DEATH THREAT FOR SPEAKING OUT

Miss Salamatu Bello decided to keep aside her decade long pain and stand so others would not go through the pain she has had to bear for almost 10 years. She decided to go on a one woman protest to save other young girls from a predator out there waiting to pounce on other unsuspecting students and destroy their lives the way her own life was forever destroyed.

Standing alone in her long hijab carrying the wooden placard with the words: ALL THE SEXUAL PREDATORS FROM A. B. U. ZARIA ARE WORKING IN KASU!!! A. B. UMAR REMEMBER? I’M ONE OF YOUR VICTIMS she made a striking image of courage and defiance of a culture that silenced victims not mindful of the damage it did to them.

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She knew there would be a price to pay by a society that is more concerned about appearances than it is about the well-being of its daughters who daily are being sexually molested and harassed. She never in her wildest imagination imagined that the price would be her life. She has been shunned by family and friends. She is being threatened and now on the run. What is her crime? Daring to expose a man who molested her on her birthday and forever destroyed a beautiful day she once cherished. 

Today she dreads the day because it reminds her of everything she wished she can forget. Anything can be trigger off that horrific day. From hearing the name of her molesters to seeing the colour of the clothes she wore.

Time they say heals but she is yet to find that healing. Every day is a raw reminder of what happened to her on that fateful day when she went to submit her assignment to her lecturer who had insisted everyone submit their homework to his office in person.

 She never knew he had sinister motive and her teenage self was thrown into this pain she is yet to recover from. There in his office he overpowered and defiled her. All her cries and shout for help yielded no result. All her pleas fell on deaf ears and almost a decade later her pleas are still falling on deaf ears and she is yet to find justice. Worse has been watching her molester destroying more lives with impunity.

Death threats has been sent to her. The chilling voice of a man on the phone threatening to slaughter her and her family and burn their houses should not be the reward for someone who put her pain aside to ensure that a sexual predator who was sacked from Ahmadu Bello University and employed at Kaduna State university was not left in a position to continue to destroy the lives of other young girls as he had destroyed her life and many others. 
That Miss Bello is now a fugitive in her own country while the accused sexual molester goes scot free should  make us ashamed of ourselves. We should bow our heads in shame for failing our children. 

That the State government could not keep safe a young lady whose life is being threatened is an indication of the kind of government we have and how unsafe it is to be a woman in Nigeria.More painful is the impunity with which the anonymous caller told her that the police would not be able to help her. In other countries this would be dismissed as mere talk but sadly in Nigeria this is not so. It is the reality. 

What is the essence of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence against Women and Girls if those who have suffered tremendous violence and dared to speak are not protected? We ask victims to speak out and when they do they are left on their on their own to face the consequences. They are hounded and demonized and some have to pay with their lives and this has made many live with the pain rather than put themselves in danger

Miss Bello should not be running like a fugitive to stay alive while her abuser stays in his cosy abode waiting for the next life to destroy. She should not be the one being asked to delete and recant her story to save herself from being killed. She should not be the one being told she is heartless for not forgiving and forgetting a small mistake. 

Her innocence was taken. Her life was destroyed. Family members that should rally round and support her are against her for soiling the family name. What is the use of family name that could not protect one from being sexually molested? If such family names were so important to be protected, the molester would not have dared to molest one who bore that family name.