The Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria, MWAN, has charged the Oyo State government to come up with better ways of protecting women, girls and children in the state.
The Oyo State president of the association, Dr. Omolara Olusola-Taiwo, in a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan, emphasized that the time had come for a better handling of rape and gender based violence in the state which usually were not followed up to a logical conclusion thus embolding perpetrators to continue the horrible act.
She said: “Enough is enough of using girls and women as objects of gratification by unscrupulous elements in the society; there is the need to reiterate that girls and women are not inferior or less important in the society and we refuse to allow our girls to be used as objects of gratification by unscrupulous elements in the society.
“We are using this medium to call on the Commissioner of Police, the state government and all other ministries saddled with the affairs of women in the state to ensure that the culprits are apprehended and justice served.
“We also call for better handling of similar cases of rape and gender based violence which usually are not followed up to a logical conclusion thus embolding perpetrators to continue this horrible act. Children, girls and women are a vulnerable group in our population, so, we call for better ways of protection of their lives.”
She however lauded the Oyo State government and the state Police command for their actions so far on the case of rape and murder of the 18 years old Barakat Bello, urging them to do more and bring the perpetrators to book so that the death of the IAR&T student would not be in vain.
“We thank the state government and the police for what has been done so far while encouraging them to do more so that the death of this young promising lady whose life was cut short in her prime will not be in vain. MWAN stands in solidarity with the family of Bello Barakat in seeing to it that justice is served,” she stated.
