•Dr. Olayemi Oyebanji
The wife of the Ekiti state governor, Dr. Olayemi Oyebanji, has rallied the people of the state to join hands with the state government to put an end to the rape epidemic in the state.
Dr. Oyebanji said the state government is more determined to apprehend perpetrators of rape, child molestation, defilement, and other forms of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and bring them to justice to serve as a deterrent to others, reports The Nation.
Speaking during a street procession in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, today to mark the end of 16 days of activism against GBV, Dr. Oyebanji stressed that the offence of rape now attracts a life sentence for any convicted offender in the state.
Addressing market women, motorcyclists, motorists, and other members of the public, the governor’s wife warned that failure to report crime or any attempt to cover up the crime is also punishable under the law noting that the rally was also aimed at enlightening the people to avoid running afoul of the law.
The First Lady warned men and boys to discipline themselves and refrain from engaging in sexual violence and avoid spending the rest of their lives in jail over sexual offences as the law must take its course on anyone caught committing the crime.
She also decried the increasing rate of domestic violence warning husbands against beating their wives and wives beating their husbands noting that such could lead to loss of lives within the four walls of marriage.
While advising parents to utilize the opportunity of free education from primary to secondary school in the state, the First Lady charged them to send their wards to school and not to use them for hawking which exposes the female ones to sexual abuse.
Apart from free education in public primary and secondary schools, Dr. Oyebanji said the state government also pays West African Examinations Council (WAEC) fees for School Certificate candidates and also sponsors Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to relieve parents of the burden of paying for their children.
She enjoined parents to be interested in the education of their children including the female ones noting that education can set them on the path of greatness also securing the future of the parents in their old age.
Dr. Oyebanji declared that there is no hiding place for the offenders again in the state vowing that they would be arrested and be made to face the law no matter how long it takes.
She said: “The rate of rape, child defilement, and molestation is very alarming in Ekiti State. Many of the rapists among us are people who are familiar with the victims and these include some family members living under our roof, stepfathers raping stepdaughters their wives brought in from previous marriages.
“A recent report of rape has just landed on my table of a 16-year-old girl who struggled to free herself from the rapist but the rapist stabbed the girl in the chest and the belly to have his way. The girl landed in the hospital.
“The perpetrator is still walking the streets free but we are going after him, we are going to apprehend him and bring him to justice. “There is no hiding place for rapists and perpetrators of sexual crimes again in our midst, the hands of the law will catch up with them and they will get punished under the law for their crimes.”
