There are some days in your life that you think nothing of but become pivotal times in your life; while there are days you think so much of and turn out to mean nothing to you. The day I went on twitter to rant, I honestly did not think anything of it and all I wanted to do was rant because I was being deprived of my well-deserved payment and my ranting got me here. What a shocker.
After Mr Adesiji (A.K.A the pervert who kissed me without my permission and refused to pay me my complete money for the work I did for his hotel) went to the police for questioning; I was advised by the Minister of Women Affairs to press charges against him and I did with the support of my mother of course.
The truth is that I was scared out of my mind and I secretly prayed that he wouldn’t go to jail. I know that was not right of me but something in me kept thinking that his actions were not strong enough to deserve a jail sentence but they were. And the oppressed woman in me was just afraid of what society would say or do to me for sending a man to jail. Thank God for my mother, she gave me strength all the way.
I (A.K.A me, the Minister of Women Affairs and my mother) took Mr. Adesiji to court and surprisingly the D.J. that worked that day and witnessed everything came to my aid. He testified against Mr. Adesiji in court and that with the other things presented by my lawyer was enough for the judge to find him guilty. Guilty of sexual and emotional assault and the breach of a contract (he didn’t pay me the money he was supposed to pay me for a job done).
The moment I heard the words “the accused has been found guilty as charged” my heart went into a rampage, my mother and the Minister of Women Affairs with some other people in the court who I don’t know started rejoicing but I just sat there shaking like a leaf in the wind. I looked over at Mr. Adesiji expecting him to curse me with his eyes and to my very shock; he mouthed the words “I’m Sorry”.
I looked over at my mother thinking that she saw what I saw but she was too busy talking to the lawyer to even notice; then I looked back at him and he was gone. In the chaos and anxiety I failed to hear his sentence, it was later that I was told that he was fined ten million naira and asked to do community service
“Whoah! Ten million naira? Isn’t that too steep?” my mother and I were in the car, on our way home. “How will he know that it is a punishment? Besides the Minister made this case a high profile one with all the interest she showed in it. We must go back to her office and thank her properly.” My mother was happy, a win for me was a win for her but to be very honest with you, it didn’t feel like a win for me and that made me sad.
I was supposed to be happy, I was supposed to be pleased about the fact that I got justice on Mr Adesiji, the man who assaulted me sexually and used his power to oppress me but I wasn’t. Could it be the fact that I knew that my case could have easily been thrown out of court if the Minister of Women Affairs was not involved; if she was not involved, I doubt the police would have acted as quick as they did.
Or could it be all the publicity I was getting for this? The entire city knew my name now and it was for this not my work. I don’t know why I felt gloomy on our way home.
It may have even been because my darling Abdul, a man I loved deeply was getting married to another woman. You know heart break has a way of diming the lights on every good thing happening in your life.
I looked down at my buzzing phone, buzzing with a million and one calls and messages; this whole incident had made me pseudo famous and I was not ready for it all. What was I going to tell them in the office? Oh God! Thinking about going back to work after all these added to my stress. So I switched off my phone.
Deep down I know this was a good thing, if not for anything; for the fact that it will encourage every abused person to come out and speak their truth and do something about their situation instead of being silent. Therefore, I don’t regret anything; not even the day I went on twitter to rant about my predicament but will I ever go on a twitter ranting spree again? I doubt that I ever would… I’ll have to do a lot of thinking before I ever do so. But for now, I am off twitter.