been “Trained”.
Her husband took advantage of how she treated me to sexually molest me severally before he raped me, he will always open up the bathroom whenever I was bathing and stared long at me. I was not happy with what he was doing and I told him, he said he will protect me from my aunt if I allow him sleep with him.
I refused him severally and on the day my aunt was to put to bed, he drove her to the hospital and rushed back home to rape me, he discovered I was a virgin and apologized and in the morning he rushed out to get me pills and threatened me not to tell anyone. He raped me twice after the first and my aunt was in the room sleeping at night when he sneaked to where I slept in the palour to rape me, I was thirteen as at then and lived in fear of my life all the time.
I didn’t know how to open up to my aunt cause of how she treated me including the several threats from her husband, but I opened up to one of her friend’s nanny (Comfort). Comfort reported what I told her to her own aunty. Her aunt and husband came to my aunt’s place the next day to confirm. My aunt after hearing from Comfort quickly dismissed her friend and husband, as she pounced on me. She dealt with me so badly and all the time her kids were present and watching. When she was done beating me, she sat me down and asked me how her husband body felt on me?
She asked if I enjoyed him?, She also asked if I loved what he did?, When I responded in the negative she became more pissed and continued hitting me. She confronted her hubby and he walked away from the house, it was quite a bitter experience when she discovered.
NAIJA: We heard you suffered a lot, during your pregnancy. Can you tell us more about it?
Yes a lot of bad experiences, I was fifteen and quite naive…. I don’t wish to talk about it.
NAIJA: Was there any other time another man took advantage of you through rape against your wish?
Yes but I don’t want to discuss that part of me yet.
We heard your in-law abandoned you in one of his friend’s house and threatened to ‘kill you’, how true is that?
That must be a wrong information,my baby daddy abandoned me with his friend and not my in-law.
NAIJA: What are the other times you have been threatened by your in-law or any other man?
When I lived with my aunt, before her husband raped me, he threatened to kill me if I tell… sometimes he says”you can tell but no one will believe you including your aunt”. My baby daddy threatened me severally also.
NAIJA: Based on what you went through, what was your parents reaction to your predicament?
My parents were never that close with me cause I was always with relatives. My parents heard about what my aunt and the husband had done after my post went viral on Facebook.
NAIJA: How do you want the government to step in on your matter to defend you, and prosecute anyone who had raped you?
I want the government to help me get justice, despite it’s been over a decade after I still get panic attack and trauma from what my in-law had done to me. I want the government to do a thorough investigation on this case.
NAIJA: What help do you need from the government now for you and your baby?
I need the government to empower me.
NAIJA: Do you want to proceed to school?
Yes I do!.
NAIJA: Finally, what is your career aspiration in life as in what do you want to become?
I’ve always be passionate about being a lawyer, so yes I want to be a lawyer!.
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