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.
Source: The Nation
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