A Nigerian lady identified as Calabar Omotena has disclosed how she was raped by a client at the age of 18 while sent on a job by her father.
Disclosing this on her Twitter page, she said it took her approximately three years (two years and 10months) to be able to share this story, and only felt the urge to talk about it after the death of one of her loved one.
Narrating what happened she said:
“It all started in 2017, June 19, a day after my sister’s birthday.
“My dad is a photographer, and trained me and my sister in the field, to cater for the family, my mom died when I was 5 and my sister was 3, so we had to help my dad in the business. God was so merciful, the business was very good, partly because we were young talented photographers, we traveled inter state alone to cover variety of occasions.
“On this fateful day, a man came to my dad’s studio, said he’ll like to take a passport, I took him his passport, he asked my name and I told him, “wow, nice name”, “Thank you” I replied, “can I get your number please? I’ll be hosting a house warming party, so I’ll need your services” he said.
“I’ll give you our business card instead, whenever you’re ready just give us a call” I replied”Ah..no o, i want you to, Come and snap it yourself” he said.
“Don’t worry Sir all of us are the same, me and my sister,my dad, don’t worry we don’t disappoint”, I gave him the card and he left.
“On the 24 of June, he called for our service…my dad sent me because it was an all night party and he was In ikorodu for a photography job too, I bought my younger sister suya and malt and told her to lock up by 8pm and go home, I won’t be back till the next day. I took my Nikon d3100 and went to the location.
“The party kicked off at 8pm and I commenced work…till past 10.. I was, Already exhausted cos I worked during the day before that job. I sat down on one high stool close to the wine bar, he came over and said “ahn ahn, smallie, have you eaten yet?”
“I haven’t, I just need malt..” I replied
He left and came back with a white glass half filled with Eva juice “don’t worry it’s not alcohol o” he said. “Is there no malt?” I asked. “It’s finished, just drink this one let me get you small chops”
“I drank it and kept the cup on the wine bar counter…he came back with the chops and I was already seeing double “I thought you said It’s not alcoholic” “Don’t tell me Eva juice sef dey high you” he joked. I didn’t answer cos I wasn’t feeling myself anymore.
“Please can I go upstairs, I need to rest for an Hour cos I’m done with the pictures…” I said. “No no problem, let me take you”… Was the last thing I Heard.
“Woke up at past 6..my jeans was undone, I had migraine and body pain.. he came in, I asked him what happened, he said I was so tired I slept off..I stood up picked my camera.. asked him “please sir are you sure nothing else happened”
“Sally nothing happened, send your Dad’s account number” I did, he paid in full, told me to send soft copies instead, and gave me 10k.
“Three days later he called me “hello, Sally how is your health, I’m sorry about what happened, the truth is that I touched you, and I’m deeply sorry, I was drunk, I’m sorry sally.
“I didn’t know the words…my instincts already told me something wasn’t right,so when I left his house I used contraceptive.
“I was hurt, I felt used.. I couldn’t tell my sister, she won’t understand…a week later my period came “thank God”. I went back to school (University of Calabar).
“One month later I went for an all round check up… I was over a month pregnant,
I texted his Nigerian line…called his German line…I was cut off on all ends. I cut off connection with everyone, ran away.. my sister found me through a fake Facebook account.. revealed herself, got my number and my dad called me.
“My dad took me to the village, said he won’t habor disgrace in his home…
I was a pregnant 18yr old girl..gave birth at 19…I and my infant slept on the floor right from birth, I used rags cos no one gave me money for diapers, I used pap Instead of baby food, I used sachet cowbell milk in my infant’s pap, once milk divided into two for morning and night. My son wore clothes people dashed him out of kindness.
“I’m sorry can’t continue,I’m crying already. To be honest I don’t blame my dad or anyone, I couldn’t send my sister for such a job, he wasn’t around to go..so I had to…
“I still blame myself, I will always blame myself…I attempted suicide countless times because I blame myself. I’ll always blame myself. I was feeling depressed some days back. There’s no trace of him anywhere… no single trace!!
“Even my dad regrets everything that happened, I don’t blame him… It wasn’t his fault…he thought like other jobs we’d done, this was just like it. He’s making it up to me..every blessed day. And there’s no hate in me.”
