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Following reports of sexual molestation against prominent poet, Chijoke Amu Nnadi by several young women, the non-governmental organization, Whole WoMan Network, which took it upon itself to investigate the claims has made its report on the allegations available to the Daily Trust, as well as key parties mentioned in the scandal.
The 123-page report titled ‘Chijoke Amu Nnadi and a Community of Daughters’ which is signed by Whole WoMan Network (WWN) co-founder, Juliet Kego Ume-Onyindo, shows that 33 persons were interviewed and 19 young women made allegations of sexual molestations against the poet.
The report contained detailed accounts of the relationship Mr. Amu Nnadi had with these young women, including records of Facebook messages, text messages and other forms of communications, as well as written testimonies by the victims.
A total of 19 women submitted written accounts of sexual molestation and exploitations by the poet, seven declined to have their testimonies made public while the full accounts of 12 of the victims were included.
The victims, according to the report, are between the ages of 16 and 26, with an average age of 21. Most of them were addressed by Mr. Amu Nnadi, who is well into his fifties, as his “daughters,” claiming he only wanted to be a father figure in their lives.
No allegation of rape was made against the poet by any of the girls within legal age and one of the experts consulted by WWN said: “Some of the girls must take responsibility for not defining and defending their boundaries.”
According to the report, none of the victims demanded legal actions against Mr. Amu Nnadi with most of them demanding either apologies or some kind of supervised mediation with the poet.
Investigations into the affairs of Mr. Amu Nnadi was said to have begun in May 2014, when WWN was contacted by a third party concerning the poet’s relationship with members of the opposite sex.
The scandal climaxed in January 2015, when some of the victims decided to come out in the open to make their allegations against the poet public and in a Facebook post, Mr. Amu Nnadi admitted to having had “inappropriate” relationship with some women and tendered an apology.
However, the tone of the apology irked many people within and outside the literary circle, who felt that the poet was not taking full responsibility for his actions, especially after trying to use threats and intimidation to silence the victims.
WWN has since forwarded its reports to the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), and Nigeria Feminine Forum for further actions.
Speaking earlier about the report during an interview with Daily Trust, the president of ANA, Malam Denja Abdullahi said: “Sending a report formally to us is an indictment on a member of the association and there is no way we cannot react to it.”
He added that the association would forward the report to Mr. Amu Nnadi and expect a response from him before it would take any action on the matter.
“When the report comes back from the accused, there is always a disciplinary committee that will sit down and recommend what needs to be done to sanction him if found guilty. If there are no sanctions there must be justifiable reasons for not having them. We are not a law court but we must find ways to caution ourselves, discipline ourselves,” he said.