PENANCE: “BECOME A VISIBLE ANTI-RAPE ACTIVIST” – EZEKWESILI, OTHERS TELL BASKETMOUTH

Following Bright ‘Basketmouth’ Okpocha’s rape joke on Sunday, January 5, Former minister of education, Obiageli Ezekwesili and other pro-women activists have advised him to lead the fight against rape. Ezekwesili, who said the rape joke was grossly inappropriate and nothing justifies rape, has advised that Basketmouth becomes a visible anti-rape activist. …”you should use this sad episode as an occasion for good by becoming most visible anti-rape activist,” the former Minister wrote in a series of Tweets. She added, “We all make mistakes at one time or another and when it happens, the measures we take to minimise the damage it causes our community matters! Advocacy against the rising scourge of rape in Nigeria would definitely benefit from the voice of a very talented gentleman like Basketmouth.” The joke that put Basketmouth in trouble. Many who got wind of the joke on Sunday attacked Basketmouth simultaneously, describing him in the most disrespectful manner and almost going for his jugular, if only that was possible on social media networks. In a bid to amuse his fans, the comedian had innocently and carelessly posted a joke on his Facebook page, where he said white women give in to sexual advances after their third date, while on the contrary African women would make men exhaust his money on them and still wouldn’t yield when they demand for sex, which eventually may necessitate rape. Though he has since realized his errors and apologized, but some pro-women activists have insisted the way forward is for Mr. Okpocha to add anti-rape activism to career routine. A disappointed Zimbabwean blogger, Barbara Mhangami, who said she was a Basketmouth fan until he posted the rape joke, critically queried the comedian in an open letter she wrote on her blog shortly after the joke post went viral. Barbara asked rhetorically; “would your joke be funny if your mother your sister, your aunt, your daughter had been raped? If your daughter or your sister had come home with blood running down her legs because some brute had seen her, not as a human being with feelings and a physical body that hurts and bleeds, but as a vessel for his lust, his rage, his disrespect and his misogyny?” Basketmouth apologises for posting the rape joke. The anti-rape activist however said the only atonement is for Basketmouth to tender an apology (which he already did) and join the fight against rape. “Right now Justice to me looks like you Basketmouth issuing a sincere apology and becoming an anti-rape activist,” she urged. Check out Oby Ezekwesili’s series of tweets below:   PENANCE: “BECOME A VISIBLE ANTI-RAPE ACTIVIST” – EZEKWESILI, OTHERS TELL BASKETMOUTH. /Sleekyikee