WHY RAPE IS EVERYONE'S FIGHT!

Femi had closed late at work and was few streets to his home when he heard a muffled scream coming from a bush in an abandoned building; he panicked when he realized it was a sound of a struggle - heavy grunting, pleading and tearing of fabric.

Just yards from where he was, a woman was pleading while her dress was being torn - she was about to be gang-raped by two men!

"Should I get myself involved?” he thought as he was scared for his safety, "But what if they attacked me and still raped her?"

The woman was crying and pleading with the rapists but they showed no mercy as they slapped her and tore off the remaining tiny fabrics on her waist.

He stepped sideways and brought out his phone to call the police, but there was no airtime in his phone - even if he had and called them, wouldn't the rapists had been through with their act and disappeared before the police came?

He was deciding on his next step when a voice spoke in his mind's ear, "It's better you went home safely to your wife than involved yourself in someone else' matter. After all, you don't know her; would she bother to help you if it were the other way round?"

The voice was hitting on the Naija mentality of "OYO - On Your Own" though it was somehow right due to the many unpleasant tales of good-hearted Nigerians who had ended up burning their fingers while being Good Samaritans to distressed Nigerians.

Femi was torn between choosing his safety and the woman's - he wanted to help the woman but he wasn't a 'Jackie Chan' to take on the men all by himself.

His heart skipped a beat when he heard one of the rapists say forcefully, "Spread your legs before I scatter your face."

He knew he had to act fast to save the unknown woman - so, he ran into the scene and violently pushed one of the rapists into the bush.

He turned to the other who was about raping the woman, and roughly pulled him off the woman

He missed his balance on the process and fell to the ground with the rapist; they started wrestling with each other but it lasted for a brief seconds before the rapist freed himself from Femi's grip and fled - already, the first rapist who was pushed into the bush, had gotten up and fled.

As they fled, Femi spoke softly to the woman who was still sobbing behind the bush, "It's okay, ma. You're safe now. I'll give you my shirt to cover yourself with it."

He started unbuttoning his shirt BUT stopped when the woman spoke... There was a brief silence when he recognized that very familiar voice.

"Dear, is that you?” the woman asked and crept out from bush.

"What?" He shouted, "TITILAYO...!"

Femi had just ‘accidentally’ saved his wife from getting RAPED, 'GANG-RAPED'...

RAPE is everyone's FIGHT (let's JOIN the FIGHT against RAPE) - it can happen to you OR someone dearest to you. For 'help' on RAPE, contact:

STAMP OUT GBV (FGM/RAPE/DSV) 

TWITTER: @stampoutgbv

BLOG: stampoutgbv.blogspot.com 

Lagos State Government

Ministry Of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA)

Block 18, The Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos State.

E-mail: wapa@lagosstate.gov.ng

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