11 Highly Placed Individuals To Be Used As Scapegoats To Curb Violence Against Women – Ambode

On the 8th of September, Lagos state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode led celebrities and members of his cabinet to embark on an all male campaign against rape, child abuse and other domestic violence related cases against women, aimed at curbing the act in the state.

Vanguard reports that the governor, who was accompanied by the Attorney-General & Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, and Special Adviser on Sports, Mr. Deji Tinubu, among others, urged security agencies to come up with evidences against at least 11 highly placed individuals in the state who have committed the act against women, saying “they would be used as scapegoat.”

Ambode, who led the protesters after their arrival at the State House, was armed with placards such as, ‘LAS GIDI Men say no to abuse, violence against women’, ‘Women are not objects, respect and treat them right”, ‘Stop rape and abuse” among others.

He also assured Lagosians that his administration will deal with anyone found guilty of rape of domestic violence, no matter how highly placed.

According to him:

“I will like you to join hands with me to say no to rapists, say no to women beaters and wherever they are. We know that the Task Force that we have set up will swing into action once it receives any petition from any member of the society.

“We are looking for the first 11 scapegoats whether highly or lowly placed in the society. We say no to domestic violence and sexual abuse. It is time we take the bull by the horn in tackling this menace of sexual and gender based Violence in our society.

He continues:

”Research and countless reports have indicated clearly that women are significantly more prone to being victims of these crimes. There is also an evident trend of suppressing the voice of these victims due to the fact that these acts are perpetrated largely by men.

”We should not take for granted the potential exponential effect of having emotionally and psychologically damaged women in a society as the effect could transcend to their children who grow up in an environment, thinking this is the norm.

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”Using highly placed individuals perpetrating the act as scapegoats will act as deterrence to others.

”Several programs ranging from the provision of legal aids, shelter and psychological counseling services have been designed to assist these women. These are sufficient.

”The state government has realized that the programmes are not enough. While these are essential to eradicate sexual and gender-based violence, we must address the violent behavior of men when it comes to rape, domestic violence and child abuse,” Ambode noted.

The campaign came barely few days after the state government disclosed that over 700 rape, child abuse and other domestic violence related cases were pending in court and that between June 2015 and May, this year, the state recorded a total of 4, 035 cases in related matters.