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Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
The Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation and Senator representing Anambra North senatorial zone Senator Stella Adaeze Oduah has called on law enforcement agents to intensify the efforts to bring perpetrators of evil rape in the country to book.
Oduah said that in as much as there were laws in place, there should be need to revisit them to ensure their provisions were adequate as well as instituting a register for offenders and promulgating more strident laws to punish and deter evil individuals.
The Senate while reacting to the incessant rape in the country, in a statement expressed deep concern over the high rate of rape to death in the country and called the security agents to wake up to the challenge in order to stop evil act in our society.
“My heart was torn from me at the news of the rape and death of Miss Vera Omozuwa and even more by the gory pictures of her and I could only imagine the pain and suffering she went through before her eventual demise. Days ago, the news of the rape and subsequent murder of Bakarat in Oyo state reached us as well.
“Unfortunately, things like this happened and continue to happen in Nigeria. These cases are but two in the face of thousands if not millions of girls and women who have had to suffer such pain at the hands of monsters who bat no eyelid in trading their lives for minutes of pleasure.
“It is even more disheartening to think that those who commit this dastardly act walk the streets unchecked. It is even worse for survivors who have to relive the horror of their encounter every day of their life.
Statistics show that 8 out of every 10 women have been sexually assaulted and it is not right that every woman and girl should walk around on God’s green earth with the fear that every man she encounters may be a threat.
“It is not right that every woman or girl should become wary of her teacher, friend, classmate, acquaintance, uncle, brother, and even father as has sadly been proven to be the case. It should not be the case that when a woman is raped, we as a society start asking questions as to what she wore and what purpose took her to the place where she was raped.
“It is in no way ideal that a woman should be made a double victim; a victim of rape and a victim of slander. It is not fair that a woman should suffer stigma for the act which she never wanted to happen, while the perpetrator walks free unscathed. It is also true that men get sexually assaulted too but in all of these scenarios, it is the woman, who is mostly the victim who comes out worse for it.
“We need to inculcate values such as restraint, respecting personal boundaries and seeking consent. We need to educate our children on the need to respect and honor the human body. We need to open the eyes of our youths to the pain rape victims go though. We need to enforce stricter sanctions on the undesirable elements who would go ahead to foment these terrible acts on hapless victims, and we must also teach the importance of consent.
“Since 1973, Nigeria has had only 65 convicted rape cases. 32 took place before 2015, while 33 was after 2015 and at this rate, Rape will not stop. We need to put our feet down and start reporting rape cases. We should educate ourselves and know that victim blaming is not the way to go as a society. We ought to encourage and put in more effort to bring rapists to book” Oduah stated.
