Still on rape; help for citizen Obiechina Okete

Last Saturday, I was browsing online and saw a rare Igbo name, Obiechina. I recalled one of my subordinates in the bank who bore that name. As I do sometimes, I googled his name to see what he was up to now. As I began typing the name ‘Obiech..”, his full name was the first to be thrown up. In my mind I thought he had made it good somewhere. By the time I keyed in his full name, I was shocked. The main news about him read “Reading Rapist Jailed for 16 Years”. Christ! What was this? With shaky hands I searched some more…

In the end I decided to share the story and generate some buzz. This is because I believe, no matter that this is a very bad case, that this guy is not what he has turned out to be. I cannot imagine Obiechina languishing in jail for 16 years! I thought long about this, my mind in turmoil,simply shocked by how a good story turns bad. I decided that if there is an appeal, I must contribute to it. Perhaps this guy can be freed. The Obi I know is too mild-mannered to become a British thug, hardened by jail. My keeping quiet will also not solve his problem. It would be escapism.

I got to know Obi around 2002 or 2003. He was my subordinate at the bank for about two years, after which he went to the UK for his Master’s Degree. While I knew him, he could never hurt a fly. He was everyone’s darling. His father was a one-time Minister (of State?) for Works in Nigeria under Gen. Abdulsalami. I remember asking him the meaning of his name and him telling me how their father always preferred heavy names for his children; his senior brother being Ahamefula. They had a house at Adisa Estate in Abuja. Obi struggled to prove himself on the job, but he was silver spoon. He put in his best into his work and was diligent. We would visit Father Willy Ojukwu’s office on some occasions for he was close to the then Parish Priest of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Abuja. When he went abroad for his masters, I was proud of him. That was around 2004. I would later leave the bank and go for mine in 2005. We had lost contact.

Obi moved back to Nigeria for a while after that. He worked at UBA Prestige for a spell, and then he was off again. I met him only once then, and I wondered whether he left because of the hectic nature of banking in Nigeria. I would later see Obi in Abuja about two years ago. He had acquired a British accent and had toned up his muscles. He told me he was now into recruiting students who wanted to study in the UK. I asked him to see me before he left Nigeria but he never did. I was a bit angry, feeling that he was trying to act too funky.

And then this.The gist is that a woman of about 30-year-old accused Obi of raping her on February 27, 2015 and another girl said he raped her on May 6 of the same year. One is bad enough. Two is terrible. Still I believe there is a chance that he was wrongly convicted or that the sentencing was too stiff. His own account was that whatever he had with these women was consensual, and that some key evidence - like CCTV tape - that could exonerate him was declared missing by the police.

Reading, UK, where he lived and where the crimes were allegedly committed, is a small place so the two ladies probably knew each other. What happened really? I cannot vouch for Obi’s sexual activities, but what if perchance he was not guilty, or not as guilty as the sentence he is serving? I had written in my column last week that Nigerian men should be careful because the world has changed. I never knew a close associate was in jail for that same reason. In the UK, most of the women there have a combative relationship with men. Men there have learnt to behave as if they don’t see the women. And that is why gayism thrives because boys would rather be talking to boys and vice versa. It is the life they’ve chosen. If you don’t like it, don’t stay there. I say again that Nigeria is the best place for Nigerian people, not because of the possibility of raping girls and getting away with it, but because for one, we are not as litigious as some of these countries.

What is more, if Obi had remained home, he could have done very well for himself today and probably settled down. I hear he had a wife (a white woman), who had a daughter for him but they have now parted ways. Some of his friends accused the woman of being behind his travails but she vehemently denied. Obi is soft-spoken, a super-nice guy if ever there was one. These two rape events happened after he parted with his wife - whom I gather was one of the witnesses that tried to help him to no avail. Obi maintains his innocence till date, but is in one of the UK jails serving time.

I was shocked too that with two Masters degrees from the UK, he was working as a security man in a hotel. Maybe this security work is a second job. Nigerians, why are we putting ourselves through so much trauma just because we want to run away from our problems by running away from home?

Is there anyone out there with an update of this case and is there anything we can do to get the courts to commute this sentence? Something tells me this guy isn’t as bad as portrayed. It is something gnawing away at my subconscious, and that is the reason why I decided to write on this. Already, there is a flaw in the case because police claim that a CCTV of the hotel which could have saved him, is missing.

I have started making contacts and will be in touch with the High Commission in London. I will also struggle to get the full details from any of his family members who make contact locally. 16 years seems like the judge threw the book at him. In all of this, alcohol use was involved, and in the first case, there is a confusion as to who really committed the crime. Meanwhile Oby is a first offender with no records of misdemeanor or felony in the UK or Nigeria. Can it be a case of misunderstanding of cultures and grundnorms in another man’s country? Or did Oby truly go bad and lost it all to the point of risking decades in prison for a few minutes of enjoyment? What went wrong? Yet, I see chinks all over the case that could be used to commute the sentence or discharge the man. If he indeed committed the rapes though, then he deserves to do his time.

NB - Please warn your sons. We live in an extremely dangerous world. The shenanigans we got away with in our time - or that some get away with still in this country - they dare not try elsewhere. Dating a girl these days is like entering into a legal contract. Be sure everyone is on the same page, and are in a state and age to give consent before carrying on. Beware of maneaters and setups.

Reading, UK, where he lived and where the crimes were allegedly committed, is a small place so the two ladies probably knew each other. What happened really? I cannot vouch for Obi’s sexual activities, but what if perchance he was not guilty, or not as guilty as the sentence he is serving