I am tired of marching against rape, says Bisi Fayemi

….says it is difficult to overcome the scourge due to the culture of impunity in Nigeria

By Rotimi Ojomoyela

The Ekiti State First Lady, Mrs Bisi Fayemi, has said the state has found it difficult to overcome the increasing incidences of rape due to highly entrenched culture of impunity among the perpetrators. Fayemi said the fact that those perpetrating the act and other evils like child trafficking and all forms of molestations against women, had not been punished made the fight against the social ill looks unattainable.

Mrs Fayemi spoke in Ado Ekiti on Thursday during a rally organised against rape by stakeholders being part of the 16 days programmes of the government to combat the scourge. The First expressed worries over increasing rape of minors in Ekiti, particularly by those who were old enough to be grandfathers. The first lady urged the victims to speak up and refuse to die in silence to make rape easier to overcome. “There are laws in the land that had been promulgated against violence against women, child trafficking and rape. Some people have been convicted through these laws.

“Don’t keep cases of violence against you secret, speak up. Try and learn how to dignify yourself. Make sure your families are in peace, don’t die in silence

“This is why we are creating more awareness across the 16 local government areas of the state. Even many of those who ought to have information about rape is not having them.

“As I stand here, I am already tired of matching against rape. It has been difficult to overcome the scourge because of culture of impunity in Nigeria. The perpetrators were being emboldened because they suffered no punishment over their wrongdoings.

“We are doing this awareness to let our people understand that there is a penalty for rape. We have reviewed the Gender-Based Violence Prohibition Law, it has been amended and it now carries life sentence instead of five years jail term.

“We are going to put a number on WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook that victims can contact while in distress to bail them out when they suffer any violence”.