The Ekiti State Government has alleged that some powerful individuals are fond of interceding for rape offenders in the state, describing the interference as a serious impediment to the fight against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the state.
It, therefore, urged traditional rulers, religious leaders, as well as political leaders in the state, to take the advocacy campaign against GBV to their subjects.
The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Olawale Fapohunda, stated this, yesterday, as the government held its first GBV summit in Ekiti and inaugurated a “He-for-She champions” as well as Moremi GBV Referral Clinic, to tackle the menace of rape and gender-violence.
The commissioner said: “Rape has been festering because people are tolerating it. The very day you apprehend rapists or take them to court, traditional rulers, politicians and other big people will be begging me to drop the case, this is wrong.
“No one or age is immune to rape. The minors and aged people are involved. Whoever is found guilty now goes to life imprisonment.
“Whoever that is sent to jail, we will get the picture and paste it in his home, local council, and town.
Meanwhile, speaking while inaugurating the Moremi GBV Referral Clinic built within the premises of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Governor Kayode Fayemi said GBV had become a global pandemic that must be tackled, with violence against girls and children being the most disturbing.
Also, the First Lady appealed to the GVB ambassadors to expand the scope of advocacy and sensitisation against violence for the fight to be more virulent in Ekiti State.
However, while Chairman, Ekiti State Council of Traditional Rulers, Oba Ajibade Alabi, represented by Alare of Are-Ekiti, Oba Boluwade Adebiyi, said that they had intensified sensitisation of their subjects and advised them to refrain from rape, molestation, and maltreatment of women, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Babatunde Mobayo, represented by the officer in charge of Legal Services, Mr. Femi Falade, said the policemen had been given matching orders to speedily prosecute offenders.
