Wife of the governor of Delta state, Dame Edith Okowa, has decried a situation where a father would bend so low as to have carnal knowledge of his two-year-old daughter.
The governor’s wife described such action which is being reported almost daily in the media as demonic and should be condemned by all reasonable humans on earth.
Mrs. Okowa spoke on Thursday when a group of civil society organisations under the aegis of Delta state coalition against gender base violence visited her office. The visit was part of the 16-days of activism against gender base violence around the world.
The 16-day activism which commenced on November 25 is expected to end on December 10, 2020. The event was initiated in 1991 in the United States of America by activists from the first international institute for women.
Okowa’s wife who is displeased with the rampant cases of violence against women, rape of under age girls and other anti-feminine acts, urged the groups to carry the message to all places, churches, schools, markets and others so as to make people know that all these violent acts against the female gender are unacceptable to society.
She advised mothers to give audience to their daughters, hear them out over issues affecting them in their relationship with people, especially the menfolk outside or within the home.
She insisted that women should feel safe anywhere they found themselves, warning that anyone caught molesting women now that the law against violence against women has been signed into law will not go unpunished.
She decried the growth of violence against women in this modern time, arguing that years back such acts were unheard of, probably they were but for the fact that women were only seen not not heard.
Coordinator of the groups, Barrister Julian Ugwulu, in an address to the governor’s wife, said violence against women include partner violence, battering, psychological abuse, marital rape, sexual violence and harassment, unwanted sexual advances and child abuse.
She described gender based violence as one of the most wide spread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in the present society.
She said a recent statistics published by the Delta state ministry of justice showed that Delta state recorded its highest cases of gender based violence in 2018.
Mrs. Patricia Gbemudu, chairman of Delta state chapter of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), told journalists that women in abusive marriages should walk out of such relationships to save their lives.
She said: “A lot of women do not know their rights. You don’t need to leave your body for a man to use a punching bag. Women should know that nobody should dictate their lives for them. Many are dying in marriages because of what people will say. They don’t know when to walk out of such marriages.
“We are using this opportunity to tell women that you have to walk out of marriage that will cost your life. We are also sensitising our girls on how to safeguard themselves so that they are not used as sex toys.”
