The screaming news feature on May 7, 2017 in The Punch looked incredibly bizarre and unbelievable: “Aisha Buhari, Sanusi visit raped 6-month old baby in Kano”, it read. Reading through, it was sadly real! A 6-month old baby had been savagely brutalized by a maniacally possessed lunatic.

A lot of unanswered questions raced through one’s mind. How indecently was this baby dressed? Was it the diapers wrapped round her, or her bib that were so sexy as to seduce a grown-up man? What kind of obscenity could a pristine 6-month old baby have displayed that would warrant an adult to lay his cursed, lecherous fingers on her?

We say this because it has become fashionable to provide nonsensical alibis for rapists, one that blames the victim for “indecent dressing” and/or “unwarranted seduction”. It is tantamount to excusing a burglar because the door was not properly locked. For such a depraved criminal in The Punch news feature, even a life imprisonment is a slap on the wrist – whether he is insane or balanced, such a man does not deserve to live.

While it is good to let ladies know how to avoid being raped, men should be told to embrace the virtue of responsibility. Ladies are to protected and not violated. For every girl, every woman raped, the entire nation is raped.

We demand justice for Vera Uwa Omozuwa.