Leading Nollywood actor, Omoni Oboli has said that the recently released movie, Code of Silence in which she played Myra, a lawyer and counselor of women who have experience rape and violence encourages members of the society to expose rapists.
Explaining what she thinks society must do to tackle the evil, the Delta State born actor said: “We should make them know that it’s not a taboo to talk about it. It’s not because of anything they did or didn’t do. You could be dressed as nuns and still get raped.
“Whether they are women or men (men also sometimes get raped), we must as a society ensure that they have a voice and not stigmatise them.
“It is because the rapist is sick in his mind, because they think they want to control other human beings and the way they know how they do that best is to rape people so we need to make victims understand that and let them talk about it because the more they are able to talk about it, the more we expose these things, the more people will realise that there would be some naming and shaming here, I might as well not do this…”
In addition to this, she said that the laws against rape must be stringent such that it will deter people from committing the crime.
Speaking about how she drew the strength for her role in the Emem Isong directed movie, Oboli, explained that she drew strength from the stories and testimonies of a lot of victims that she has either read or heard about and that the picture of a man pinning women down and forcing himself on her is enough to made anyone shudder.
She expressed the hope that the movie would encourage people to speak out more about rape and help with the eradication of the tendency.
Code of Silence, full of doses of the comedic in spite of the graveness of the issue it discusses is the story of a teenage University girl who was raped by an old political actor in her community and one of his aids.
The chief rapist did not stop at just defiling the otherwise happy and easy going girl; he threatens death upon her family and friends if she ever reveals the encounter to anyone.
Going ahead to break the silence imposed on her by the old man is what spirals into the confusion that hits the community in the aftermath of the evil done the innocent girl.
Makida Moka, the new entrant into the industry gives a good account of herself as Adanma, the young girl who, after suffering trauma, sees her world fall apart.
The movie also addresses reproductive health issues like family planning.
Written by Bola Aduwo and directed by Emem Isong, Code of Silence has an ensemble cast of Patience Ozokwor, Desmond Elliot, Ini Edo, Omoni Oboli, Amechi Muonagor and Shawn Faqua alongside Makida Moka and Bimbo Peters.
It currently shows at cinemas across the country and on Iroko Tv.
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