Apes Obey! Instinct rather than moral virtue

Another scandal breaks

This could have easily been one of the feature stories in the Lagos Weekend [Source – The Daily Times of Nigeria – Lagos Weekend] which is said to be a light entertainment newspaper only the things I read in those papers then as a kid were well beyond my recommended reading matter.

Scandal and sex, most like titillating pornography in the hands of an 11 year old, what was one supposed to do?

In another of my Apes Obey! Series, I explore the issue of authority, how that is exercised without moral virtue and the tendency for animal instinct to get the better judgement of those in authority that see no abuse in sexual harassment.

Letters of intent and contempt

This does not get that far, but there is a case of sexual harassment in a Federal High Court in Abuja where a lowly nurse has tendered evidence of being harassed by the Chief Medical Director of the National Hospital in Abuja for what might be sexual favours. [Source – Nigerian Tribune - National Hospital sex scandal: CMD’s love letter tendered in court]

She also tendered another letter where one of her bosses, a female, tried to persuade her to yield to the advances of the chief to save her job.

I am not for one moment interested in the sensational aspects of this case and since it is still sub judice I cannot ascertain to any extent the quality and provenance of the evidence presented, however, there are other matters for analysis in this case.

The nurse has brought this case for harassment which would normally be dealt with by a tribunal in the West to save her job and career which was in danger of stagnating or termination if she did not succumb to the “sexual” advances of the Chief Medical Officer.

The abuse of authority

She no doubt took a serious risk of not compromising her principles to take on the might of authority in this quest. Typically, those in positions of authority assume themselves to be sources of patronage; potentates of whom all draw their breath and reason for existence.

They demand and expect their commands and desires to be met, though it is one thing to exercise professional authority within the bounds of ethically sound conduct and another which is taking the opportunity through rank and position to satisfy ones desires.

The issue here is how to deal with the endemic case of men in authority, who feel that all women in their sphere of influence are available to satisfy their sexual proclivities.

Those in power think that their positions were intrinsically virtuous without the need to have any moral virtues, integrity or principles thereby allowing animal instinct to rise to the fore as they roam and rove as rulers of the jungle – subduing and domineering with untrammelled remit over the lives of others.

Some women have under this relentless domination, persuasion, duress and threat to their well-being and livelihood succumbed; losing every sense of self-esteem and dignity in the process as the “men”, or rather, animals take their pleasures and move on to the next female on the block.

Made vulnerable for other needs

Ideally, women as supposed to be secure in their lives and jobs which they should have attained by genuine market competition, competence and merit, but people in power who are supposed to be mentors, coaches,  teachers or helpers take liberties and take advantage, painting alternative scenarios that leave the women too vulnerable to resist the abuse.

This is a hard enough situation to be in, it does not have to be complicated by some middle manager that she should have been able to confide in, whose inability to exercise good judgement allows for the abuse to be perpetuated without end.

Sadly, this kind of action is unfortunate, as it cheapens the worth of a substantial number of the talent pool in Nigeria for sexual pleasure; I would not be surprised if before she received the letter from the Matron others had told her that it was just only sex, go in, get it and get out and all your life is settled and sorted – what is the big deal? Compromise for gain or principle for loss.

In the words of the doctor, “I will provide you your heart desire”, he had the power to make or break her career and it appears the nurse is after nothing but to retain her job and probably obtain a safe haven for her life and well-being.

This is where we need men and women of courage who can help ensure that those in authority know their responsibilities and the fact that they cannot abuse their staff with impunity and gain exemption from legal scrutiny.

The menace of legal instruments

Interestingly, both the Chief Medical Director and the Matron are named as respondents, they have not denied or repudiated any of the claims, rather they believe that the weight of legal menace that they can exercise on the lowly nurse gives them the right to try and exclude the nurse from legal redress because she may not have the means to pay for damages if she lost her case.

Herein, in another issue that needs attention, the need for a robust legal aid system that allows the little man to seek the counsel of competent legal expertise and exercise their full rights to justice in our legal system.

This legal aid system should also include a properly managed and effective pro bono representation system where learned and eminent barristers and advocates offer their services to protect the rights of the vulnerable.

Enshrine the CEDAW Conventions

When one seeks the right not be harassed, oppressed, abused or denigrated for refusing to succumb to the desires of another in authority, they should not have to suffer the intimidation of authority, means, power and influence that allows for impunity to thrive without adequate redress.

Whatever way the case gets resolved, this is an ever-present gauntlet the professional Nigerian woman has to run – it is time for our legislators to have laws in place that protect the rights of women and it is time to have the CEDAW Conventions enshrined in our national laws.

As Lord Lugard did say again, there are many in authority, that have “the courage of the fighting animal [to get whatever they want], an instinct [harass for personal desire] rather than a moral virtue [of self-restraint and understanding their position of authority, trust and leadership]”. We’ll see how this pans out.

Nigeria: Sexual Neanderthals run amok in the National Hospital

More sources force a review

Having come across another source of information regarding the sexual harassment case [Source – Origin (LeadershipNigeria), referenced @ allafrica.com - Nigeria: Sexual Harassment - Nurse Tenders Exhibit Against National Hospital], I have to write an addendum.

The points I raised in my original blog remain valid even though the additional information sheds more light on some assertions I made there.

It is unfortunate, that when gathering sources of information from Nigerian newspapers, you notice clearly how journalists are not thorough in their investigations, verifications and analysis of the news they are reporting.

As I said once before, journalists probably reflect the society within which they conduct their reporting activities, I would not deign to draw any further conclusions.

Institutionalised sexual slavery

It would appear that the sexual harassment and abuse of female staff in the National Hospital in Abuja is rife and the norm.

It is sad to read excerpts of the letter purportedly written by the matron, Deborah Olorunmaiye, an Assistant Chief Nursing Officer (ACNO) in the hospital.

“I do not have any problem with you I was doing this in order to retain my job. I gave you motherly advice to stay with me in our club, which you call a cult. Have relationship with the (Chief Medical Director) CMD and save your job, come forward for deliverance, you refused.

All I want to let you know is that we mother do it. Me, I keep relationship with Abawede in order to keep my job. They told me you refused to give them again a term you agreed in giving you job.

Thank you for all your usual assistance and I want to assure you that any plan by the management to dismiss you or use me to tell lots of lies on you and implicate you will not work.”

Working as pimps

It appears female middle managers are being press-ganged into coercing junior members of staff to submit to the sexual advances of the male management of the hospital.

It also appears beyond the professional activities in health services the women had constituted themselves into some sort of religious harem at the beck and call of the male management who demanded and obtained sexual favours without reservation.

It is shocking to learn that mature women in a seemingly mentoring and motherly position are under such threat and duress to be sexual slaves to the management of the hospital, the matron confessed that she had to keep a relationship with one Abawede to keep her job.

Your pudenda availability seals the job offer

Most appalling of all is the revelation that offering sexual favours constituted part of the terms of getting a job at the hospital.

I had to read that again - They told me you refused to give them again a term you agreed in giving you job. – It would appear she had had enough of the abuse in order to reclaim her self-esteem maybe.

This is sick enough for any patient to have a miraculous transformation to get out of the hospital before the grubby hands of those rotten lechers who call themselves doctors and management get near them.

How can we have a National Hospital run by people who have no moral rectitude, who abuse their positions for personal sexual gain and run the institution like a whore house for unspeakable peccadilloes? Peccadillo? I am in error, these are grievous sins, the hospital cannot be a house of care if the people who run it have turned it into a den of iniquity.

The letter of a lecher

It is however heartening to note that the matron who advised the nurse to yield to the terms of her employment contract has also said she would refuse to be used as an instrument to force a dismissal on the nurse.

Meanwhile, the CMD has denied all the allegations and even suggested that the nurse was subjected to psychiatric examination for accusing principal officers of the hospitals of being members of a secret cult.

Whilst one cannot ascertain the veracity of the secret cult claim, one reads of joining a club where the nurse could get deliverance (a religious term for exorcism), and still save her job by succumbing to the sexual advances of the CMD who allegedly penned a letter he hand-delivered to the nurse’s home.

“Ihuoma Dear, I will come back to pass the night with you. For your info, say yes to my request and I will provide u your heart desire. Your love Ajuwon”. (Dr. Olusegun Ajuwon being the name of the CMD at the centre of this case.)

One wonders why the married head of a medical institution would want to spend the night with a nurse who is not his wife, try and strike a bargain for a Quid pro quo situation that offers her heart’s desire for acceding to his request and the sign off with his surname rather than his first name - these were not lovers and she was definitely not his mistress, rather she was just a pleasure unit to him.

Take down those sexual Neanderthals

That is the abuse of power at work, the big-man-mentality that demands and expects to get what he asks for – her love indeed or his lust leading him like a sex-starved rabid maniac.

In the light of this onslaught on the nurse - Ihuoma Chinasa Doris – a rather peculiar arrangement of names; one can only hope that she does get her day in court, represented by competent legal counsel, being free to exercise the right of access to a legal process without the fear of legal menace brought on by the lack of funds.

The matron did recognise that the nurse’s good work in thanking her for her assistance and there must have been something the character and demeanour of the nurse that made the matron promise not to allow herself to be used to defame or dismiss the nurse – that should count for something, especially if it is proven to be the letter the matron actually wrote.

For all and sundry, if any of the points in the letters and the analysis is true, then a purge needs to take place in that hospital, and if only we had decent laws to protect women’s rights in Nigeria, all the men implicated in demanding sexual favours because of their office should face the music and punitive sanctions.

The case of Ihuoma Chinasa Doris might just be the one to start to roll back the hold of the sexual Neanderthal that has stalked the corridors of power in Nigeria and made the female pudenda the key to success for many women who have aspired to make something of their lives.

If the female legislators had any gumption they would ditch the nudity elements of that damned bill and sue for stringent anti-harassment laws that would place more of the burden of proof on those men who until now thought they could get away with anything and everything whilst destroying the lives of the victims unconscionably along the way.

Nigeria: Women badly represented at CEDAW convention

Going to UN to defend

When Hajiya Saudatu Bungudu announced [Source: allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Minister to Defend CEDAW Bill in UN] last month that she would lead a delegation of Nigerian women to the United Nations to defend the sixth country report on the implementation of CEDAW [Source: Wikipedia] in Nigeria, many would have had great expectations.

She as the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development would have been expected to say in truth, detail and candour how the Nigerian woman had been emancipated year on year in terms of rights, privileges, means and achievable goals.

CEDAW is the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women which came in force on the 3^rd of September 1981 with Nigeria signing the treaty on the 23^rd of April 1984 and ratifying that treaty on the 13^th of June 1985, a good six years before the Netherlands. [Source: CEDAW: States parties]

Little to defend

Hajiya Bungudu seemed to have a lot to defend but the text of it all indicates not much had been done.

Legislation was yet to be promulgated and schemes were yet to be put in place to deal with trafficking – a subject highlighted with harrowing detail by the CNN earlier this year on the World’s Untold Stories series with the title Trapped [CNN.com World’s Untold Stories] – widowhood rights, female genital mutilation, unwholesome practices against women and the provision of equal opportunities.

Part of the legislation being promulgated is the Nudity Bill which cannot seem to earn enough opprobrium and seems to draw the most appalling derision, sponsored by the Senator Eme Ufot Ekaette, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Women and Youth [Source: Nigerian Senate – a much improved web site]

Senator Ekaette is a qualified pharmacist and she seems to have brought her prescriptive abilities to this bill.

A dosage of plain nudity

The bill defines public nudity as

a. State of nakedness in the public or open;

b. State of indecent dressing which expose in the public or in the open any of the following parts of the human body:

i. The breast of a female above the age of 14 years;

ii. The laps of a female above the age of 14 years;

iii. The belly and or waist of a female above the age of 14 years;

iv. Any part of the body from two (2) inches below the shoulders downwards to the knee of a female person above the age of 14 years;

v. Any part of the body of the male person above the age of 14 years from the waist to the knee;

c. Any form of dressing with a transparent cloth or clothing in the public or the open which exposes any part of the body from two inches below the shoulders level downward to the knee of a female person above the age of 14 years; provided that exposure of the hands of the female person above the age of 14 years shall not be construed as public nudity.

d. Any form of dressing with a transparent cloth or clothing which exposes any part of the body of the male person above the age of 14 years from the waist to the knee in the public or open.

[Source: Culled from Vanguard Online Edition - Nudity Bill: How Govt officials embarrassed Nigeria with a 73-man delegation at the UN]

Only a pharmacist can consider a dosage of nudity measured 2 inches below the shoulder, it would be like giving an epidural for a broken finger nail.

I could remember as a child, my grandmothers who were well above 14 years of age went around bare-chested, probably because their mammary organs might have lost their sexual appeal to men at large, but I would not say that they were not still of value to the men who sired their children.

Men as rabid sexual animals

Obviously, this whole prescription frenzy panders to the conception that African men are voracious sexual animals who on seeing female flesh succumb to the canine tendency to sniff any and every faecal orifice to satisfy their uncontrolled need for sex.

Well, the men have to clearly let the women know that they are well advanced members of the Homo sapiens sapiens [Source: Wikipedia] species that could exercise restraint, self-control and discernment regardless of what they see.

In fact, many men would like to excuse their wiles and blame their lapses on the women – I would say it is criminal and any man who for whatever state of undress a woman is in, who allows his instincts to molest to take control of his better judgement should be caged like a dog and prodded with red hot iron rods till he learns to join the human race.

Just as everyone has a right to be disgusted and I do get disgusted by some fashion I see, those who decide to be so uncouth about their fashion have a right to express themselves so unashamedly, we just have to find ways of bearing the pain of the decline of style and comportment.

Commonsense is winning

It is unfortunate that those put in leadership to advance the cause of women have been pre-occupied with legislation that creates other means of abuse, discrimination and denigration of women and womanhood.

Thankfully, commonsense has prevailed in the Nigerian Senate that both times the bill was introduced; it has suffered and not advanced as the Senate President has clearly tried to make the sponsors see the difference between issues of morality and those of objective legislation.

This did not deter the women’s delegation from taking this bill to the United Nations to make a complete ridicule of Nigerians.

The first examination

At the 41^st Session of the CEDAW Committee, Nigeria’s document [Source: 41st Session of the CEDAW Committee - WWW.FIDH.ORG] was examined on the 3^rd of July 2008 with the interesting note that the National Assembly rejected a bill to incorporate CEDAW conventions into domestic legislation in 2007.

It noted that legislation still sustained discrimination against women as the inability to transfer their nationality amongst other discriminatory issues mentioned earlier.

Two particular issues suffered more scrutiny - the Nudity Bill and the compulsory pregnancy and HIV tests for university students [Source: akin.blog-city.com - The flaw of the covenant] – this all was preparatory work for the scrutineers at the open session that the Minister later visited to defend the CEDAW that could not make the law books in Nigeria.

The showdown

The minister lead a delegation of 73 members [Source: Vanguard Online Edition - Nudity Bill: How Govt officials embarrassed Nigeria with a 73-man delegation at the UN] to a 2-hour convention that discussed the Nigerian document and all she had to say in the light of glaring evidence amounted to dissimulation because all they had were proposals, draft legislation and activities in the pipeline, there was nothing in the laws of Nigeria that had positively identified the pressing case for the emancipation of women.

A delegate from Jamaica (Glenda Simms) rounded in on the Nudity Bill and with sarcastic derisiveness wondered if the police would have measuring tapes to check the length of dresses in some sort stop-and-measure crack down.

She was as vehement as to suggest that dress codes were about the abuse of power and dressing a woman from head to toe was a form of rape as women had a right to aesthetics of their bodies and the right to present themselves any way they wanted.

The delegate from Algeria (Meriem Belmihoub) on counting their conspicuous number hoped that Nigerian women were just as represented in political life and governance.

The delegate from Bangladesh (Ferdous Ara Begum) wondered about the tardiness in adopting a bill on violence against women.

Between the extremes of a liberated Jamaica through a changing Algeria to the more conservative Bangladesh, no country could have been so roundly condemned and castigated for losing sight of more pressing issues and priorities to address the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world, the discrimination against married and pregnant women, sexual harassment in the work place and a host of other pertinent women’s rights issues.

Speechless in embarrassment

In the end, the delegation of eminent women on a foreign jaunt could not defend the absurd bill and ended up defending the atrocious laws that give men more preference over women – they were at that point an utter embarrassment and disgrace.

There is much work to be done about women’s rights in Nigeria, I have my doubts that the women who went to the UN have the acumen to promote visionary and courageous goals for women and there are definitely better qualified women of Nigerian descent who can do a better job.

I would hope that people who can make things happen in Nigeria would work at encouraging these women to step forward and really give this issue a good shake up because the ladies who have gone on before have to my disappointment been useless, to say the least and that is a real shame. To whom much was given, however little, a lot more was expected.