Nigerian Women share their #MeToo Stories

Photo by CNN

In a CNN report by Stephanie Busari and Torera Idowu, 5 brave Nigerian women have come forward to share how they, too, were sexually assaulted.

Brenda Uphopho, Eurel Nwafor, Chichi Ogbonnaya, Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi, and Omodasola Omibeku, all brave, all beautiful, share their #MeToo stories, unafraid.

Like is often said but rarely shared personally, Omibeku, Ogbonnaya, and Uphopho were raped when they were children.

Goes without saying that the rape was carried out by trusted people: a man who worked for the family, a respected man in church,  a distant relative who stayed with the family.

Nwafor and Osowobi had their experience much later in life, one at her place of work, and the other while volunteering at a local election as a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member.

Of course, for some of them, rape happened more than once. Uphopho shared that after the second time, she was afraid to tell anyone what had happened to her.

“I just felt if I was going to tell anybody … they would ask me … ‘What did you wear? What were you doing there? How did you end up alone with this person?” she said.

These are the things our women go through. This is the reality for a lot of Nigerian women.

See the full story on CNN.

Photo Credit: CNN