Over five hundred women professionals, including lawyers, activists, entrepreneurs and house wives, stormed the streets of Calabar on Tuesday morning advocating for laws that would help castrate rapists.
They said stiffer penalties against rapists will serve as a deterrent to perpetrators.
Federal lawmakers recently voted against a motion seeking castration as a punishment for rapists.
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The women were clad in black attire and carried placards with different inscriptions appealing for an end to rape.
Some of the participants were female politicians such as Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo, Nigeria’s former Ambassador to Ethiopia, Civil Society Organisations and some men groups.
Others include non-governmental agencies such as Girls Power Initiatives (GPI), Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA), the female members of ASUU, the Cross River Women Emancipation Initiative (CROWEI), and youth groups amongst others.
One of the speakers, project coordinator of Gender and Action Development, Francisca Effiom, said the rally was to draw attention to the growing concern on rape and urged the government to implement existing laws.
Effiom, who also represents the Project Coordinator for Women Voices Leadership Project under ActionAid Global Affairs, Canada, said: “We organised this rally to say ‘Stop Rape’.
“Rape has become an issue too many to address and it has taken a very serious and dangerous dimension in society.
“We are urging the government to look at the laws and policies existing and review such regulations to put an end to this menace.
“The policies need to be strengthened, laws reviewed so that rape will stop in our society”.
It would be recalled that widespread outrage recently trailed the death of girls who were gang-raped by unknown persons in Kaduna, Edo and Oyo States.
In Kaduna, a 13-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by four men, who drugged her and later dumped her under a parked vehicle near her home, the Kaduna State Government announced on Thursday.
Last week, 18-year-old Barakat Bello was raped and killed at her parent’s home, while Azeezat Shomuyiwa, a 29-year-old pregnant woman was also murdered at her residence in Oyo State.
A 22-year-old Microbiology student of University of Benin, Miss Vera Uwaila Omozuwa, had earlier been allegedly gang-raped and killed by yet-to-be identified person(s).
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