Her beauty could move a mountain; eloquent and appealing, Senator Natasha Akpoti is the desire of many of us who like a thing of beauty. A remarkable woman whose beauty pierces through the eye of a needle.
She speaks love and exudes attention. Nobody should blame any man that pushes desperately for her; she is the perfect attraction.
Little wonder she has children with different men; those men couldn’t help it; they were overwhelmed by her natural endowment and overshadowed by the beauty of the queen of the summer.
But at least she has finally settled with a man, and her loyalty and faithfulness shone brightest when she rejected advances from her professional boss. Not like before, she has become tougher, and it comes with a price.
Sexual harassment in Africa is still within the context of inequality; a man has the right to approach a woman in whatever manner; it doesn’t matter, unless the man is caught in a solitary enclosure, tearing a woman’s clothes and violently raping her.
Despite that blatant rape is given absolute disapproval, you will still see educated African men asking, ‘Why did she follow him to his room or to a solitary enclosure if she doesn’t want it?’ They will question the woman’s intent and blame her for the rape.
Most girl-children in Africa suffer rape, and the act has come to a point it has been normalised. Most of the women I know today detail the story of how they were deflowered; to my surprise, they barely know what the definition of rape is.
They were in a relationship, and everything was moving fine; they visited their lovers, and due to the fact that they were afraid of sex, their lovers ended up forcing them. After being deflowered, they thanked their lovers and moved on. That is the extent women’s sexual protection had deteriorated in Africa.
To African women, friendly rape is normal, because strategically forcing sex on one’s girlfriend or lover is not rape (wrong). To her, rape is considered forced sexual intercourse with someone she is not in a relationship with. This reality lives among us, and it has become a culture.
Senator Akpabio has every right to sexually harass Senator Natasha; after all, what is sexual harassment compared to rape? Taking Senator Natasha to his mansion built with stolen or corrupt funds. Forgive me, I really cannot prove if it was corrupt or stolen funds. I randomly write what we all know, which is, every Nigerian politician is corrupt. I don’t want to be picked!
Senator Akpabio built a mansion, after all; the money we make in Africa is to be able to sleep with the finest women we know, build houses, and keep some for our next generations. It’s called primitive accumulation, but that is us; we love to make more money.
Senator Natasha should rather be thankful that a Senate President asked her to enjoy with him the riches invested in the house, warm his bed every night, and make the house worth living. Rejection would lead to repercussions; it’s the reality African women face.
After all, Natasha had six children from different men; the Senate President knew before asking her that favour, but it was a wrong assertion—that she was promiscuous. Her children were of different men, and she deserves little respect—a mundane thought.
All the Senate President needed to do was take her on a tour of the house, show her the beauties, and tell her to serve his lust. That was cheap for a woman of her calibre; the senator should have known. She deserved the promise of becoming a Senate President anyway; that’s my thought.
It’s insulting to reject the kind gesture of the Senate President of Nigeria, the third most important man in the country. For being a woman, that rejection means she disrespected the senator. She has no reason to object.
Subsequently, the Senate President decided to whip her systematically. That is the mentality of the average African man with respect to a woman refusing his advances; the woman will be punished or scorned by any means.
“I am not excluded,” a friend with whom I was discussing the issue told me. “Each time my wife refuses my conjugate, I find a way to make her pay for it. But being a gentleman, I become strategic, like frowning, refusing to give incentives, and making the home a bit uncomfortable for her. The Senate President has one weapon: attacking her professionally in the Senate Chamber with his power.
I totally agree, Senator Natasha couldn’t be reprimanded at home because she is not married to Senator Akpabio, but being the Senate President, on the floor of the Red Chamber, Senator Akpabio has the opportunity to reprimand the stubborn woman that declined his advances.
Senator Natasha committed a more serious crime by disclosing why she was targeted and being reprimanded by the Senate President. Every woman in Nigeria lives with sexual harassment; what does it cost to endure it? Hence, the Senate President didn’t slap, rape, or enslave her; she has no reason to speak out.
Sex predators roam the streets of Nigeria; sometimes, they find their way to the Senate, House of Representatives, and even apex office of the state. They then start to prowl with negative pride and dignity.
As soon as the senator who couldn’t bear the burden of what she was passing through for declining the Senate President’s sexual advances made it public, other senators came down heavily on her.
That is the fate of an African woman. She must admit that she is a woman and must suffer and endure sexual harassment.
Without investigation, she was accused of lying, doubling her emotional trauma. This is the reason most women in Nigeria prefer to die in silence than speak out. They will be cajoled and rebuked for trying to heal the wound inflicted on them.
Senator Natasha came under relentless attack for saying she was sexually harassed, and all her attackers never bothered to demand proof or call for an investigation. They never gave her a chance in the court or elsewhere; instead, she was further cajoled and hurt.
These politicians have a way of playing their cards. Hungry women were paid to protest against Senator Natasha. The Senate President’s cabal is making an effort to discredit the issue. They are not talking about unbiased investigation but weaponising everything against Senator Natasha.
Senator Natasha could now catch a glimpse of what the average Nigerian woman is facing every day. She has been in politics for years without fighting for women’s rights and fighting against all forms of abuse against women. She just got sexually harassed, but if she hears the story of average Nigerian women, she would snap her fingers in rejection.
If she can’t speak up, or if she gets rebuked for speaking up despite being a senator, what does she think about ordinary Nigerian women out there?
She has been suspended for 6 months; what a gut! But that is the miserable fate of African women, and this fate only makes them stronger.
Ifeanyichijioke97@gmail.com
Author.
