Perhaps the biggest rape scandal of the decade, the case of Lotanna Odunze-Igwe
and Mustapha Audu, one of the sons of Prince Abubakar Audu, a former two-time
governor of Kogi State who passed on last Sunday is an interesting one. Lotanna,
popularly known by her social media identity, @sugabelly on Sunday exposed
horrible details of how she repeatedly suffered sexual abuse in the hands of
Mustapha, his brothers, his cousin and his friends. Her tweets, laced with
graphic details of brutal sexual assault came moments after news of Prince
Audu’s death filtered into the Nigerian media. Her story, gory and dehumanising
as she portrayed it, immediately drew the sympathy of a wide section of the
Nigerian public with condemnation and attacks targeted at the alleged
perpetrators of what many thought was only possible in seedy x-rated Hollywood
productions. All through this moment, the accused were silent. Their side of the
story was completely lost in the social media mob that was already screaming
blue murder! Perhaps, the accused sons of the late Prince Audu were too
engrossed mourning the demise of their father to be bothered about allegations
and condemnations that had gone viral in the social media. Just yesterday,
Friday November 27, 2015, the accuser once again released another bombshell,
this time a detailed blog account of her ordeal in the hands of Mustapha, his
brothers, his cousins, and his friends. It was a chilling story that sparked
further sympathy towards the “victim” and more condemnation towards the alleged
perpetrators. In this exclusive interview, Publisher of SIGNAL, Ohimai Amaize
and Editor of SIGNAL, Yemi Adebowale sat down in a chat somewhere in an
apartment in Asokoro, Abuja face to face with the man in the eye of the storm,
Mustapaha Abubakar Audu. This is his story.
Who is ‘Sugabelly’ to you?
Lotanna as her real name is called, is someone who we were colleagues together
while I was serving at an IT firm in Abuja called Alteq. She was a staff at
Alteq. We were colleagues for a while and at some point we dated for about two
months. I came back to Nigeria in 2006, and it was at Alteq I first met her. I’m
not sure how long she had worked there before I came to the company for my NYSC.
It was a long time ago. I was about 24 then. We talked like every other person.
There was a time she had a party for the office, I thought it was a party for
the office but it was her birthday party, her 18th birthday party. It was in
March of that year. I didn’t go for it. I usually don’t go to office parties. I
had another business. I was working at my company and at the IT firm as well. So
one day at the office she came to me and harassed me that I missed her party and
I said, oh, don’t worry I will make it up to you. I will take you out for
sharwama and I took her to 212; then they used to sell sharwarma. This was the
first time I took her out. There are emails to corroborate this. From then on we
started talking. She was a very interesting personality. She is very brilliant
and she reads a lot of books. I read a lot of books too and I don’t meet people
who read a lot of book. I used to read a lot of fantasy books. All these Game of
Thrones people are watching as movies now, I read them as books like ten years
ago. Knights of Shallaman, Wheel of Time, Lord of the Rings, Inheritance Cycle,
many many books I read years ago and there were very few people who knew these
things. She was one of them. She read a lot and she wrote. She was a very
brilliant writer; in fact, I think that was why she was working as someone’s
secretary at the office. She used to write a lot of letters for the company.
Claims have emerged from her that as at January of 2007 I was in a relationship
with her and doing all sorts of wicked things to her. Just like now, in
December, precisely December 17, 2006, I lost my mum. I was in the UK. I watched
my mum die. I loved my mum. I brought her body back to Nigeria, so just like now
I was going through a period of grief. So it wasn’t possible all the things she
is claiming that I did. I would be mourning.
How long did your relationship (affair) with her last?
Our relationship lasted like a month and a half. Not even up to two months. I
found out she was sleeping with my friends. She slept with a couple of my
friends. I discovered and told her about it. She told me she loved me, she
wanted to marry me and was madly and deeply in love with me. And I told her it’s
not possible, we can’t get married because I am not at the stage where I wanted
to be married. And you’ve had something to do with my friends, so the
relationship ended. While we were in the relationship, she had told me things
about her mum, that she hated her mum, her mum wasn’t there for her and stuff
like that. She sent me an email once making reference to her having visions of
violent rape the first time that we had something physically. She said she had
visions of violent rape from a past memory and that we weren’t close enough for
her to tell me the details. On one occasion then when we spoke on the phone, she
said I shouldn’t abandon her, and then she told me that her mum’s boyfriend
raped her. She said a lot of negative things about her mum. This was part of the
reason I didn’t want to release these emails to protect her.
But the main reason I am doing this is because I got a call today, someone told
me that her friends disclosed that she’s being planning this for while, she is
actually writing a book and planning to finish a book, she wants to start an
NGO, she wants to appeal to the US government about surviving rape in Africa and
she wants to use my family, because of my family’s political name to get
traction. I heard she is getting influential people involved, I hear she has
involved the lady behind the Bring Back Our Girls campaign, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili.
Dr. Ezekwesili reminds me of my mum. She reminds me of someone who should have
been my mum and if someone said something about your son, you shouldn’t
immediately go to the world and say “Oh, you are this or that.” At least call
your son, hear him out. And this is not even about me wanting to say anything to
defend myself.
Please read the communication between me and this girl. Everytime I sent her a
message, it was always about “How are you doing? Hope you are doing okay? Don’t
be too nasty in college. But I know you are very smart and you will do well.
Even in the emails, I mentioned that I encouraged her. She even sent me a
message on Facebook apologizing for flirting with my friends, how she loves me
and I told her, it’s okay. It’s not the end of the world. And now, people are
saying I’m such a beast and I’m such a monster. You didn’t even talk to me. You
didn’t even ask me… These things are so horrific. What kind of person can
actually do these things? Not only did I do that and I did it with my younger
brother that was just 15 back then? I did that with my older brother who was
about 30 years old then? And this older brother is not my immediate older
brother. He is two brothers ahead of me. Then my cousin? Then my friends? Then
the Nigeria Police Force? This is such a movie.
How is your family reacting to this?
Of course it’s very hard. We are mourning. She’s been releasing these this for a
while. She’s been doing this for a while but my family has kept quiet all along
because we know the truth. Yes, some of my family members are really shaken
right now. We are grieving. I have just been orphaned. I loved my dad. My dad is
a hero. Anybody from Kogi State knows that. Look at his burial. How many people
have received his burial? Look at the whole country? If we were such wicked
people, if my dad was a monster, would people react? There was a rumour that my
dad had risen. If you saw the people the way they were praying and rejoicing.
And now this girl has used this unfortunate incident to capitalize in painting
my family as evil…
How long have you been married?
I have been married for like six years now. I got married December 15, 2009. And
that was when my problem with her really started; when she found out I got
married.
Have you ever raped anyone?
Common, why would I do that? It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. I can never
and will never support such heinous act. Common! It’s not even a question you
ask a normal person. It’s like asking, have you committed murder before? Because
it’s such an inhuman thing! And I understand why people would do this and she’s
brilliant. Because she knows human beings are emotional and sentimental. Play on
their intelligence. Play on the fact that women have been raped before and for
us men, we hardly speak up. I am not saying men are angels. I’m not saying I am
an angel. But I have never raped anyone in my life before. I am happily married.
I have three little daughters. I can’t even imagine it. God!
You know what? I am going to step out for those who have been accused falsely.
There are a lot of people who have been falsely accused. You know, because of my
last name, I am fortunate to have the opportunity to speak up. You see, people
don’t even need to hear me speak. Just read the conversation I had with this
lady and you can read her blog. It’s just a blog. You can compare the two. In my
email conversations with her, you can tell that I have genuine feelings for her
and she has genuine feelings for me. We are communicating as human beings. Then
you read this blog and it’s something else. In her mails to me, you will read
her asking about me, my brothers, my friends, my cousins, telling me how she
knows that I’m so hardworking and that I’m a good person. I don’t understand how
that translates to a blog that says I was such a terrorist.
What do you think she wants from you?
It’s fame. It’s simple. Fame. She has skills and in her heart, she’s found out
that you know what? My blog isn’t really getting a lot of traction, I’ve been
working on this story, I’ve been writing a book, so let me put out this story
first. First, she got some Twitter people to put it up, when that didn’t get as
much traction, she resorted to this. That was the groundwork for this. Now she
has put this on her blog and everybody is going to her blog, she is about to
launch a book on surviving rape in Africa; all of this is some sort of elaborate
plan to make money and fame to the detriment of someone who hasn’t done anything
to her. Whatever it is that’s bothering her, I think her mum should speak to
her. Her mum honestly needs to speak to her. Her being in the US and being away
might not be the best solution. She should actually have a sit down. What is
bothering her? She told me she hates her mum, that her mum’s boyfriend raped
her. Let her talk to her mum about that.
What is your next line of action?
It has to be a legal action. I’m not doing this because I want money from her.
The suit I am going to carry out against her has nothing to do with money. I
want her to write a public apology, publish it in the newspaper, take down her
blog and retract all she said against me. I want all those she has lied to, to
know she lied against me. She needs to come out and tell the world: “I lied
about this. These people are innocent of all I said against them.” That’s what I
want from her.
And going forward, I want people like Dr. Ezekwesili to think before they act.
People called me to draw my attention to her tweets. I thought she was fighting
for a cause. I thought she was a mother. I know her sons and they know me. Chine
and Chuba used to play football together with me every weekend. They know me. I
am not a rapist. I had a mother and my mother would not be proud of Dr.
Ezekwesili. What would have been her first reaction if this same girl accused
her sons of rape? Would she have gone first to Twitter to condemn them? Would
she have gone first to Afe Babalola SAN? If that would be her first reaction,
then I must confess, she must be a really terrible mother. Is her cause real?
What cause is she on? Is it because Bring Back Our Girls is no longer working?
Dr. Ezekwesili, please read the emails. Your sons will tell you the same. They
are my friends. They know I’m not a rapist. Have you approached me? Have you
said who is the person? Let me approach him? Let me reach out? Please someone
give me his number. She didn’t do this, instead she went to Afe Babalola. Chuba
is my good friend. If they said this about Chuba, would she go to Afe Babalola?
Please answer me?
I never did anything to Lotanna, read the emails. Don’t even listen to me,
please read the emails. Since she’s made claims, read our mail conversations
after the events she alleged occurred had happened. Read her timelines. Some of
these terrible events were occurring and she wasn’t talking about it? She’s
emailing me and I’m emailing her and not for once was it mentioned? Common! No,
that just means nothing was actually going on except our normal conversation. I
had other people in the office that left, some for the UK that I still chat
with. We were colleagues!
What is your advise to men out there who find themselves in your kind of
situation?
I have to stand up for those who have been victimized, those who have been
condemned even before they were given a chance to defend themselves. I will be
fighting, like my father who has always been a fighter. And I am a winner. I
will fight this and anyone who believes that what I have done is so terrible
based on the allegations, I will ask you, please come and ask me. Come and hear
my own. If you are not satisfied then you can do anything. The truth is out
there. Nobody right now in the country knows what I am feeling right now, the
trauma and the stress. Everyone is calling either to condole with me or to
condemn me for what was alleged against me. People are asking, what did you do?
I am under tremendous pressure. At the same time, I am grieving. I don’t have a
mum anymore and I don’t have a dad. A lot is going on. I can’t even breathe. No
one cares. Everyone just sees me now as a monster; this guy, his family… and its
very painful and it could cause a long-term damage not just for me.
Unfortunately, I am not active in the social media and even if I was, I don’t
think it is appropriate to just expose her and her family issues. That’s why I
kept quiet. But to all those out there who are quick to jump to conclusion when
you hear one side of the story, please have a rethink. It’s not fair. I was long
guilty before anybody decided to contact me to hear my side of the story. I
thank those who refused to jump to conclusion, but for the many majorities who
did, it’s not right, especially given this time that I am grieving. I just got
orphaned. It is very very sad. She probably did this because she knows I will
protect her. I have children and I know what it’s like. I will not release
everything she sent to me. But please read the emails and Facebook conversation.
I will also like to appeal to mothers today. They need to take responsibility
for their children. I am certain that there are many people sitting and rotting
in jail because of this. I will not go down quietly. I will not let them tarnish
the good name and image my father built. I will not let someone my family’s
grief as an opportunity to launch a social or a media career. I will not allow
it to happen. I will start a legal process and I will sue everyone who decides
to make me their next launch pad. Once this is over and the dust settles down, I
will be starting an NGO for those who have been falsely accused and for those
who have been falsely accused by authorities bigger than them and for those who
have been falsely accused of rape. I believe they need a voice and I will be
that voice
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