Wife of Akwa Ibom State governor, Martha Udom Emmanuel, has joined other well-meaning Nigerians to campaign against rape, urging stakeholders to pay critical attention to the menace.
Mrs. Emmanuel spoke while interacting with women and other stakeholders during a virtual campaign tagged: “War Against Rape”.
The campaign was coordinated by Rev. Fola Achudume, wife of the founder of Victory Life Bible Church and the convener of “Save Her Foundation”, a non-governmemtal organisation.
While lamenting that rape aside creating stigma on its victims, it had also jeopardized the future of many victims.
According to her, it also affects the mental health of many people especially women and the girl child who no longer feel secured as a result of the demonic act against humanity.
The governor’s wife harped on concerted efforts by religious organisations, traditional institutions, security agencies and professional bodies to ensure prompt reports of rape cases, adding that no rape case should be settled out of court while culprits should be apprehended.
She disclosed that spouses of governors in the country have agreed to support state government’s campaign against, rape, sexual harassment, violence against women, defilement and other molestation against women.
Rev. Victor Adeyemi of Global Harvest International Church, who posited that the world would be a better place without rape, also canvassed the need for the re-orientation of the boy-child.
He also underscored the need for men who engage in the immoral act to re channel their energies to fruitful ventures.
“Discipline, values and the fear of God must return to every home. Our society must also start treating the female gender rightly with total respect, love, care,passion tenderness and desist from seeing them as sex toys that could be handed anyhow just for pleasure”.
Professor Olubunmi Ashinmolowo of the Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta, who spoke in the like manner, frowned at lack of prompt justice on rape cases, describing it as a challenge that those in positions of authorities should proffer solutions to without delay.
On her part, the lead facilitator of the online campaign, Rev. Achudume appeals to mothers to be alive to their responsibilities.
She described as demonic, dehumanising and cruelty to the human race, a situation where toddlers and babies apart from women and grandmothers are being raped.
The “Save Her Foundation” founder also saw the need for victims to speak out, while government should empower and protect the vulnerable in the society.
Achudume, who wants the judicial system to be strengthened in order to bring rapists to book, also appealled to stakeholders to intensify awareness on the evil associated with sexual immorality and the way out to end the ugly trend.