Burning Flesh: Nigerian Women Deserve Better!
When I think of her, the smell that I imagine is the smell of burning flesh in a furnace that makes one wonder if there was another hell greater than this. She frantically searched for her way out of the smoke-filled apartment that served as her home. This definitely is not a smoke from the kitchen; it was thick and made visual clarity difficult. As she continues to burn while screaming, I can’t help but ask what mind would have fashioned this kind of horrendous calamity on a woman. Did they think about all of her identities: daughter, mother, sister, wife, and her role in politics, church, and community? This is how I pictured her in the theater of my mind. This is not a fictional story; this is the story of Salome Abuh, a PDP women leader in Kogi burnt alive in her home. Google it.
There was another woman who had conversations with the man in pursuit of "pleasure on sale." Under the thick cloud of darkness, they may have negotiated the terms of this libidinal exchange. The promise of passionate sex and pleasurable ecstasy drove both behind closed doors to enjoy pleasure that both have promised to give under the terms and conditions both of them have agreed to. Death was not in the terms for either the giver or receiver, but it was the outcome for the woman. As the male procurer of pleasure found one of the holy books in her house, he brought her out and, along with many, lynched and set her ablaze. Her name is Hannah Saliu. Google it.
I juxtapose these two different situations to underscore several points but will limit it to two in the interest of brevity and space. First, that regardless of who or what we are, someone will always justify harm to women. The justification for the verbal harassment of Dr. Obiageli “Oby” Ezekwesili is that she told him to "shut up." Has anyone reasoned based on the vituperation that followed from this "boy" what may have necessitated a woman who has sat in high-power meetings all over the world to tell him to shut up? Second is that women are always guilty in every situation with men.
Women’s testimonies have not always been believed, more so Black women. When the women told the disciple Jesus was risen, they said they were women fables until men saw it. When Sally Hemingway said her children were fathered by Thomas Jefferson, nobody believed her because our innocence as Black women is never given.
No one has said, to my knowledge, that Senator Natasha should be believed; we are saying she should be given a fair hearing. No one says she is above the law; we are saying laws cannot be weaponized for vindictive ends. What happened to Senator Natasha and yesterday with Dr. Oby is nothing but a lynching. Blood may not have been drawn, but the wound is as great as any physical injury. What happened to Dr. Oby yesterday was an assault on all of us.
Nigerian women, at home and in the diaspora, we must not let this slide. In the words of Audre Lorde, "Silence will not protect us."
We can continue to justify what happened to Dr. Oby in the Senate yesterday; I hope we keep the same energy when it comes closer.
