Increasing Incidence of Child Rape a Source of Concern in Kano| Police Disrupt Protest Walk

The need for parents to protect their children cannot be overemphasized due to the increased number of child rape cases in Nigeria. Toddlers have not been spared in this menace.

Women in Kano State have decided to speak out against the rape situation as many of their children are at high risk.

St. Louis Old Girls’ Association (SLOGA) in Kano State organised a peaceful walk to call attention to rising rape cases in the state, but the protest was stopped by the police.

SLOGA had planned the street walk in collaboration with some women groups after the case of Baby Khadija, who was raped in February, 2017 at the age of six months.

According to the police they stopped it for security reasons. However this did not sit well with the president of SLOGA Hajya Aisha Dankani, who described the disruption as surprising.

According to Punch, Dankani said the organisation obtained permission from the Kano State Commissioner of Police, Rabi’u Yusuf, before embarking on it.

She said her association had already scheduled the programme before the police directed them to suspend it. Rape should never be overlooked and the women of Kano need a solution to the pending situation. Dankani said:

“The commissioner cited security threats as reasons for the withdrawal of the earlier approval granted to the association for the walk. It was a peaceful walk and not a protest. We decided to embark on the walk to express our concern about the rising cases of rape in the state.’’

Dankani explained that the objective of the group was to register its grievances with the state leadership and lawmakers over the rising cases of rape in the state in order to seek justice for the victims.

The association, in a statement, said it had reliable data from some hospital sources indicating that cases of sexual violence were on the rise in the state. The data reevealed that the victims are mainly kids, teenagers and toddler. She said:

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“Apart from young adolescent girls and women, the data indicate that a large proportion of victims of rape are now children, within the age bracket of 0-10 years.

As professionals, women, mothers and grandmothers, wives, sisters and aunts, we have united together, with one strong voice to condemn all forms of sexual violence, especially against children in the strongest possible terms.”

It was revealed that 6-month-old baby Khadija, who was raped in February suffered perineal injuries. The women said they were determined to stand against sexual violence and crimes against females in the state.