An NGO, Cover Me Project 1, has launched a petition online to secure support of Nigerians to push for more legislation that will curb the menace of rape in the country.
Mr Ugo Nwafor, Initiator of the project, while unveiling it at a news conference on Friday in Abuja, said that the petition would be forwarded to the National Assembly after the NGO had gotten enough support for it.
Nwafor, a legal practitioner, said there was need to upgrade the Nigerian law, adding that some of the laws such as criminal law, customary law and penal code were not enough to cater for the incessant rape cases bedeviling the country.
“Cases of rape are lost at the court for lack of concrete evidence, I remember I lost one as a lawyer in 2005, Cover Me Project 1, was borne out of our desire to kick against the issue of rape; the evil is becoming high in Nigeria.
“What we are doing now is to have a proactive effect, we must create structure to support our case, we are working toward pushing up for capital punishment.
“We are launching a petition online where we are looking toward one million Nigerians to sign it, capital punishment will help to reduce the menace in the society,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report that the website where Nigerians are expected to sign is:
https://www.loveresolutionsclinic.com/home/petition/view?uxh=kdjnoisidjue7s7d7dfvbASIuhiScsjjjeuhfnAHHSIHEDIIEVED&petition_id=2.
Mrs Julie Okah-Donli, the Director-General, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), who launched the project, said that the agency was willing to partner with NGOs.
She said that the agency was also working toward amending the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act 2015 to sanction those who were justifying the cases of rape in the country.
Okah-Donli however called on parents to train their children “in a way that is acceptable by God’’ by inculcating moral norms of the society into the children.
She also urged the judiciary to play its part whenever cases of rape were sent to it, adding that witness testimony and doctor’s report should be the bases of giving judgment to rape cases.
Princess Adaeze-Olisaelo Ikechukwu, the Director of Investment, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) urge rape perpetrators to stop blaming the devil for their actions, and called on Nigerians to support the petition to help put a stop to it.
She pledged the readiness of her organisation to support the NGO, adding that NAPTIP would to help drive home the campaign against human violence in the country.
Mr Achibong Anderson, the Executive Secretary, National Council of Child Rights Advocates of Nigeria also condemned the menace of rape and urged the country’s leaders to do something about it. (NAN)
