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| Ese Oruru |
Some parents in Lagos
have expressed concern over the threat allegedly posed by male residents of
Hausa extraction to their young girls following the Ese Oruru saga.
The
Punch report continues:
They
alleged that young Hausa traders have been luring young girls of other ethnic
extractions with financial and material gifts into amorous relationships.
Fourteen-year-old
Ese was this week returned to her parents in Bayelsa after she was allegedly
abducted by one Yunusa Yellow in August 2015 and taken to Kano in northern
Nigeria.
Yunusa
had planned to marry the underage girl in his home state after she was
converted to Islam.
Residents
of host communities with large populations of people of northern extraction in
Lagos such as Mile 12 and Ijora have bitter tales about the Hausa/Fulani-Yoruba
relations in their areas. An evidence of this played out on Wednesday and
Friday in a bloody clash between Yoruba and Hausa residents.
At
Mile 12 market area in Lagos, which has a large population of Hausa, residents
expressed concern over the threat many of the young men from Northern Nigeria
to their young girls and women.
A
salon owner in the market, who identified herself as Iya Bidemi, said some of
the young girls were being lured by the Hausa men for marriage without the
consent of the girls’ parents and guardians.
She
said many of the men in the practice take advantage of the naivety of some of
the girls to exploit them for sexual gains.
The
hairdresser said, “There is a lot of child abuse going on in this place,
especially by the Hausa men, who do not care about the age of a girl before
luring her into a relationship.
“Many
of them start by giving these little girls between ₦500 and ₦1,000 daily as
feeding allowance before going further to buy clothes and expensive gift items
for them. These girls are usually between 13 and 16 years old and so can hardly
resist this type of care because a lot of them are from poor homes.
“Before
you know it, these men will trick the girls to accompany them home for a
religious festival and that they would return in less than one week. A lot of
them don’t return with these children and after some time, you hear that the
girls have ended up getting married to the men.
“It
happened to a friend’s younger sister and till today, the girl has not been
seen again, not even the young man who was said to have taken her to the
North.”
Another
market woman, who identified herself as Mrs. Nwabuko, told correspondents that
she stopped allowing her two young daughters to visit the market after seeing
how some of the Hausa traders were harassing them.
She
said many of the male Hausa traders were in the habit of sleeping with little
girls and that she couldn’t let that happen to any of her young daughters.
“I
had to stop my girls from coming to the market when I noticed the way some of
these Hausa men were always looking at them,” she said.
“I
could see the intention in the eyes of some of them; so to protect the girls, I
immediately told them to stay at home after school hours.
“It
is not all of the men that are like that, many of them are good. But there are
some of them who don’t care about the age of a girl before having sexual
relations with them.
“A
lot of women have also stopped their girls from coming often to the market because
of this issue.”
Residents
around the market who also relayed their concern on the development when one of
our correspondents visited the community earlier in the week, blamed some
parents for actually encouraging their young girls to flirt with these men who
lure them with financial handouts and material items such as food stuffs.
An
elderly landlord, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said many young
girls had indeed been taken away to the North while their helpless parents do
little or nothing to protect them.
He
said, “The Hausa men are hardworking, but what I don’t like about them is how
they treat our young girls. They lure them with cash; bribe their poor parents
with food stuff before taking the girls to the North to marry them.
“I
wonder how any man can be comfortable sleeping with little girls that they are
old enough to give birth to. As parents, what we can do is to properly teach
our children but we cannot do anything if any girl falls for their ploy.”
According
to findings by reporters, young girls at the market community are usually taken
to the leader of the Hausa for sanction if they refuse the sexual advances of
any man who had been spending money on them or eventually refuses to marry them
after benefitting from them financially and materially.
Such
girls, if proven to have indeed benefitted financially and materially from the
men, are asked to either refund everything or give in to the men’s demand. On
some occasions, such girls are locked up in a room with the man for him to
satisfy himself sexually as compensation for all he had spent on her, it was
discovered during the visit of one of our correspondents.
It
was also learnt that some ladies and young girls in some areas of Lagos with
significant population of Hausa men avoid leaving their homes at night for fear
of rape or sexual molestation.
At
7-Up area of Ijora, Lagos, some female residents told one of our correspondents
that they have learnt to be wary of some of the northern youths.
Nofisat
Alebiosu, 17, a hairdressing apprentice in the area, expressed her frustration,
when asked about her opinion on the way some northern youths have been relating
with girls and young women in the area.
She
said, “In December, one of my neighbours’ daughters was raped by two Hausa
boys. How do you think we would see them?
“Some
of them are very honest, especially, those who have homes around here. But
those who just hang around, coming and going without any particular abode, are
very dangerous. I avoid some streets here where Hausa youths live when it is
dark. I don’t want to be molested.”
A
girl, who identified herself as Bisola, disclosed that one of their neighbours,
who was from Jigawa State, was ejected last year because the young man was
touching her inappropriately.
She
said, “I always complained to my mother because he was fond of touching me
jokingly and saying ‘hope you will follow me to Jigawa.’ I was going to school
one morning and he jokingly lifted up by uniform. I told my mother and she
reported him to our landlord. That was why the landlord ejected him from the
house.”
Another
girl, Bisayo Ahmed, 16, said she did not trust the northerners in her area,
adding that she never knew it was possible for girls of her age group to be
abducted and forced into marriage.
“I
don’t trust the Hausa men living around our streets,’ she said.
“The
way they behave towards young girls shows they can do bad things. I just try to
avoid them. I don’t want to be taken away to be molested.”
She
explained that she began to distrust some of the Hausa/Fulani boys on her
street when she saw two of them laughing and pointing in her direction. She
said when she looked in their direction, they grabbed their crotches in a
gesture she found disgusting.
One
of our correspondents also spoke with a mother who explained that she had
always warned her two girls about being around unfamiliar Hausa-Fulani youths
in the area, since she heard about the rape, which Alebiosu had referred to
earlier.
The
woman, a foodstuff trader, who identified herself as Julie, said she had always
been wary of molestation of young girls in the area.
She
said, “We will be deceiving ourselves if we say that youths from other tribes
here don’t try to molest girls. But the problem is that Yoruba youths who do
such things are easily caught because they can be identified.
“You
cannot identify many of the Hausa youths living here. Some of them don’t have a
place where they stay but just hang around their friends. We have heard many
such stories of how some of them rape and run away before. But I have not
really heard of instances where they take girls secretly to their villages in
the North before.”
Another
parent told one of our correspondents that if not for effort of leaders of the
Hausa community in the area, the molestation perpetrated by northern youths in
the area would have escalated.
She
explained that even though her own daughter was old enough to take care of
herself, she always advised daughters of her neighbours to be careful around
northern boys.
She
said, “I have seen some of them behave towards young girls here in very bad
ways and I have heard about reports of some girls being molested. Parents
should just caution their children because these things will always happen
because many of these youths come from all over the northern part of the
country almost on a daily basis. You don’t know who is who.”
However,
residents of Agege area, which also has a large population of people of
northern extraction, has good words to say about the way their ‘guests’ have
been relating with them.
In
Agege, Saturday PUNCH was told that the Hausa/Fulani community had been so
integrated in the area that those who perpetrate any little infraction are
quickly checked by their leaders.
Chairman
of the Markaz Community Development Association, Mr. Kola Amao, said, “We have
almost become one. Many of them own houses here and don’t want anything bad to
happen to their belongings. So, when one of the youths does anything bad that
may cause disaffection between Yoruba residents and Hausa/Fulani neighbours,
they are quickly cautioned.”
Markaz
has about the highest concentration of Hausa/Fulani residents in Agege.
Amao
explained that to ensure that the relations between Yoruba and the Hausa in the
area remain cordial, they hold an inter-ethnic meeting every month.
He
said, “We have not had any major problem here in the last three years. In fact,
things are so cordial between us and the Hausa community that if they have any
marriage ceremony, they invite us.”
Executive
Director of the Muslim Rights Concern, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, explained that
sexual molestation should first be seen as a criminal offence that should not
be condoned.
He
said, “We must be objective; we should not limit the occurrence of sexual
harassment to any particular ethnic group. Even where I live, there are Yoruba
and Igbo neighbours who misbehave.
“This
is not Hausaland and this is why we cannot look at it as a Hausa problem so
that it does not look as if we are prejudiced against a tribe. Anyone who
commits a crime should be made to face the wrath of the law.
“Lagos
is not a jungle. This is a society of law and order. We as a group will not
support anybody who breaks the law. Sexual harassment and molestation is an
offence Islam frowns upon.”
A
Hausa community leader in Agege, Alhaji Jubril Awwal, was of the same opinion.
He told one of our correspondents that there is the tendency for people to
accuse Hausa youths of atrocities when people cannot identify the actual
criminals.
“I
know that some of our boys from the North come here and misbehave but that is
not something that is peculiar to Hausa or Fulani people,” he said.
“There are more crimes
around here being committed by people of other tribes than by Hausa boys. Our
job as community leaders is to put our boys in check and we have been doing
that well.”
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