THE NATION
Founder of Jewel Hive Initiative, Oluwatoyin Falaiye has opened up on how she was allegedly raped by a neighbour’s son and her adopted father.
Falaiye in an interview with Chude Jideonwo, host of #WithChude, discussed dealing with and surviving adversities and her new book: “Diamond in the Rough.”
She recounted leaving her village in Akure, Ondo State to visit her aunt in Lagos, who later adopted her.
After the visit, Falaiye insisted she wanted to stay back in Lagos, being fascinated by the new sights and experiences she had.
She said: “At the age of 10, I was raped by a neighbour’s son.
“As a young girl who had just left her village and was new to the ways of the city, I had no understanding of what it meant to be a virgin or to experience bleeding as a result of rape.
“I just felt a boy had injured me.
“After the incident, the neighbour scolded the boy and sent him away.
“The neighbour then cleaned me up and warned me not to tell anyone about what happened.
“I wish my story ended there.
“However, two years later, my adopted father began to molest me, and that went on for seven years – night after night.
“It’s almost always unbelievable to explain to people that there was someone who came for your body for seven years.
“The days I escaped being abused were the days when I started menstruating, those were my days off from abuse.
“I’ve also had questions like: ‘Why didn’t you tell anyone?’
“Well, I was threatened not to tell anyone, and that if I did, I would be sent back to the village and would die after seven days.
“I didn’t want to die, and I didn’t want to go back to the village.
“Furthermore, despite attending a public school in Festac town, Lagos, I was already the bright student in my class.
“I always used to say, sexual abuse was the price I had to pay to get an education.”
Falaiyee also shared that dealing with abuse for seven years made her attempt suicide.
She said: “The abuse went on for seven long years and was killing me – I was dying slowly.
“I attempted my first suicide at the age of 15, I remember that day vividly.
“It was the day of the Ikeja cantonment bomb and mummy (my aunt) wasn’t coming back that night.
