Director General, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, (NAPTIP), Professor Fatima Wazirir-Azi, has called on traditional and religious leaders to report cases of rape and incest whenever it happens to appropriate authorities to curb the scourge and provide reprieve to victims.
The DG stated this while interacting with community members and other stakeholders during a Community Advocacy on Issues of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, (SGBV), in the Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT).
She highlighted the importance of preserving evidence in proving cases of SGBV in the court therefore victims must ensure the preservation of evidence for quick prosecution of offenders.
“In the case of rape, for example, don’t rush to quickly go and take your bath because you are wasting away the evidence. Don’t throw away the clothes you wore when the offence happened. Keep evidenced like bedsheets or even clothes of the perpetrator(s), these are evidence,” she said.
“Preservation of evidence especially in cases of rape is important. Where the offence of rape is committed, the first thing to do after reporting is to take the victim to hospital for examination so that the evidence can be preserved because that is what we need to go to court to prove your case.
She said that irrefutable and well established evidence is everything in the prosecution of cases that have to do with SGBV as the remain some of the most difficult to prove beyond reasonable doubt in the court of law.
“When you tamper with evidence or intimidate a witness, it is a crime, it is our law and you can go to prison for up to five years,” the DG said.
“We have noticed with great concern that grievous offences like rape, incest, are sometimes settled at the community level and it shouldn’t be.”
She said advocating against the crime of SGBV requires a united front, “not something we can do by ourselves as an agency. Also it is not something you can do alone as a community which is why it is critical for us to join forces.
“Rape is a serious offence which carries punishment of up to life improvement and settling it at the community level is blatant injustice for the victim.
“Issues of rape and incest, (which happens within the family), should never be settled at the community level, it should be reported to NAPTIP or the police or other law enforcement agencies.”
The NAPTIP chief explained that last year out of 148 complaints directly reported to NAPTIP protection officers by communities in the the area councils in the FCT, only 18 came from Kuje. She urged victims and those wishing to report anonymously to use NAPTIPS till free number 0703000203 or the MTN short code 627.
Chairman, Kuje Area Council, Alhaji Abdullahi Sabo said he will establish SGBV reporting centres in all its ten political wards to clampdown on the menace.
He said “The time for complacency has long gone, it is time for action, we can no longer watch over 70 per cent of women in our communities face physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.”
Represented by his Chief of Staff, Abdullahi Sabo (Snr), he said “We indeed pledge to do better for survivors of SGBV. As an institution, we need to do more to support victims and hold the perpetrators accountable.
Some of the community members, traditional rulers and religious leaders, said that oftentimes cases of rape, incest reported to the police end up compromised with perpetrators going free.
Citing some examples, the community members lamented that most times, they are unable to get justice for victims because they police puts up barriers that eventually allows perpetrators to go unpunished.
