A man sees the 5 year old daughter of his neighbour playing suwe outside. He asks her where her mother went to and got the reply that she went to grind corn for akamu at the Barracks.

“What of your dad” he asks.

“He’s not yet back from work”.

So he asks her to come and buy Fish biscuit and big bottle of Fanta for him at Mama Chizirum’s shop. She comes back with the items and the man puts on Tom and Jerry cartoon for her and asks her to undress. She hesitates. He tells her the Fanta and biscuits would be hers if she complies.

He goes ahead to pull down his shorts and remove the little girl’s panties and as he throws her on his couch, he hears her mother call for her. The corn mill at Barracks was faulty so she came home early.

The man hurriedly dresses the girl and makes her promise not to tell her folks about it.

PAUSE!!!

The 15 naira question: Is he a paedophile?

Apparently some of you believe that because he did not succeed in having sex with her even though it was not for lack of trying, he is NOT a paedophile.

Never mind that he tried to have sex with a little girl and would have succeeded if not for the timely intervention of the mother.

So for you to be labelled a rapist or a paedophile, you have to physically shove yourself between the legs and penetrate.

You see all these concessions, they are one of the reasons rapists are getting bolder and bolder. In the past few days we’ve had an avalanche of rape cases. Like it’s something in the water.

One has to ask, has it always been this way and we are just noticing because the victims are speaking up now? Or did they suddenly become more active?

It is sickening really. Especially since most of the people who ask stupid questions like “what did she wear and where was she” are women.

In times like this the last thing we need to do is try to be persnickety about the terms we use on a rapist who tried but stopped midway.

Is it the term we should be worried about or the act itself? At the rate we’re going, Nigeria is going to be the new face of rape. Thanks to our lax laws and our complacent ‘let God judge’ mentality and our unnecessary squabbles over the correct terminology for a person who tried to rape but failed.

Spoiler: S/HE IS STILL A RAPIST!