In the Eyes of the Law Can a Man be Raped?

On Tuesday 13^th August, 2024, there was a Workshop organized by Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) and Birmingham University, titled – Impact Case Study Addressing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence against Men and Boys in Nigeria. It was centered on the research of Birmingham Scholar Dr Emeka T. Njoku of same or similar title, location wise his research focused on the Northern part of Nigeria and the Chad Basin region. Several perspectives were shared and different solutions were canvassed to tackle the challenge of Sexual Violence against Men and Boys. The workshop brought to my memory a piece that was written by my mentor Esther Uzoma, many years before the Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015 was enacted, when we had just the Penal Code in the North and the Criminal Code in the South to tackle sexual violence crimes. She espoused that male rape by female was a legal impossibility under the Penal code, but she needed to move past the legal hurdles to get justice for her client. The piece is reproduced below.

Even today the principal legislations on crime in the Southern and Northern regions of Nigeria, that is, the Criminal Code and Penal Code still do not recognize male rape. However, the VAPP Act 2015, widened the definition of rape and to a great extent filled the gap. It is a Federal Law which operates at the Federal level.

No to Sexual Violence against Men and Boys!

Thank you.

Stephanie Orji lawyers at Heptagon & Associates, a full service law firm in Abuja, Nigeria.

15-August-2024.