Some public figures want prostitution to be legalized- Imeh Bishop Umoh

Comic actor, Imeh Bishop Umoh, popularly known as Okon Lagos, was recently condemned for a video he posted about some policemen who allegedly raped some prostitutes in Abuja. In the video, he described what the policemen did as similar to stealing.

This obviously did not go down well with a lot of Nigerians on social media, who accused him of trying to justify rape.

Okon noted that he was misinterpreted, adding that some public figures in Nigeria want prostitution to be legalized.

Hear him: “The issue people had with what I said was that I likened rape to theft and that I said prostitutes do not have dignity. My assertion was to clarify the fact that raping a prostitute is theft and they don’t have dignity. My assertion is metaphorical. If I wanted to use a simile, I would say rape is like theft. Rape is taking a woman’s dignity without her consent. I don’t regret saying that prostitutes do not have dignity; no one would be proud to introduce themselves as a commercial sex hawker.

“I wanted to be fair in my analysis; I was trying to point out the fact that prostitution is a wrong act, so we shouldn’t be malicious by talking about only rape. Why are we canonising one criminal act and demonising the other? Both acts are morally wrong. I believe in humanism; as humans, we should observe the golden rule. I am not trying to say that I am a saint; in fact, I don’t want to be one so that there would be a difference between Jesus and me. It is unfortunate that some women were raped by policemen.

“I am not saying it serves them right, but I am also concerned about the immoral act; prostitution. The level of moral decadence in the country is worrisome. I even saw some public figures with verified social media accounts supporting the idea that prostitution should be legalised; I don’t want to call names. I won’t make comments about something insensitive like that. Rape is bad, but prostitution should be addressed as an issue as well,” he said.