REJOINDERS PLEASE ( ANITA HOGAN )

Source: nigeriafilms.com

I really don't feel like writing today. I'm unhappy. I feel let down, disgraced. I'm, in fact, mourning a serious assault on womanhood. Some men have been gloating all week and for one once, I feel like burying my head in shame. It's a terrible feeling, the type I'm not used to.

It's about Anita Hogan, an actress, and the nude pictures published in an evening newspaper on August 11. My heart bleeds, my eyes weep. There have been all kinds of reactions to the sickening photographs. Was it ethical and decent to have published those photographs?

Was it decent for a 'proper' girl to have posed for those shots?
Was she being blackmailed and if yes, did she pay to keep those photographs out of public eye? If she did pay, does that imply that she was ashamed or simply scared?

If I were Anita, I'd be scared and ashamed to be found in the situation she'd found herself. It's such a sticky situation. Perhaps the newspaper shouldn't have published because it's not fair, but we live in an unfair world. Perhaps the publication was actionable but I doubt if going to court will erase the impression and images those photographs have etched on our minds. And that is the worst part of this whole misadventure.

The deed's been done. We can't wind back the hands of the clock.
Of course, people do all kinds of things for kicks and there is no reason to sit in judgment. That does not however make the whole scenario sane or decent. But since this is not a court of law or a column to pass judgment, I'll stick to my pains and worries.

Since Anita's lawyer insists that the man she posed for was her boyfriend or fiancÈ, I challenge him to come out and corroborate that story. Did they have a fling or a true-blue relationship? What kind of fiancÈ does this kind of thing to the woman he loves (d)? Then, what kind of girl poses nude for a man, any kind of man, and allows him to keep the pictures!

Was it smart to give a computer or laptop with such sensitive materials to somebody to repair in your absence?
In this unfair, hungry world of ours. No.

I think if Anita has come out smoking and calling everybody's bluff, we probably would have eventually learnt to ignore the whole hara-kiri, after all we've put the antics of the one who shoots her breast in our faces behind us. But I'm too 'bush' to comprehend a fiancÈ doing this to a woman. I hereby dare this Oyinbo loverboy to come out and save Anita and what is remaining of her reputation.
She has admitted that the photographs were of her in 'very incriminating manner' . So , was that Anita Hogan or someone else, some computer manipulation perhaps?

Anita has two university degrees, I hear. I know she speaks Yoruba and has acted in both Yoruba and English movies. Why would she want to pose nude for anybody at all? If this fiancÈ of hers doesn't come out to defend her, what does she expect the world to say, think of a girl, who had so much ahead of her and threw it all away. Or didn't she? I'm so angry this is happening I'm probably not thinking straight.

Was Anita in love? Did she do it for money? Sure a woman in love is a fool but this level of foolishness is just the height of it. If you ask me, that the photoprahs were published is not the problem, it was that they were taken at all. And the solution is how Anita will live it down, be rehabilitated and get back on her feet.
Let me reiterate once again that Anita's fiancÈ will be given space to state his case. I'll gladly publish an interview with him. And if he doesn't, I won't dwell on the fact that Anita was fooled but that once again, a man has taken advantage of a woman and betrayed her.

Let's wait and see how this plays out.

• Rejoinders please