The wife of the Senate President, Mrs Toyin Saraki, has disclosed that more than 200million women are being affected by the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
Saraki spoke last night at the 11th
Daily Trust African of the year Award, held in Abuja, which was won by a group of five Kenyan school girls who developed a mobile application, I-Cut, to fight FGM in Kenya.
Saraki, who chaired the occasion, said that female genital mutilation did not have any health benefits for girls and women, declared that it is violence against human rights.
“We know that FGM has no health benefits for girls and women, and in fact, can cause severe bleeding, cysts, infections, as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths.
” This human rights violation has affected more than 200million girls and women alive today, ” Mrs Saraki said.
She, however, called for an end to gender violence again the Nigerian women, just as he declared that the recent political disburbances in Lagos, Kwara, Imo and Kogi grievously affected the women.
“We must raise awareness on the urgent need to stem the apparently rising rate of political motivated violence that is occurring as the various parties conduct their campaigns across our beloved nation.
” In the last week alone, we have seen reports of campaign violence occurring in Lagos, Imo, Kogi and Kwara states, with many cases of grievous injuries and deaths.
” We have heard directly from women in Kwara state, who cried out to the public and religious leaders that they were attacked in their homes at Agbaji, Ilorin West LGA, the ancestral quarters of the Senate President (Dr Bukola Saraki). These attacks were evidently carried out by supporters of an APC factional candidate, while the nearby federal government security forces simply watched with folded arms”, she alleged.
