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Nigerian women protest against police over sexual assaults
ABUJA, May 10, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Hundreds of protesters marched through the
Nigerian capital Abuja on Friday demanding an end to police impunity, after
officers were accused of carrying out a string of sexual assaults.
“Being a woman is not a crime,” protesters chanted during the march, which
was organised by several women’s rights groups and civil society
organisations.
“My body, my life,” they added.
Dozens of women were dragged out of nightclubs, hotels and bars in Abuja
last month in police raids, and then arrested for prostitution — a charge
many furiously denied.
Testimonies from women given to AFP provide shocking stories of multiple
and brutal sexual assaults carried out by police officers after their arrest.
The sweeping police crackdown in the federal capital sparked outrage in the
news and on social media in Africa’s most populous nation.
“In Abuja women were raped, robbed and humiliated just because they are
women,” Amnesty International said Friday. “Those responsible of these
violations must be brought to justice.”
Last week a presidential spokesman said that “a thorough investigation of
what happened” was being carried out.
“This administration will not tolerate any violation of the individual
freedoms of our people,” the spokesman added.
But protesters on Friday said they were sceptical such promises will be
followed through, and pointed out that more women have been arrested.
“We are asking for them to stop the raids on women,” said the lawyer for
several of the women arrested, Jennifer Ogbogu, who joined the march.
Ogbogu said five women were arrested on Thursday night.
They were reportedly grabbed off the street — including while riding
motorcycles or out shopping — and “accused of prostitution”, she said.
Prostitution, although illegal in Nigeria, is still widespread in the
cities.
It is often tolerated in the largely Christian south, but less so in the
mainly Muslim north, where sharia law applies in some states.
Abuja — situated slightly north of Nigeria’s centre — is a mix of people
and traditions from across the country.
BSS/AFP/RY/1743 hrs