Gender-based violence (GBV) is present in every society around the world and takes many forms. As a violation of human rights, we have a moral imperative to stop all forms of violence against women and girls. In crisis, whether conflict or natural disaster, the risk of GBV increases, thus our collective need to act to prevent GBV before it happens or respond to the needs of women and girls when it does.
According to the Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARC) incident reporting, most cases of sexual offences are committed against females (79 per cent) and young people under 18 years old (77 per cent).
SARC said at least 5,623 cases of gender-based violence were recorded within four years, between January 2018 and July 2022, in Nigeria’s Northeastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
GBV is an umbrella term for harmful acts of abuse perpetrated against a person’s will and rooted in a system of unequal power between women and men. This is true for both conflict-affected and non-conflict settings.
The UN defines violence against women as, ‘Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.
What prompted me to write this piece is how the Nigeria police in Maiduguri allegedly swept the case of one Fatima under the carpet.
Fatima, a 17-year-old girl, was allegedly raped last year in August on her way back from Mulai in the afternoon after attending a wedding. Initially, her mother tried not to inform people concerned to avoid trauma.
But shortly after, Fatima took ill and the suspected rapists promised the mother that they would provide the necessary support to Fatima until she was alright and the mother agreed to this. The mother continued to take care of her sick daughter but the sickness persisted and even became worse that the mother could no longer keep it a secret. Consequently, the suspects fled from the town on getting the information.
On the ill-fated night, Fatima’s mother tried to take her to the hospital but it was too late. Fatima died. A Day after her burial at Sulemanti, the Civilian Joint Task Force, aka Boys, raised the matter at the Police GRA district. The police arrived at the victim’s residence and made some interrogation after which the police never returned up to the time of writing this.
Unfortunately, the suspected rapists have returned home and there has been no arrest or any action against them; they roaming the streets of Maiduguri, Borno state, freely.
Therefore, I call on the authorities concerned to arrest the suspected criminals since some of them are now in Maiduguri. If they are not arrested, they will continue to unleash terror on innocent people.
Mustapha Yajiwa,
Maiduguri, Borno state 07010312564
