Sir: It is very concerning to read in The Guardian of February 8, 2023, a letter by Jide Oyewusi on the judgment of the courts of competent jurisdiction on the Nigerian rapists. The article’s title was: “Life imprisonment for rapists is an overkill.” It portrays a misnomer and dystopian state of the nation in Nigeria.
Unequivocally, every animate and inanimate object in Nigeria is dysfunctional. Most of the necessary national infrastructural amenities and humans’ or citizens’ moral, physical, and psychological well-being are in shambles. The bruised cognition of Nigerians needs honest attention. Also, there is an urgent need to declare a state of emergency for all Nigerians’ mental health and wellness. The precarious state of mental health of Nigerians nationwide is questionably concerning.
In Nigeria today, it is normal to be abnormal; and abnormal to be normal. Nigerian society will see you as weird if you behave normally in dystopian Nigeria. But, if you behave abnormally, the same community will see you as normal. Unfortunately, a raped nation has become numb to Nigeria’s egregious and dystopian nature and the antisocial behaviour of its citizens.
Ironically, the respected Mr. Jide Oyewusi is a coordinator of Ethics Watch International based in Lagos, Nigeria. Mr. Oyewusi’s advocacy for a lesser punishment for rapists is antithetical to the emblem of the Ethics Watch International organization he supposedly belongs to in Nigeria. Serial rapists don’t belong to a sane community; they belong to structural confinement for the safety of vulnerable children.
Seriously, Oyewusi’s seeming advocacy for serial rapists and the author’s contentious letter on the judgment of judges on rapists is a sour taste to our collective sense of urgency to curb the prevailing cases of rape in Nigeria. Oyewusi’s advocacy for a lesser punishment for rapists is distressing to our mental exhaustion. The deconstruction or interpretation of Mr. Oyewusi seemingly shows appeasement for potential pedophiles, rapists, and other habitual criminals who are violently violating the sacred parts of our children and youngsters in Nigerian society.
Mr. Oyewusi seems to suggest that: reducing life imprisonment for rapists will make it “not appear as killing an insect with a sledgehammer.” The pertinent question would be: what of the rapists who use their sledgehammers to mentally kill, defile, and sexually devour the life of their innocent victims?
The Nigerian judiciary must show no mercy on any serial and criminally-minded rapists who rape and defile innocent young children in Nigerian society. Unequivocally, it is pertinent to note that rape is a serious crime that deserves severe punishment. Rapists with no mental derailment do not belong to any sane society; they permanently belong to penitentiary institutions for a long existential period of incarceration.
• Yahaya Balogun works as a Correctional Officer IV with the State of Arizona, the United States of America.
