Ekiti Female Lawyers Offer Free Legal Services to  78  Rape Victims, Others

Victor Ogunje

The Ekiti State chapter of the International Federation of  Women Lawyers (FIDA), has granted free legal services to secure justice for  victims of rape, domestic violence, child trafficking and other Gender Based Violence(GBV) acts in the state.

FIDA said these were  cases that were reported to it between December 2021 and February 2022, and were addressed following  intervention, mediation and litigation procedures to halt the nefarious acts and get justice for the victims. The Chairperson of FIDA in Ekiti, Barrister Oyinade Olatunbosun, said this yesterday at a separate GBV sensitisation rallies held at Erinmope and Ilawe Ekiti to boost the awareness of the residents.

Olatunbosun said FIDA had composed GBV committees in some towns to interact with the people and halt the upsurge of rape, child labour, domestic violence, female genital mutilation, child trafficking, forced and teenage marriages.

She said: “We received a total number of 78 GBV cases from December 2021 to February 2022, while some are concluded, a  substantial part of the cases are still pending with interventions, mediations and litigations on-going.

“These cases confirmed that GBV is high in Ekiti and we have a lot of work to do. The first thing is for our people to speak up. Anybody that is experiencing any of these violent cases should report to the committees and we will take it up.

“We offer free legal services. We have to join hands together to fight rapists, female genital mutilators, child traffickers, wife beaters, oppressors of widows, and gender inequality perpetrators. All these affect female majorly.

“We have handled several cases for  women who were neglected by their  husbands. Through our interventions, those men have now taken up their responsibilities.

“Many girls and women that were raped have had their cases taken to court. Justice will be done in those cases. If you see any case, don’t hesitate to tell us, we will fight for you and perpetrators will be punished”.

Olatunbosun charged parents to protect their children against societal evils to prevent their future from being derailed.

The GBV Committee leaders in Erinmope and Ilawe Ekiti, Chiefs Michael Awoyemi and Maurice Adaramodu,  commended FIDA for its giant strides in gender mainstreaming and for confronting  oppression of female gender.

They said: “Whoever that is engaging in slavery, forced marriage, rape, keeping children of school age away from school, is liable in the face the law.  The steps to be taken to deal with such situation has been spelt out by FIDA.

“Let us join them to rid the country of crimes. Don’t use your children as slaves, sex workers or in any exploitative way.”