Delta: Womanifesto slams Ozoro festival attacks on women,

From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

Women’s rights coalition, Womanifesto, has issued a scathing condemnation of what it calls an “ongoing campaign of sexual violence” against women during a so-called traditional festival in Ozoro, Delta State. In a statement released on Friday, and signed by Co-Founder of Womanifesto, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, the group expressed “absolute horror and outrage” over social media videos showing women stripped naked in public and mobbed by groups of men.

“This is not our culture. This is organised, institutionalised rape culture, and it must be named as such,” the statement declared.

Womanifesto highlighted reports that the festival decrees women found outside after noon are “fair game for molestation and attack,” labelling it a seven-day “pogrom against women.” The group stressed: “No tradition, no deity, no community elder, and no cultural practice has the authority to suspend the bodily autonomy of women.”

Citing Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution and the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015, the coalition affirmed that rights to dignity, freedom of movement, and protection from inhumane treatment “do not evaporate at noon.” It condemned perpetrators, community leaders who sanction the violence, and bystanders who filmed the assaults.

Womanifesto demanded immediate action: – Delta State Government deployment of security to halt attacks and protect women; arrests and prosecutions by the Inspector-General of Police and Delta Commissioner of Police, using video evidence; a federal government statement affirming constitutional rights over festivals; public disavowal by traditional rulers and leaders; and health care for survivors from the State Ministry of Health.

The group also urged civil society, the National Human Rights Commission, and UN bodies to respond urgently, treating the videos as “evidence of crimes in progress.”