In the collision of criminology and victimology, we are quickly reminded that in the beginning, crime was regarded as a wrong to the individual; and this individual and his family sought revenge and retribution in whatever way they deemed necessary.
As time went by, it was thought that this uneven way of retribution was atavistic. That was when society stepped in to wear the toga of the Injured and help him obtain a more uniform retribution. At that point, proceedings in a wrong, branched off into two – Criminal and Civil aspects.
The government arranged things in such a way that the criminal aspect, which had deterrence as its main thrust, would have to be concluded before the victim could embark on the second leg – the civil aspect to seek remediation for the losses he suffered from the wrong.
In the process, Government soon became a pimp on the way of the criminal proceedings. From the beginning to the end of the criminal proceedings, the victim was required to cooperate with the government, to obtain a favourable judgement against the accused. He had to leave whatever business he had, to appear as a witness against the accused.
In the end, if the accused was convicted, the fine imposed on him went to Government coffers and nothing went to the victim. If, on the other hand he was incarcerated, he became a veritable source of cheap labour for the Government; and nothing went to the victim.
The only assurance the victim had was that he could now embark on the civil aspect. But the wheel of progress drags on for so long that the convict comes out of it very old, and in most cases, he dies in prison or comes out of it a total vegetable, and, in total penury. The victim of crime is still the worst for it all!
We now have staring us in the face, an Animal kingdom in which the “Nkpi” (the he – goat) is on rampage. Evidence would soon lead to the fact that he has always been that way, and we are not expecting the leopard to suddenly change its skin.
In the animal kingdom, the He-goat is that senior prefect (SP); and he has made it abundantly clear that as an SP, he has an avalanche of favours to dispense to all, particularly the opposite sex, who obey his commands.
In SP’s rampage, anything under skirt is fair game.
That was how, in a lower class, when he tried being fresh to a student, the student landed a dirty slap on his oblong face. He got a bloody nose out of it! such is normally the fate of many ‘Nkpis’ and somehow, it never gets to the public sphere except like in the case of the dirty slap where the slapping lady went public with the news in “off the microphone” episode. The he – goats are the same everywhere. The modus operandi and modus vivendi are also the same. They do not discriminate.
We are reminded that at a different function in another Government House function elsewhere, this “Nwa-nkpi” (small-goat) was being fresh to an older mama and he was reminded that the older woman was his mother, he retorted “be-be-bem”; which to the “nwa-nkpi” meant, it didn’t matter.
In the Animal kingdom, they are not really running a whore House, but they are heavy on night clubbing’s and the transparency and opaque nature of what you wear goes into serious reckoning.
[ENTER QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE, QJ]
QJ is resuming in the freshman class some six months behind schedule because some aspects of her entry qualifications were being scrutinized.
In spite of her lateness in resumption, she entered in flying colours – placement in two juicy committees and chairperson of one, a favourable sitting arrangement at the zoo; inclusion on a foreign tour on parliamentary delegation headed by SP, etc. No thanks to SP’s benevolence. Ordinarily these are privileges available only to ranking lions and tigers of the forest. QJ got them all on a platter of gold.
Even in the Animal Kingdom, what goes up will also come down, eventually, everything has an expiry date. Any wonder, then, that SP and QJ are on the war path so soon? With the flying head start, we wonder if QJ ever provided for the fact that at a point SP will name his price.
It cannot be said that the bigger animals in the kingdom do not understand the justice system in their kingdom.
This Animal kingdom cannot feign ignorance of the fact that, they have a lot of laws that criminalize sexual harassment in the public space. Yet in the present instance, they have chosen to climb the tree from the top. Why?
Is it no longer the case that you must first seek to dispense off the criminal before the civil aspect? By the arrangement in the kingdom, shouldn’t we be hearing by now that the police have finished their investigation of the harassment case and charged it to court? Is it no longer the end of justice to see that the offender is rapidly tried and put out of circulation -with deterrence as an aim?
Secondly, both in the Animal kingdom and outside it, this writer has been in the vanguard, agitating most relentlessly for gender equality and women’s meaningful participation in politics instead of the benign tokenism to which they are currently subjected.
SP is doing what many dwellers in the animal kingdom would do but he is not stopping where many men would stop.
Apparently, this is not a failed investment but an expiring one. Rather than making a mountain out of a mere hill, many kingdoms’ dwellers would dust off their trousers and move on.
Anyone prepared for a fight must be prepared for a bloody nose. The supplementary questions are not being asked yet, but they will come when they will.
What consenting adults do in their private life should not be anyone’s business except where the consenting adults decide to drag themselves into the public space. If the bigger animals permit the trial of the case to go full blast, smaller animals in the kingdom will insist on full disclosure. They have not heard enough of the foreign trip.
By the time they arrive at the witness box, the spouses will speak of their roles in embarrassing themselves the more.
The house party aspect is also very instructive, during cross-fire, QJ’s husband will have a lot of explaining to do. At the middle of the party, SP arranged for a guided tour of the trio in his house. SP took QJ’s hand, and they were both in front while QJ’s husband followed behind. At least somebody had to carry her bag since her bag-carrying-hand had been encumbered.
At one point they asked QJ’s husband to stop while the duo moved to a higher platform of their sitting room. That was the very beginning of humiliation.
In the public space, the man must be feeling that he would have been better off staying at the back with the other drivers who had brought their masters! To many kingdom dwellers, a dry crust with liberty is better than a king’s luxury with a chains.
In all this, when will Mrs. SP stop exposing herself to the aggravations of the law? In a situation where we lack enough wisdom to-do, wisdom should consist in not doing at all.
In the animal kingdom, things can only get messier by the day. When the bubble’s bursts, they travel on the fast lane
QJ has just been relieved of her blue chip chairmanship position. By yesterday she has being constructively removed from the committee of elders at the village square for six months.
The animal kingdom has its good side, this is one place where the SP does no wrong. In deciding his purity, the SP simply asserted that he has never sexually harassed his beautiful wife and four daughters!
In all this we seek but in vain, what buys the SP the license to be a judge and jury in his own cause. The struggle continues!
In all this, one thing is clear that the animal kingdom dwellers hate sexual harassment with passion.
What is more confounding though, is that each time they are asked to attack the heinous crime, they do so with kid gloves.
In the final analysis their attack ends up being like a comic relief as they have in the performance arts!
In the animal kingdom, their books are replete with good laws, which if properly applied, would put an instant end to the heinous crime.
One high profile conviction may be all that is requires here to make all those “nwa-nkpi’s” running all over the place to permanently zip up!
In fact, most of the evil perpetrators in high places are cowards who cannot withstand the rigour of a meaningful criminal trial. When one former state governor who was accused of looting his state treasury was taking through the process after a short incarceration, he began to speak of his appointment that were fixed for the “31st of February“; That was how shocked he was!
If the fight against sexual harassment must succeed, then the women group must insist in the route now hardly travelled, proper investigation and criminal prosecution, remove one high profile perpetrator from the streets and the rest will flee!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Omorotionmwan, a public affairs analyst, writes from Canada
