It is everybody’s responsibility to protect the girl child – Jumoke Ajasin Anifowoshe

Mrs. Jumoke Anifowoshe is the last child of the legendary Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin CFR, the first elected Governor of Ondo State and Chief Mrs Babafunke Ajasin OFR. She belongs to a generation whose age is a permanent ‘I am an adult!’

The last of four children (two boys and two girls), Anifowoshe’s passion for selfless service to the people of Ondo state is reminiscent of the feat of her late father, Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin whose achievements in development and governance has become the standard by which others are judged.

As she warms up to fly the gubernatorial flag under the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the upcoming election, one quality stands her out as the best woman for the job: Like President Muhammadu Buhari whose rigid drive to end corruption and deliver quality dividends of democracy is his goal, Olajumoke Anifowoshe is full of age, children all professionals, up and doing, so she has no desire to plunder the treasury of the state.

In this exclusive interview with The Daily Times at her Ikeja office recently, features editor, Gbubemi God’s Covenant Snr sought to know the home girl that is aiming to lead her people out of poverty into prominence.

Excerpts

What was Ondo like in your growing up years?

My home town, Owo, was a quiet town at the time I was growing up, and for the first five years of my life, we were living in the family house with cousins, distant relations, etc.

All this time my father was a principal of Imaje College. When the accommodation of the principal in that school was ready eventually, we moved into the school compound, so it was a secluded part of the town, quite away from town; there were no houses close by. If we were going to school, we were driven to and from school because it was quite a distance then.

The community environment, the people

I lived in the family house in my early years; my paternal grandmother was alive then. She used to go to the market to sell what was then known as ‘wosi-wosi’ (miscellaneous) items. Each time we had break in my primary school, I would rush down to her in the market, just to be pampered a bit, before rushing back to school again.

You were like grandma’s pet, perhaps?

Ummm…something like that

Teens and twenties: what were moral values like?

At that time, we cherished honesty, respect; we dared not speak when elders were speaking, but nowadays I found that our youths are ready to even go physical with their elders; they look the elders in the eyes and be rude to them. It wasn’t so in our time; we were very respectful; that is why I say we need a lot of sensitisation and education apart from the family. You know that when a child gets to the age of six, the number of hours he or she spends at home is less than the number of hours he or she spends at school, so, apart from the usual parental upbringing, teachers have a lot to do with the children’s upbringing because many of the bad behaviours are learnt at school, and by the time parents get to know about it, it would be too late. This is as a result of parents always running around to find their daily bread; they rarely have time to be with the children as they should; as a result they sometimes leave the children with care givers; what we see is that children go to the wrong places and getting to untoward things which usually do not become apparent to parents until it is too late.

Boarding school experience

I attended a Catholic Girls Secondary School and I can say that I didn’t even know the word ‘lesbianism’ when I was in school and that was in the 60s. I suppose the protection of students from such things depends on the headship of the school. At the boarding which I attended, we all had our separate beds with mosquito nets; not a bunker bed, and we were well taken care of by the Reverend Sisters who were all whites; so the question of lesbianism at that, I must confess that it didn’t cross anybody’s mind; it’s alien to me even at my age.

Outside the boarding school now; in late 60s, 70s primary school girls were getting pregnant in urban areas. Across the Ondo society, what was the moral value of individual adolescent like as far as sexual awareness was concerned?

People were getting pregnant at that time too in our place; it wasn’t as if they were not. It affected their education, so they can’t continue. The general reaction was that the society looks down on such people and parents were ashamed of their children’s actions.

But where you have educated parents, they would try to get that child back to school for a second chance; they will take the girl far from the home town to start all over again and their mother, which is the newborn’s grandmother, will be the one to take care of the child.

So it happened it’s not as if it did not, but it was a thing of shame to the parents; but these days, it’s no longer a thing of shame: parents are even happy that you’re pregnant and you gave birth. It doesn’t affect them any longer and the shame is no longer there; that is the difference.

The law and the girl child

A poster in your office says Women’s Rights are Human Rights. As lawyer since 1981, is there enough law in our legal framework to really protect the girl child and women generally?

We read every day about rape, the pedophiles and so on and I want to say that we have enough laws to protect victims of rape; there’s no need to have any special law being promulgated; it is a crime…

Apparently they are not working, do you think?

It’s not because they’re not working; it is because such crimes are better reported now, and because of the current civilisation, people are now encouraged to come out to say that they have been raped, or parents also come out to complain to the law enforcement agencies; before, they felt it was a shame to report such. But now parents and victims can come out and say their rights have been violated.

I have been to Girls Correctional School, Idi-Araba where children were made pregnant by their own fathers. What can you propose to really stem the violation of the girl child in the supposed safety of her own parent’s home?

I want to say this: crime of rape is not peculiar to Nigeria; it’s a malace which we all have to come together to see what can be done. We have Churches, Mosques, NGOs, etc; I think we just have to keep on sensitising the children and parents to know where these young ones go to; we should not leave them with male househelps, even male relations. Once a mother notices some traits between her husband and their daughter, we just have to be more alert about our responsibilities as guardians and parents to these young ones.

Of pedophiles, I think is a health challenge; why would a man of 80 go rape a child of three years? I think it is a psychiatric problem which makes it look like a health or mental challenge; mental problem is a health issue so if you’re mentally okay, an 80 year old won’t think of going to rape a three year old girl child. So parents have a lot to do, teachers also have a lot to do, the Churches, Mosques and our religious leaders all have a lot to do, the NGOs also have a lot to do; we all have to put our heads together and know how to stem it.

The law is there, no doubt, but if the law is not working, all of us just have to come together and reason out how we can stem this evil. We should be our neighbour’s keeper.

You are a lawyer: would you defend a rapist in court?

(Laughs) I don’t think so; even though I should listen to my clients when they come to me for their problems, by practice, I should listen to the rapist’s side of the story before declining his brief. I should not just conclude that it is true, that he is guilty of the offence.

So you will defend a rapist?

Know, I’m not saying I will defend a rapist; it is a client-counsel relationship which I must not breech its confidentiality; so it depends.

The rapist, the pedophile, and abductor: what punishment, by law, would you recommend for such crimes?

Ummm…Jail term is the ultimate…a long sentence.