Nigerian male sexual abuse survivor tells the story of his abuse by a staunch church goer and how he was taunted by people who didn't believe him and his abuser got away

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Sexual abuse, especially towards children, may look like it’s become
rampant in present times because social media highlights this problem,
but it has always been around for years as can be seen from the story
shared by Okenyi Kenechi who was sexually abused when he was 8.

Now
a 28-year-old who has graduated from the university, Kenechi is finally
sharing the story of his abuse and it is a very sad one, especially as
he never got justice.

In 1997, when Kenechi was in primary 3, a female
neighbor would always come to their home in Ugwu Achara, Nsukka, Enugu
state, and beg his mother to allow him come and play with her children.
Once there, this mother will lure him into her room and force him to
perform oral sex on her then threaten him into silence. Soon after, he
developed infection on his lips and at the hospital, his mother was
informed that it was caused by engaging in oral sex. He opened up to his
mother then and that was when his travails really began.

The
culprit, when she was confronted, denied and accused the boy of cooking
up lies against her. Everyone took sides with the woman who was an
active member in the church. Church members also defended her and
everyone turned against Kenechi and his family. He had to stop going to
school for a while and when he resumed, he had to be escorted by his
elder brother to avoid getting lynched. His parents were advised to
leave everything to God and that was what they did. Everyone else moved
on with their lives but Kenechi couldn’t get past what had happened and
he had to carry that baggage for years.

At some point, he felt
suicidal. That was after he had gone for counselling and the counselor
asked him if he “enjoyed it”. He said he still goes home sometimes and
still sees his abuser, who everyone still revers as an innocent woman
and a good Christian. He was finally able to move past the abuse after
he joined a group consisting of other sexual abuse victims. He disclosed
that 90% of those in his group never got justice. Their abusers went
free.

Kenechi shared his story to advise parents to also pay
attention to their sons as well as their daughters, because males also
suffer sexual abuse and mostly have to deal with it alone. He concluded
by saying that the society failed him and continues to fail victims of
abuse who are children.

The comments on Kenechi’s post have been
overwhelming, with a lot of men also coming out to say that they, too,
were sexually abused as children but had to remain silent about it.

See screenshots of Kenechi’s post below.

360L