My Close Shave With Rape

After writing countless number of application letters and
sitting for some tests in 1995, I was directed to the office of a
prominent Nigerian for a job. As the door closed behind me, I
noticed that it was an electric door, because the man
controlled it with a button on his large desk.
Greetings over, I sat down and stated my mission. He looked
at my result, commended it profusely, and promised to fix me
up. A ray of hope glimmered in my heart. A job was finally
in the horizon, I told myself. Then the music changed. His
tone changed and he became chatty and chummy. He began to
pry into my private life, asking about my girlfriend. I was
uncomfortable. Seeing that I was not forth-coming with
details, he reeled out a chain of stories of his sexual escapes
with girls. I was no longer at ease. My discomfort mounted.
But I tried to relax. Soon after, things fell apart: he stripped
and asked me to strip so he could see my manhood. My jaw
dropped. I knew that this handshake had gone beyond the
elbow. Time to leave, I told myself. But how would I do it
without annoying this Big Man, especially one that had
promised to fix me up with a job? I chose to bide my time.
He went on with other overtures and demands, cajoling me
and making other promises, but I continued to ask him with
all the respect I could muster to stop it. Sensing that his words
were not effective, he brought out some pornographic
magazines from his drawer and dropped them on the table
before me, opened. I stood up and told him that I wanted to
leave.
I was not sure how he would react, but a few things made me
certain that he would be circumspect with me. First was that I
could hear the voices of his staff in the outer office. He would
not want me to shout, even though I was convinced his staff
knew what their boss did behind closed doors. Secondly, he
was a person who had held a federal appointment, and would
not want a scandal, and I had made up my mind to see Chief
Gani Fawehinmi if the man had used force on me. Thirdly, he
was a member of the elite group of his noble profession, and
he would not like his image tarnished.
He pretended to have been hurt and wondered why I could not
do such "a simple thing" for "Chief" who had been so nice to
me and had promised to do other special things for me. I
thanked him for his kindness and asked him to open the door.
I knew that my CV and credentials that I left with him would
be shredded once I walked out of the door.