Rape victims yesterday converged on the
National Assembly complex Abuja to seek accelerated passage of the Sexual
Offences Bill.
The Bill has been pending at the two chambers
of the National Assembly for over two years.
Lawmakers, particularly the women, fought
back tears yesterday as they listened to the pathetic stories of the rape
victims.
The affected ladies shared their experiences
in the hands of their violators.
They were at the legislative complex to
inform senators and House of Representatives members on the need to pass the
Bill to prevent further sexual offences.
The rape victims took part in a mock
tribunal/court proceeding on sexual and gender based violence, anchored by the
National Assembly Women Affairs Committee and the Legislative Advocacy Coalition
for Violence in Nigeria.
The ladies painfully recalled how they were
sexually assaulted by men, who were old enough to be their fathers.
They also recalled how their efforts to seek
redress in courts were frustrated because of weak laws against such crime or a
lack of such laws.
The violated women, who covered their faces
when they gave details of how they were sexually assaulted, urged the women
lawmakers to save other ladies – either of their ages or much younger than them
– from sexual assault.
Senator Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos Central) and
Senator Chris Anyanwu (Imo East), who received the distraught women, described
rape as the most wicked crime against the womenfolk.
The senators vowed to use the legislative
machinery available to them to ensure that relevant bills, which seek to
protect women and children against violence, are passed before the end of the
current legislative year.
The Founding Director of Women Aid Collective
Dr. Joy Ezeilo said the purpose of the mock tribunal/court was to spotlight
cases of gender-based violence in Nigeria.
Ezeilo said the organisers also wanted to use
the event to raise the voices of the victims and survivors to take urgent
action on the appropriate laws that would protect women and vulnerable groups.
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Society