The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Mohammed Adamu has called for improved partnership, strategy and joint operations by the Police and other relevant stakeholders to stage a common front against rape, child molestation, trafficking in person and other sexual-based violence in the country.
According to a statement issued on Thursday by the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba (DCP) The IGP made this, today, 11th June, 2020 at the Force Headquarters, Abuja during a tripartite meeting held between the Police Chief and the Heads of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) – Dame Julie Okah Donli and Tony Ojukwu respectively.
The IGP, while noting that rape and other sexual offences have become a menace, not only in the country but globally, assures that the Force is repositioning Gender-Desk offices in all Police Commands to effectively investigate cases of gender-based violence and ensure that perpetrators do not go unpunished. He further assured of an enhanced working relationship with NAPTIP and the NHRC to evolve a proactive and comprehensive National Response to the issues of Sexual Offences in the country.
Also in attendance at the meeting were, the Rule of Law Adviser – Office of the Vice President, Fatima Waziri, Members of the Police Management Team, the Commissioner of Police in-charge of INTERPOL, the Force Gender Officer and others.
The development was necessitated by the increasing cases of rape, pedophilia and incest which stirred public outrage as more women and girls have been raped and in some cases killed by the perpetrators in recent weeks in the country.
The rape case has continued generate angry reactions across the Country is the recent rape and killing of a 22-year-old University of Benin (Uniben) student, Vera Uwa Omozuwa in a church in Benin City, Edo state last week.
While the outcry and demand for justice for the Uniben student had hardly died down, another sad incident was reported from Ibadan, Oyo state when 18-year-old Barakat Bello was raped and killed by yet to be identified persons in her father’s house last week.
Then the situation was made worse by ugly news of the violation of a 12 -year-old by a 57-year-old man and his accomplices in Jigawa state also last week.
Sometime last year, the story of Ogbanje Ochanya, a 13-year-old orphan girl broke so many hearts. Ochanya was raped by a man she called father and the situation was even more painful when it was discovered that the man’s son also repeatedly raped the minor until she lost her life.
The countless cases of rape prompted stakeholders to analyze the situation in order to address the menace as some have gone as far as suggesting extreme forms of punishment against the perpetrators.
