Police decry rising cases of sexual assaults in Benue

The police in Benue State on Thursday decried the rising cases of sexual assaults in the state.

State Commissioner of Police, Bathelomew Onyeka, stressed the need for intervention by stakeholders through rigorous sensitization and awareness creations to curb the trend.

The CP, who was represented by the Police Officer in Charge (OC) of Gender, Ann Ameh, raised the alarm at a one-day Advocacy/Awareness on the need to operationalize Benue Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC).

“We receive cases of sexual assault every day. Sometimes, we receive three to four cases of sexual assaults daily. We will use the SARC when it becomes operation,” the police commissioner said.

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Onyeka further cited a case the command recieved on Wednesday which it referred to NAPTIP involving a pregnant young lady taken to Abia State and forcefully injected to deliver her twin babies, then sent out without any form of care to stop her from bleeding.

The police commissioner said the lady who returned in an unhealthy condition was still bleeding when the case was reported to the police, emphasising that such matter would be swiftly addressed if SARC were functioning.

Earlier in her speech, Mimidoo Uhundu, the Executive Director of Spring of Hope for the Girl Child Development Initiative (SHoGDI), who organised the advocacy in partnership with Benue NGOs Network (BENGONET), harped on the need to engage government towards activating the SARC as a matter of urgency.

Also, Dr Ladi Swende, a family physician with Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi and Coordinator of SARC in Benue, said the centre after launch was not put into use.

“It was launched but everything has suddenly gone quiet. Suprisingly, those who are supposed to be protecting the vulnerable are the offenders. I charge you to see how we can fight gender based violence in the state,” Swende said.

Recall that SARC was commissioned on January 31, 2023 by ex-Governor Samuel Ortom in a bid to address all the issues confronting victims of rape in the state in order to give them justice.

The centre is situated at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi (BSUTH) and is also known as DOHAPITU Clinic.

Dr. Swende explained that the centre was expected among other things to provide emergency care services, offer family planning and prevention for sexually transmitted infections to victims of rape.

BENGONET’s chairman, Laz Mom, said efforts to activate the centre was intended towards reducing Sexual Gender Based Violence cases in the state while playing its role as “one stop shop”, for victims of SGBV who can step into the centre, access psychological support, health support, legal support and protection which includes shelter.