Clement Adeyi, Osogbo
The Osun State Command of the Department of Security Services (DSS), the Eco Centre for Transformation & Empowerment Initiative (ECTEI) and Compassion Forum for Rape Survivors and Victims in Nigeria and Africa have expressed ther joint commitment to fighting gender-based violence and rape in the State.
This was disclosed on Wednesday when a delegation of the NGOs paid a courtesy visit to the Director of the security agency, Mr Rasheed Adediran, in his office in Osogbo, the State capital.
The Executive Director of ECTEI and convener of Compassion Forum for Rape Survivors and Victims in Nigeria and Africa, Citizen Lola-Wey, lamented that the rising spate of gender-based incidents in Nigeria, particularly Osun State had assumed an alarming scale and called for concern.
She stressed that it was against this background that a collaboration with security agencies and other stakeholders, including parents, had become imperative to stem the tide with a view to eradicating it.
Lola-Wey who described the trend as another pandemic, said that the visit to the DSS Director was to intimate the agency with several gende-based cases, especially rape and synergise to fight and eradicate the malady.
‘The Eco Centre for Transformation & Empowerment Initiative will not rest on its oars until this legacy is achieved to guarantee the dignity of womanhood and to ensure a deserved place for women and children in the state,’ Lola-Wey said.
She added: ‘We are here today to intimate you with some of the developments and request the support of the DSS by deploying your apparatuses in fighting this pandemic to either enable us win the war or at least curtail the rising trend to a reasonable proportion. We believe strongly that with your formidable machinery, we would be able to achieve this laudable aim.’
Adediran described the trend as a criminality ravaging the nation and had permeated different communities.
He assured of the security agency’s readiness to support the NGOs in the eradication battle.
‘It is a criminality ravaging the country. Not only miscreants do it but also traditional rulers and elite are involved. The rate is even higher in the South West. It has become a daily affair,” Adediran said.
‘We are assuring you of our total support and don’t hesitate to call on us anytime you need us. It is a battle that we must fight together. The fight should not be limited to security agencies and law enforcement agencies alone. Parents, traditional rulers and other stakeholders should join in the fight,’ he added.
Adediran, however, called on parents to intensify proper parenting by not allowing their daughters to roam about so as not to play into the hands of rapists and fall victim.
‘They should avoid isolated places. If you allow your daughter to roam about, you are paving way for the crime,’ he stressed.
Adediran also urged grassroots public enlightenment, especially among market women on eradication of rape because the cases are also rampant in villages.
He said that even though offenders must face punishment, proper investigation must be done to avoid punishing an accused innocent person.
The delegates included: Mrs Omojeyingbe of The Nigerian Girls Guild, Mr Clement Adeyi, the Media Consultant of the Organisation, Mr Ifeoluwa Ogunlowo of the Department of Pharmacy, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Mr Sonny Ajayi a consultant of great repute, Comrade ‘Wale Adebisi the D.G of Olaoni, Odetunde Olufemi, a retired Academic and Ayandeke Oluwayemisi.