The Nigeria Police said it had arrested about 799 suspected rapists and other gender-based violence across the country between January to May of this year.
Mohammed Adamu, the inspector-general of Police, disclosed this to State House Correspondents on Monday, June 15, 2020, after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in the Presidential Villa.
According to him, it had been observed that the lockdown occasioned by the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, had given birth to a rise in rape and gender-based violence cases across the country, although they had always been there as forms of criminal activities.
Adamu, who explained that the briefing on the activities of the police in curtailing the crime became necessary because many members of the public were not aware of the Police efforts in combating them, explained that it had become known that those engaged in them, especially rape, were doing it for various reasons, including for ritual purposes.
The IGP, however, tasked members of the general public to collaborate with security agencies to combat the menace of rape and other forms of gender-based violence in the country, adding that the police and other security agencies, in collaboration with non-government organizations, were working to see that these crimes were stamped out.
“It has come to the public knowledge now that because of the COVID-19 restrictions, we have a surge in cases of rape and gender-based violence. These are cases that are now coming up, but we want to let members of the public know that, rape and gender-based violence has been there.
“The law enforcement agents have been dealing with these cases, in most cases, members of the public are not aware of the actions that the law enforcement agents have been taking.
“The Nigeria Police, so far from January-May 2020, we have recorded about 717 rape incidents that were reported across the country, about 799 suspects have been arrested, 631 cases conclusively investigated and charged to court and 52 cases are left and under investigation.
“It is a very wicked offense, it is a very serious offense, it is very wicked of an individual to engage in rape or defilement and there are a lot of causes; some are doing it for ritual purposes, some are doing it because they are within the family and they see the victims and have the urge to go into it and do it. But such people should not be allowed to go scot-free.
“The police and other security agencies and other non-governmental organizations have been collaborating, to see to it that these cases of rape and gender-based violence are dealt with
“The NGOs and CSOs that have the capacity to deal with this kind of offenses, have been cooperating with law enforcement agencies in capacity building, management of victims of rape and similar offenses and procedures for collecting evidence, towards successful prosecution”, he said.
Adamu, who was accompanied by the minister of women development, Dame Pauline Tallen, and the minister for information and culture, Lai Mohammed, also said the federal government had started building a more serious response to these crimes as a result of a surge in their number.
“The government has taken the matter to another level now because of the surge we have noticed.
“I will call on every Nigerian that has or comes across any victim of sexual offenses or rape or gender-based violence, to quickly report to law enforcement agents because keeping it without reporting it will give room for the perpetrators to continue to commit more of the offenses.
“I am just to inform you that the government is doing something about it and you can see me with the ministries of information and culture, Lai Mohammed and Women Affairs Development, Pauline Tallen.
“From now onward, a national partnership with every stakeholder is what we are going into now and not only within the country but within the subregion. We have to partner with organizations that are involved in this.
“We know we have been working seriously with UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) and other civil society organizations. So just to tell you that government is doing something seriously to curtailed this type of offense”, Adamu said.
Source: The Nation
