A Catholic cleric, Rev. Fr. Andrew Abhulime, have advised women to be more watchful and have cordial relationship with their daughters as a strategy to curb rape and defilement.
Abhulime admonished women of the St. Joachim and Anne Catholic church in Ijegun, a suburb of Lagos, during a monthly programme tagged, “A Day with Mary”.
He blamed sexual molestation particularly of minors on mother’s failure to create time to get close to them and watch over them.
He added that some women made themselves unapproachable by their daughters.
According to the cleric, some women are `hard’ on their daughters to the extent that the daughters cannot feel free to discuss with them, sexual molestation from men.
“I have seen some girls saying, ‘If I tell my mum, she will kill me; for me to tell my mum, I will rather die’.
“Strictness should not be turned into wickedness, you make yourselves unapproachable to your daughters and they find solace in some other places,” he warned.
He also said that some women who knew about such a crime failed to report it to the appropriate authorities.
“Sexual harassment is a silent killer. Because our mothers are afraid, they seal it.
“When some wives discover that even their husbands molested their daughters, fear of stigmatisation and embarrassment will make them to shut up,” he said.
According to the cleric, sex is sacred and should not be abused.
“Rape is so rampant; abuse of female children has become the order of the day.’’
He regretted that some women pushed their daughters into immorality for the sake of money, describing such women as wicked.
The reverend father advised girls to employ the SMA tactics – Say it, Mean it and Act it – when facing any form of sexual molestation. (NAN)
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
