RAPE VICTIM AND ACTIVIST SHARES DETAILS OF HOW SHE WAS RAPED JUST MINUTES AFTER THE ALLEGED ASSAULT

A rape survivor and activist has revealed why she was compelled to share intimate details of her alleged sexual assault on social media just minutes after the attack, explaining that she instantly knew that she couldn't keep what happened to her a secret.

Amber Amour, 27, was in Cape Town, South Africa, promoting her 'Stop Rape. Educate' campaign in November when she she was allegedly attacked by a man named Shakir after she agreed to take a shower with him. After she was raped, Amber took to Instagram to post a photo of herself crying and a message detailing the horrific sexual assault.

'Here I was, telling survivors every single day that they should speak up... I knew I had to practice what I preached,' she explained to Marie Claire UK. 'So the first thing I did was take a picture and write a post, describing what had happened.'


'It was almost an intuitive thing,’ she added. ‘I was still in the bathroom – in the crime scene. I don’t even think I’d stood up. I just typed and typed.’

In her candid post, Amber explained that she had returned to a hostel that she previously stayed at after a two day bout with food poisoning to leave a note for her friend Nick when she ran into Shakir who was trying to ‘get with’ her.Activist, Amber Amour

She said she kissed him once, but claimed she had met someone and left because he ‘seemed drunk’. However, when he followed her upstairs and asked her to join him in the shower she agreed.



‘I said yes because the water at my current hostel is pretty cold and after two days of being sick, I just really wanted a hot shower,’ she explained. ‘As soon as I got in the bathroom, he forced me to my knees. I said “stop!” but he just got more violent.’

Amber went on to detail the sexual assault that caused her to pass out. When she awoke, She said he came back to the shower.



‘I have all those f****d up feelings that we get after rape…shame, disgust, suffering,’ she wrote. ‘I’m here, alone, and any DNA has been wiped away in the shower. The South African police will just roll their eyes when I walk in. Feeling sicker than ever now.’

The next day Amber returned to Instagram before she headed to the hospital to share a photo of the three angel cards she drew the night of her sexual assault.


‘Dealing with cops is tough and the rape kit is the last thing I want– tools and metal instruments and combs all up in my private parts…. But this is what I stand for,’ she wrote.

‘I tell you guys to speak up every single day and I know that I need to practice what I preach,’ she added. ‘It is so incredibly hard, though, but having you all here for me makes all the difference.’

While in the exam room, Amber posted a photo of her rape kit while revealing that many people have blamed her for her rape because she agreed to shower with Shakir.

‘No matter what a person does, it is not an invitation for rape,’ she argued in the photo caption. ‘It doesn’t matter if I kissed him. It doesn’t matter if he was drunk. It doesn’t matter if I said yes to a shower.


‘I never said he could get violent with me. I never said he could make me bleed. I never said he could rape me. But still, that’s how the scene went down.’

‘I don’t need to explain myself but if you’re wondering WHY I took a shower with him, it was written in the text, I’d been sick with food poisoning for two days and needed to sweat it out,’ she continued.

‘My current place of residence has only cold water (third world problems are real!) and it seemed like a miracle to be offered a hot shower.’

Amber told Marie Claire UK that she first experienced sexual violence when she was only 12 years old. More than a decade later, in September 2014, she started her campaign to end sexual assault after she was raped by her roommate in New York because she didn't like how the police handled her attack.

She also revealed the trauma inspired her to start a new campaign called 'Creating Consent Culture'.  

 

'Opening up about rape or sexual assault isn't as scary as you think,' she added. 'By telling my mom about my first experience of sexual assault, I learned that she had experienced it too. 

'That's the thing - there are so many more survivors out there than you would imagine, and chances are, the person you’re telling may have a similar story or might know someone else who has one.' 

She has been posting nude pictures of herself explaining on Instagram that nudity is no excuse for rape.


To combat the victim blaming she was facing, Amber shared screen shots of the criticisms she received on Instagram following her rape, many of which were written by women.

See Screen shots below as seen on Instagram:

DPR BEGINS ENFORCEMENT OF NEW FUEL PRICE

The Department of Petroleum Resources on Wednesday said it had commenced the enforcement of the new price regime for Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol.
This is coming six days after the commencement of the new prices announced by the Federal Government on December 29, 2015 through the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency.
The DPR, in a circular dated January 6, 2016, noted that the official pump price and ex-depot price of PMS for oil marketing companies was put at N86.50 per litre and N77.00 per litre, respectively; and N86 per litre and N76.50 per litre respectively for the NNPC.


The agency advised marketers to comply with the new prices as enunciated in the PPPRA pricing template.
The statement read, “Following the pronouncement on the new approved pump price of Premium Motor Spirit by the Federal Government, the Department of Petroleum Resources wishes to inform all marketers and the general public that it has commenced the enforcement of the price regime in line with its mandate.

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DAVIDO AND HIS BABY MAMA SIGN PEACE AGREEMENT

Davido and his Baby Mama have finally signed a peace agreement. Pheeeew...atleast their drama lasted longer than that of Olamide and Don Jazzy...lol

They decided to resolve amicably, the child trafficking allegation levelled against the music star.

According to Sun, this came at a meeting held at the instance of the Na­tional Agency For the Prohibition of Trafficking In Per­son (NAPTIP) which was attended by Sophia, the musi­cian’s father, Deji Adeleke, Mr. and Mrs. Dele Momodu, Adeleke’s lawyer, counsel to Dele Momodu, Gbolaga Ajayi, Mr. Ajayi Famakinwa, and NAPTIP’s representa­tives. At the meeting, it was decided that the issue be resolved amicably and that both families should stop the ongoing media war.

Consequently, both sides were made to sign an agree­ment to stop the media face-off.

NAPTIP’s representatives, who took Sophia and Dele Momodu and his wife’s statements, advised the Adelekes to allow the child’s mother have access to her child, currently in custody of Davido’s half-sister, Ashley Adeleke. Momodu’s lawyer, Gbolaga Ajayi, who con­firmed that the meeting held, told Daily Sun that the issue of blackmail being alleged by Davido does not arise.

“What will Dele Momodu blackmail Davido for; mon­ey, position or what?” he queried.

MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING LOVER ON X-MAS DAY HAS SURRENDERED HIMSELF TO THE POLICE

Monday Hounga, the 28-year-old Benin Republic native who allegedly killed his live-in lover, Cecilia Joseph, on December 25, 2015, in the Raji Rasaki Estate, FESTAC Town area of Lagos State, and fled to his country, has voluntarily surrendered himself to the police, saying he was not the one that murdered the 21-year-old lady but that she was killed by armed robbers.

Hounga who insisted that he and the deceased were attacked by a three-man gang on the day, also told the police that the armed men stabbed Joseph to death and also ripped open his stomach before he managed to escape.
He narrated that after he was rejected by four hospitals in Nigeria, a relative got a cab which took him to Porto Novo, Benin, where he underwent a life-saving operation and had to go against medical advice to come back to Nigria to submit himself to the police after he learnt that he had been declared wanted for murder.

The police in its statement while declaring Hounga wanted over the murder, had reported that  the suspect and the victim had had a disagreement on Christmas day which culminated in a bloody fight during which the victim was stabbed to death.
The Lagos State Police Command had then contacted Interpol to assist with the arrest of the suspect, after he was said to have escaped to Benin Republic.
The police later released a statement saying it had arrested a woman, Taiye Ganiyu, and one Sodjinou Singbo, for aiding Hounga's escape.

However, the suspect surrendered himself to the police in Benin Republic on January 1, 2016, and was transferred to the FESTAC Police Division the next day while the matter was immediately transferred to the State Department of Criminal Investigation (SDCI), Panti, Yaba.

Hounga, an iron bender, told the police that he had never engaged in a fight with the deceased while they were living together.

“We have known each other for more than 10 years now. We met while in the primary school. Although we attended different primary schools, we usually met during inter-house competitions and that was when we started dating.
I rented the apartment where we lived and we had been living together for more than one year. We would have been married, but her parents said she should get pregnant for me first.
On December 25, around 12.30am, while we were both asleep, she (Cecelia) suddenly shouted, ‘Monday, help me.’
As I opened my eyes, I woke up to see a gun pointed at my head. The intruders were three, but only one carried a gun. He said if I shouted, he would blast my head off.
They stabbed me in the hand and in the wrist when I tried to struggle with them. They later stabbed me in the stomach. I forced myself to pull out the knife from my stomach. When I checked Cecelia, she was dead.”

He further said the landlord of the house and a few other people later arrived and put him in a tricycle which took him to a nearby hospital where he was rejected. He said he was also taken to the FESTAC Police Station, where he was issued a police report to enable him get quick treatment.
However, around 4am, after being rejected at a general hospital and two other places, a relative was said to have suggested that he should be taken to the Porto Novo Hospital in Benin. The doctors at the hospital were said to have operated on him, before placing him on admission.

“I was on admission when I heard in the news that I killed Cecelia. Here was somebody I loved so much and would many times kneel to beg whenever we had issues. Why would I kill her?
She once left me after she was impregnated by another man, whom she claimed her family supported. After a few years with the man, she returned to me after two stillbirths for the said man.
She came back in 2014 and because of the love I had for her, I accepted her. Despite what happened, I have not stopped loving her and if I get out of this case, I don’t think I will ever love any woman like I loved her.”

But the late woman's elder sister, Titilayo Joseph, denied that Hounga and Cecelia lived together, saying that her sister was staying with her in Mazamaza.
“Cece (Cecelia) lived with me and not him. She would go to work in the morning and return home at evening.
I called her on December 24 to know why she was not at home and she said the Yuletide season had kept her busy at work.
On December 25, she came home to pick something and my neighbours said they saw her. I was sick and couldn’t go out.

I was at home on December 26 when I received a call that she had a fight with her boyfriend and he had stabbed her to death.
He claimed they were attacked by robbers; were they the only one living in that compound? Why was she the only one that was stabbed to death? Why didn’t he raise the alarm?”
The Deputy Police Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Command, ASP Aliyu Giwa, confirmed the arrest, saying the police would get to the roots of the case and give justice to the deceased.

Pulse.ng

TRAGIC! CORPS MEMBER DIES IN CHURCH WHILE LEADING CHOIR

29-year-old Excellent Akevwighome, a corps member has slumped and died on the spot while leading a choir ministration in his church, Christ Gospel Church, in Edjeketa community, Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State.

The graduate of Accountancy from Anwai campus of the Delta State University was said to have browsed with his handset for about an hour on the eve of his death before heading to the church for a night vigil where he was said to be a choir master.

He was said to have slummed and died almost immediately midway into the vigil while leading the choristers in a song.

According to Vanguard, an eye witness said when he fell, he was thought to be under the influence of the Holy Spirit, but after waiting for about 20 minutes and he was not getting up, some of the choristers tried to help him up only to find out that he was already dead, at exactly 11.30pm that day.

The Pastor of the church, Pastor Peter Akpovwera, expressed shock at the incident, saying “the brother was a faithful worshipper but lost his life to the cold hand of death even in the church.”

His younger brother, Mr Godday Akevwighome, said the victim was serving in Anambra state as at the time of his untimely death.

DAVIDO IS HOSPITALISED FOLLOWING BABY DRAMA ALLEGATIONS

The 'Aye' singer disclosed via Snapchat that he has been hospitalised in a Lagos Hospital.
However, he did not reveal the name of the Hospital or the nature of the ailment he was diagnosed with but he did say he will soon be discharged.

It has been a very stressful week for the 23year old, following the war between himself and his Baby Mama, Sophie and also Dele Momodu, his Baby mama's Uncle. Who knows, it might have been what landed him on the sick bed.

Stress they say, is your body's way of responding to any kind of demand, it can be caused by both good and bad experiences.



Get well soon Davido....

AMBODE SHUTS DOWN POPULAR OSHODI MARKET OVER TRANSFORMATION AND INSECURITY

Lagos State Government has shut Owonifari market within the notorious loop of Oshodi, Oshodi/Isolo Local Government, aimed at addressing the security challenges in the axis,

Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde,  disclosed in Lagos on Tuesday.

According to him,  lamented that the market has constituted a menace and an eyesore within the locality. He said however that

traders and shop owners affected by the action have been relocated to the  to the newly built Isopakodowo market stalls at Bolade area in Oshodi.

Ayorinde, who made this disclosure in a statement, said further that the government had also commenced the fencing-off of the set-back on Agege Motor Road that stretches from Ilupeju end of Oshodi all the way to the PWD/Ikeja GRA end of the area.

He said that the Owonifari loop will be transformed into an ultra modern bus terminus with new bus shelters that are befitting of a structured park in a mega city.

It added that the fencing-off of the long stretch of the set-back is being undertaken to assist the Federal Government and the Nigerian Railway Corporation in particular with a view to beautifying it and safeguard lives along the railway corridor by discouraging street trading and indiscriminate use of the space.

Ayorinde said the ongoing fencing-off and beautification of the road set-back from Ilupeju bypass to PWD/Ikeja GRA would constitute the first phase of the transformation of the Oshodi area. The second phase, he added, would begin from PWD/Ikeja GRA and stretch all the way to Agege/Pen cinema axis.

He stated further that Lagosians should expect from this transformation exercise, a new Oshodi that will be sane and safe and where both traders and commuters would be pleased to visit and trade.

The commissioner assured that the traders being relocated have been properly allocated shops within the Isopakodowo market and that the demolition of the loop is in the best interest of the people who should expect a world-class bus terminus there.

It will be recalled that the State Government often arrest hoodlums in Oshodi to stem the activities of petty thieves who often deprive commuters of their property.

Source: thenigerianvoice.com