Sharon Osaji writes about how women have continued to be targets of harassment in major markets in the country and the fight to break the cycle
It was Lolade Ishola’s first time at the Yaba Market in Lagos. The 18-year-old was in her second year at a private university when she and her friends decided to visit the market, popular for affordable women’s wear.
Ishola, who claimed to be from a comfortable family background, was not used to being out of her parents’ sight without close monitoring.
Schools were on break, and she seized the opportunity to explore Lagos with her friends before she would go to the outskirts of town, Ikorodu, where her parents lived.
Despite being in the university, she was not allowed to go out with friends often and was not familiar with commercial buses for transportation.
Whenever she was allowed to go out, her parents always ensured that she was chauffeur-driven.
The young lady, full of life and eager to explore the world for herself, was not going to miss out on this opportunity.
“We were supposed to go to Yaba Market to shop for some clothes and footwear and afterward visit a cinema on the Island before going for a beach party later that evening,” Ishola told this reporter.
But the market first-timer was about to experience what was going to be one of the worst days of her life.
“We entered one of those popular yellow, danfo buses (commercial buses) to Yaba, from around Magodo where one of my friends, who organised the hangout, lived.
“We were supposed to take a taxi, but because they wanted me to experience how danfo buses were, we decided to take a bus. I was excited for the adventure that awaited me that day,” she said.
However, when Ishola and her friends arrived at the market, her excitement was almost immediately quenched.
“When we alighted from the bus, two men approached us immediately, asking us what we wanted to buy and marketing what they sold. They started touching us to get our attention. But I and my two friends tried to stay together by holding hands.
“In seconds, they became four men, all talking at the same time. One of them grabbed my friend, Bisi’s hand, but she immediately shook it off. We then paused to cross the road. It was then one of the men, I don’t know who, grabbed my butt and squeezed it,” Ishola shook her head as she recounted the ordeal.
Ishola, now 26, said she could not move after the incident as she was in shock.
She added, “I turned back and looked at the men behind me. They were already like six if I’m not mistaken, with some bus conductors standing around. Tears immediately started flowing down my eyes.
“My friends asked me what happened and I told them. I felt raped. I felt small. I felt less than a woman. I felt like my dignity was stolen. It was a very bad experience. We immediately left the market in a cab. Our day was over and the next day, I went home to my parents.”
Ishola said the incident happened in 2015 and she had never visited the market again until this Wednesday her path crossed with our correspondent.
Even though many years had passed, she said the incident was still fresh in her memory, which prompted her to come to the market with her husband this time around.
“The only reason I decided to come to Yaba Market today since the incident was because I was redirected here from another market to get what I had been looking for. And because it’s my first time since 2015, I decided to come with my husband to protect me.
“It’s so coincidental that I’m having an interview about my experience today,” she added.
Another woman in the market’s stock jeans section, Sherifat Momodu, said she was already used to the way the market men behaved.
Momodu, who claimed to live in Yaba, however, noted that in recent times, the men had been more cautious as more women had raised concerns about sexual molestation.
She said, “The way men behave in the market is nothing new; it has been so for a very long time. They are always ready to grab the first woman they see in order to get her attention and market their goods. Not all of them mean bad, they just want to make sales.”
She continued, “I am on the big side and every time I come to Yaba, I always warn the male traders to leave me alone, but I haven’t been touched in sensitive places; just on my hands and they call me names like ‘Big mama’, ‘Orobo’ (fat person).
“But lately, I have noticed that their advances and that style of marketing have really reduced. Even if one of them starts misbehaving, the others will caution him to stop.”
Also, when Sunday PUNCH visited the market, it was observed that many of the male traders refrained from touching females that paraded the busy area in search of goods.
Instead, they walked beside or in front trying to convince the prospective customer to head to their shops.
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