Waging war against scourge of rape, sexual violence

Last week, an Ikeja magistrate’s court in Lagos remanded a 33-year-old unemployed man, Riliwan Salim, in a correctional facility for allegedly defiling a five-year-old girl.
Prosecutor, ASP Bisi Ogunleye, told the court that the defendant committed the offence on June 20 at his residence.
Magistrate, Mrs. E. Kubeinje, who did not take the defendant’s plea, ordered that the defendant be kept in the Kirikiri Correctional Centre, pending the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) advice.
Also last week, a resident of Yobe State, Mallam Saidu Yusuf, 70, was arrested for sexually defiling his 12-year-old granddaughter in Pompomari ward of Damaturu, the state capital.
In Ondo State, a 24-year-old farmer has likewise been arraigned at an Akure magistrate’s court for allegedly raping a 50-year-old grandmother. The suspect, Haruna Mohammed, was arraigned on a one-count charge of rape.
The Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, within the same time frame, sentenced Emmanuel Idoko, a 37-year-old commercial motorcyclist, to 20 years imprisonment for sexually assaulting his 12-year-old daughter. For 16-year-old Blessing Dennis, she was not only mercilessly gang-raped, the incident got her pregnant, and infected with HIV, a status she must live with for the rest of her life.
Equally, last week, a surveyor, John Otema, was convicted and sentenced to 50 years imprisonment for raping a 19-year-old student of the University of Lagos (UNILAG). He also physically assaulted the student by hitting her several times on the face.
Meanwhile, a chief magistrate’s court sitting in Minna, Niger State, has sentenced two Islamic clerics to 22 years imprisonment for raping four girls. The clerics, siblings Hassan Bilyaminu and Abdullahi Biliyaminu, were said to have raped the minors who were under their tutelage in their Islamic school located in Minna. The judge had also wondered what rapists derived from assaulting and defiling little girls, saying it should no longer be condoned.
“One wonders what people like the convicts derived from assaulting and defiling little girls. This has gone berserk; there must be more to this pandemic of sexual assault on little children,” she said.
Also, early this month, the police arrested the village head, Baale of Oose Agbedu Ajibawo in Owode-Yewa area of Ogun State, Rasheed Sholabi, for having carnal knowledge of his 15-year-old daughter. He was reported to have been having sex with her since she was 11 years old as a result of which she now finds it difficult to control her urinary system.
There was also the case of a pastor arrested for impregnating two underage sisters, and a police officer who abducted, and raped woman for not wearing face mask.
The rape menace seems not to have respect for age, educational background, religion, region of the country or tribe, as the cases cut across every part of the country.

COVID-19 contributes to increase in rape

Statistics showed that Nigeria recorded 717 rape cases in five months, between January to May this year. According to the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, 799 suspects have so far been arrested, 631 cases have been conclusively investigated and charged to court, while 52 cases are still being investigated.
The police opined that the movement restrictions put in place because of COVID-19 may have contributed to the increase in reported rape cases across Nigeria.
In spite of the widespread outcry over the rising cases of rape in Nigeria, there seems to be no end to the menace. There is no day in the country without a reported case of sexual violence, especially rape. Nigerians were also full of rage on the sexual violation and murder of a 22-year-old University of Benin undergraduate, which was also closely followed by another in Ibadan.

TUC Women campaign

It was against this background and to lend its voice in the efforts to nip in the bud cases of rape and all forms of gender-based violence in the country that the Women Commission of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) is partnering with Senator Oluremi Tinubu to ensure the Criminal Code Act, as amended, is passed into law.
The Criminal Code Act, Cap. C38, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (SB.02), was sponsored by Senator Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos Central Senatorial District) on September 24, 2019.
The Women Commission said it is also working with the National Assembly and Ministry of Labour and Employment for Nigeria to ratify the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention (C)190 seeking to end violence and harassment in the workplace.
The commission last week organised a one-day workshop as well as a protest in Lagos to draw the attention of Nigerians to the scourge ravaging the society.

ILO Convention 190 on violence, harassment at work

The International Labour Organization (ILO) last year at its Centenary International Labour Conference (ILC) has adopted a new Convention and Recommendation to combat violence and harassment in the workplace.
The new international labour standard to combat violence, harassment, at work was first ratified by Uruguay.
The Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019, and Violence and Harassment Recommendation, 2019, were adopted by delegates on the final day of the Centenary International Labour Conference, in Geneva.
For the convention, 439 votes were cast in favour, seven against, with 30 abstentions. The Recommendation was passed with 397 votes in favour, 12 votes against and 44 abstentions.
“The new standards recognize the right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment.”
Organised labour in Nigeria has been pushing for the country’s ratification of the convention.
Deputy president of the TUC, Oyinkan Olasanoye, speaking during the campaign, titled “Say no to rape and all forms of gender based violence”, organised by the Women Commission of the TUC held across the federation, said the group is creating more awareness and working assiduously to ensure the rape and domestic violence bill becomes law and ILO C190 is domesticated.
Oyinkan, a former chairperson of the TUC Women Commission, said: “On the ILO Convention 190, we are working on advocacy and leveraging on the bill. COVID-19 has delayed the passage of the act, reason we are still working on it. Latest, by September or October, we should hear more on it, because all the women commission of the labour centres are working together to ensure the bill comes to limelight.”
In her welcome address, national chairperson, TUC Women Commission, Hafsat Shaibu, read by the chairman of women commission in Lagos State Council, Oluyemisi Oyejide, who condemned rape and all forms of gender based violence, said the heinous act has eaten deep into society like a cankerworm.
Calling on all citizens to join hands to wipe the menace out, as anyone could be a victim, she said that sexual crimes are majorly perpetrated against women and girls, or a group of persons that are vulnerable because of their gender.
She urged victims to speak out against all odds, adding that parents should always keep an eye on their wards, and also be their children’s friends.
Shaibu recommended that perpetrators should be brought to book by serving on them stiffer penalties and reintegrating the victims into society.
Research, however, revealed that global statistics of rape cases are not clear, as most cases are never reported. She noted further that report has it that rape cases skyrocketed during the lockdown, representing over 300 per cent increase when compared to previous cases.
“It is disheartening to see the perpetrators of these evil acts going about their normal lives, as if they never did anything wrong, leaving the large number of victims and few survivors in a society where they are stigmatised, called all sorts of names and above all faced with an already failed future.
“We are calling on each and every Nigerian to join in the efforts to tackle rape and sexual violence by protecting specifically the women and the girl child, ensuring prompt report of cases, seeking justice for the abused and punishing severely the perpetrators. Silence should not be an option in any case,” Shaibu said.
A speaker at the event, co-ordinator, Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT), Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, tasked parents on the need to change the narrative of raising their children to avoid domestic violence. According to her, to put a stop to sexual and gender-based violence, “We need to do a lot of sensitisation, create awareness and increase offender responsibility by ensuring that people are prosecuted for these offenses, especially on defilement of children.
She said offenders in Lagos now face life imprisonment to serve as deterrent.
“We need to increase access to information; a lot of people are still unaware about support services, toll lines that are available and offices they can visit to report such cases.
“On breaking culture of silence, immediately a sexual assault occurs, the first thing to do is to go to a medical facility to receive medical attention and when we are able to collect evidence and samples for DNA, we start solving cases using forensic, to avoid cases of denial,” she said.
She spoke further about the impact of domestic violence on the survivors, how to recognise signs of domestic violence, reduce child abuse, handle sexual abuse and what the law says in handling issues of such among others.

Protest at Lagos Assembly

After the workshop, the Women Commission moved to the Lagos State House of Assembly, where they staged a peaceful protest against rape and sexual harrassment in the country.
The women, numbering about 50, accompanied by some men, were led by the chairperson of the group, Comrade Oluyemisi Oyejide.
The protesters chanted solidarity songs and displayed placards with inscriptions such as, “women are not sex toys,” “any gender can be a victim of rape,” “say no to rape,” “start raising responsible children,” “no to rape is a collective responsibility,” and “future mothers deserve protection,” among others.
Oyejide said the group were at the Assembly to tell the Speaker to provide stiffer penalty for rape cases.
“We want the Speaker to put in place penalties to deal with rapists because justice delayed is justice denied.
“Most times, rapists go scot free and others would go into it. I learnt that sex offenders law is in Lagos State so they should try and merge it with that of the federal government.
“If there is a data base for offenders, those who commit the offence in one state would not be able to go to another state to commit another offence,” she said.
“We are at the Assembly to tell our government about issues affecting rape. The Inspector General of Police said that there were about 730 rape cases between January and May this year.
“We felt it was lockdown that led to the increase then, but we discovered that rape cases keep increasing after lockdown.
“We want to appeal to our government that whenever a rape case is reported the alleged rapist should be prosecuted immediately to serve as a deterrent to others,” she said.
She explained that when people see a rapist go free they would feel there is no big deal about it, but when a rapist is punished others would be careful.
The Chairperson emphasised that by now there should be over 1,000 rape cases in Nigeria in 2020, which she said is on the high side now.
“We want to encourage people to come out to talk about rape, especially the victims, it is an emotional thing,” she stated.
In his response, a member of the Assembly, Victor Akande, who represented the Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa said that the Assembly would expedite action on the women’s request.
He said, “We want to thank you for coming to the State House of Assembly and for the way you have conducted yourselves and what you are doing is to protect our mothers and daughters.
“We have a law that we wanted to amend and one of our members made a suggestion on it and Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu also came up with a bill on rape.
“I promise you that within a short period of time we will ensure that the rape law is amended to capture every facet that has to do with rape. We will soon have a data base so that we can liase with other states on rape cases.”
With the case skyrocketting on daily basis, there’s no doubt that government needs to rise to the occasion and deal with it decisively. Creation of Sex offenders Registers, is now more than necessary, while the police also need to expedite action on the cases to build citizens confidence to report cases as well as assurance of justice for the victims.