RAPE: A BEHAVIOURAL DECADENCE AS AGAINST AFRICAN MORAL PHILOSOPHY - BY ABDULSALAM IBRAHEEM KEHINDE

It is no longer fresh to the ears of the processes by which rape is brought to bear and the level of increment the act is witnessing with each passing minute in Africa and beyond. Rape however has developed to the apex of immortality such that the number of its reoccurrences has grown up to occupy almost every available space on our daily national and international newspapers despite the strict penalties set up. It is therefore worth writing against and about at these hours, otherwise, the devil on the cross may not mind a sudden eruption of an earthquake.

To start with, what is RAPE? Rape has received countless definitions from multidisciplinary fields of studies. Taking for instance, Michael John, a law practitioner has seen "Rape" as "an offensive act of forcing opposite sex into an unwilling sexual affairs, whereby, a hard penetration, sustaining of injuries, transferring of communicable diseases, and sabotaging of self-respect for the victims, be it male or female, come to view. And against any unsuccessful attempt or successful act of rape are always parts of the law that tend to dissuade  us from this unlawful act by prescribing heinous punishment." He sees Rape as a bad action which necessarily needs good reaction just to maintain safety and equality for all irrespective of gender.

From another perspective, Sijuwade Paul (2013) has cross-examined Rape from both biodiversity classification of genders and feministic standpoints. Claiming that, Sijuwade sees Rape as an assault practice usually designed against the will-of-thought of women to prove and discontinue the concept of "men and women are equal." She sees this as a self-will decision men across the world do take, at times not only to satisfy their lust for sex, but to create in the heart of women a hole of sadness. A decision meant to discredit the pride of women just as a result of the natural limit of power (muscles) with which women are created, as compared to men. On that grounds, Sijuwade considers Rape as an action that requires reaction. She charges and recommends thus a more strict penalty should be put up such in a bid for women to having their fundamental rights more protected and preserved.

However, this literature sets out to appraise Rape from an African cultural perspective taking to account a laconic contrastive analysis holding between Western and Numbian cosmological dialogues. Before that, I see Rape as an act hallmarked to attack the good established code of conduct of a people, exposing to danger the lives of the female folks. Hence, coming back to the heart of the matter, Rape is indeed a grave offence which has no provision in the unwritten constitution of the African community, simply because the act is strange to our culture and tradition prior to the advent of the colonial masters. To this fact, it stands an undeniable factual chance to say this unreligious act otherwise called RAPE could be etymologically traced down to the colonial era in Africa - the time when the whites put our mothers to bed without seeking their approval. At this time, African women underwent unethical sexual harassments and gender maltreatments as judgment from the content of complexion, race, and gender was the order of the day.

Glimpsing into South African literatures of McDonald Jared's "Southern Africans and the Advent of Colonialism", Kenyan Ngugi Wa Thiong'o's "A Grain of Wheat" and many more, it becomes so conspicuous how Raping to our forefathers was a strange phenomenon. The habit one of the characters described as "shameful act by shameful bosses." Thus, Rape is an uncouth deed done for a personal pleasure but at the detriment of other persons.

The whites, in a nutshell, reinforced the moral disease which is more devilish than "COVID 19" into the African community as this subsequently went on after the departure of the whites to kill the aesthetic beauties preached by our culture. This introduction, as others, mark the declination of our culture and the historical roundabouts that orchestrated neocolonialism in Africa.

In essence, as I always say, Africans at large get things right the very same day we rejuvenate the love for our culture. We start to develop the very day we disbelieve that for us to grow, the  assimilated offshoot of the whites must be worn around. We grow feathers and soar higher just that same day you and I decide to let there be the culture of the whites - as in, the day we promote the culture of ours by practice and theory.

Recommendations

1. African women/ladies should be modest in the way of their outfits - indecent dresses should be stopped.

2. Parental cares should go beyond schooling. Parents should teach their children the need for them to be African by every aspect of life.

3. Decolonising the minds should not be negotiable. The old days of the whites have gone, and now should be the newer days of Africa.

4. Writers, especially women, should explore other means other than writing to communicate the governments. Let us let them know injustice by one gender onto the other is unjustifiable and we need back on our land justice and equality.

*Conclusion*

Raping women or vice versa is an unafrican habit. We woke up at the dawn of colonialism to meet this disease. But if what is wrong is known by us, changing it by us must not be an option. We must stay off the action of rape which has sent many to an untimely death, contracting of disease, lost of glories, unwanted abortions, disgrace and many more. Therefore, to be a white apologist is not by force. So help us, God.