Our ordeal in the hands of robbers, by Falconets

[Ete]

Warning, this is not an ".......tisement" Admin please note. There I didn't say the word, so you can't shut down this tread......ahahahahaa!!!!!
Ok, seriously now:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Guardian

Our ordeal in the hands of robbers, by Falconets

THREE players of the Nigeria national U-20 team, the Falconets, are yet to get over the shock of their recent encounter with men of the underworld during which the players were said to have escaped being raped.


advertisement
The players, who were on their way to the team's camp in Lagos, lost many personal effects, including international passports and playing kits.

Goalkeeper Funke Okewole, midfielder Enuja Oghiabesua and striker Sherrifatu Saidu, all players of Pelican Stars of Calabar, left for Lagos via USA Transport line but encountered men of the underworld as they approached Owerri, the Imo State capital.

Saidu, who spoke to nigerianfootballer.com almost in tears, relieved their harrowing experience in the hands of the robbers: "We entered a bus called USA transport from Calabar to Lagos and when we got to Owerri, we encountered the robbers."

According to her, the robbers patiently dispossessed the passengers of their belongings and even shot and killed a man who sat next to her in the bus and thereafter, lined up the ladies in the bus for rape.

"They raped a lot of the women, but when it got to my turn, they said I was a kid and not ripe enough for them so they let me go," she recalled.

"Funke was also saved because when they stripped her naked, they discovered she was in her menses and even when one of them wanted to go on,- their leader cautioned him not to rape a woman who has blood on her and they let Funke go."

"Enuje was also saved because the robbers thought she looked masculine and claimed they were not sure if she was a boy or girl. It was a traumatic thing. I am yet to recover from it, especially the guy sitting next to me who was shot and killed," she added.

Funke Okewole, however, did not escape entirely as she was hit on the head by one of the criminals with the butt of his gun.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Football Association, Women Football Department spokesman, Emma Anyabunmi, has told nigerianfootballer.com that no report of the robbery incident and attempted rape had come to the secretariat.

"I am not aware of anything. Nobody has reported any incident to us," Anyabunmi said

However, chief coach of the Falconets, Emmanuel Tetteh, confirmed the incident and said the FA is making plans to procure new international passports for the girls since they lost theirs in the robbery incident.as well as their kits, mobile phones and money.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I read this article, I thought to myself that this isn't the first time nightmares such as this has been reported in the papers.  Innocent people going about their business get waylayed on the road, robbed, and women raped, but life goes on.  There is no effort on the part of the authorities to track down those responsible for these atrocities and bring the full weight of the law to bare on them.  In other countries, you'd hear public servants use phrases like...."making our communities safer...". This type of phrase is unheard of in the vocabulary of Nigerian leaders. How else does serious crime such as this occur over and over again, yet nothing changes.

Parts of this report is even so murky.  Rape is a serious crime. In America,  a convicted rapist may as well die upon release from prison after serving a minimum of 20 years at a maximum facility because once released he is branded and monitored for the rest of his life. In some states, they are required to wear an ankle device for tracking purpose, and they have a criminal record for life.  This means where ever they aply for job, they must disclose on their job application that they had been incasserated, and must provide details of the offense for which they were incasserated.  Now, try mentioning on any job application that you were convicted of rape, and see if anyone hires you. Even if the job description is cleaning the city sewer, no employer will hire any felon with a rape conviction on their criminal record.

That is not all, the released rapist must notify authorities whenever they relocate, and the community they are relocating to must be notified that a sexual offender has moved into the neighborhood.  That community can toss the offender out, or make life a living hell as long as the rapist lives there. Once one is branded a sexual offender, he becomes like a leper.  And I can understand why society is so harsh with deviants like these.  Rape is a serious crime. Rape incident can destroy families easily. It scares the victim for life regardless of therapy.  In a country like Nigeria, where is the therapy for rape and assault victims?  The general mentality that follows any incident is for a few sympathisers to show up and console the victim(s), then urge the victim to 'leave it in the hands of God", and then leave to go about their business.  Do we really think people's lives remain the same after beiing robbed at gun point and then sexually assaulted? Meanwhile the criminal is out there free, and still pose a great danger to society.

I do not understand how thieves rob bus passengers of their possessions, then line up the women and select who to assault sexually. They even select those they feel are 'ripe' enough, and drop the ones that appear too 'masculine'. This is really sick stuff, and it could happen to anyone.  Many of these criminals could be infecting people with HIV because I do not see them caring enough to protect their victims prior to the assault.  For whatever reason, these incidents are not getting the kind of serious attention they should be getting

The way I see it, as long as people like Obasanjo, IBB, Atiku, and the rest of the cohort remain in public life, we'll be in for a long ride because not a single thing will change.  It is very obvious that their entire leadership is totally useless.  Should public safety not be a priority of even the most under achieving government?  The crime rate in the country is totally out of control. The police does not have a handle on things, but how can they when the majority of them are part of the problem?  The government's solution is to bring in scotland yard to help investigate local crimes. This is an admission that Nigerian police is completely incompetent.  I read on Nigerianworld website that Late Funsho Williams' organs were sent abroad for autopsy to determine cause of death.  If the city does not have a coroner's office that can perform autopsies and determine cause of death through various chemical tests and scientific analysis of victims internal organs, then something is seriously wrong with a society like that.

But check this out,  Nigerian authorities lack the capacity to perform autopsies. The two survivors of a local plane crash last year had to be flown to South Africa for treatment, even the judge in ex-Governor Alamasi's case is considering granting a request to have the crooked ex-governor flown to Ghana for medical attention, all of which show the ineptitude of our government in providing the very basic of services. However, a light bulb just went off President Obasanjo's head, and suddenly, he figures that what Nigeria really needs now is Nuclear technology.  Duhh!!!!!!!!!!!! :shock:

[lionger]

Man, the Nigerian situation can be so depressing. No wonder my mother doesn't even pay attention to the news/current events even though she lives in Nigeria!

Honestly some of these inter-state bus rides can be absolute nightmares. Eight years ago I was on a bus trip from Abuja to Aba, and I remember the remarkable spectacle of the impromptu church service the passengers held; replete with singing, prayer and even a sermon! Maybe that's what kept us safe that night. God help us :(