Eniola Badmus: How l was almost raped in secondary school

Eniola Badmus, a Nigerian actress, says she was almost raped while in secondary school.

In an interview with PUNCH, the movie star said 95 percent of women undergo sexual harassment on a daily basis.

Badmus, however, did not provide any statistics to support her claim.

The actress noted that the scourge has continued unabated in the society because there are no punitive measures put in place against perpetrators.

“Firstly, whether people are saying the truth or not, 95 per cent of females are sexually harassed on a daily basis. Because there hasn’t been stiff punishment over the years, this act has continued to linger from one generation to the other,” she said.

“As a young girl, a lot of things happened to me and I’ve also seen a lot of things. I grew up in a polygamous home and a lot of people lived with us. When I was in my final year in secondary school, I was almost raped. It was a very close shave. I was saved by a guy called Michael Akinyemi.

“I don’t know where he is now but I can’t forget him. He was injured in the process but he saved me. I was practically five minutes away from being raped. I didn’t report then because of the stigmatization.

“The experience was really bad because my assaulter was bent on raping me, hence we struggled so much. I still remember the guy’s name but I would leave it out.”

The government has been making efforts to increase awareness about the criminality of rape. In Lagos, the state government set up the Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) to address such issues.