For so many reasons, many victims of rape, injustice and other forms of criminalities have sought for justice in vain as AGI ONDA reports.
In the last few years, alarming figures which emanated from the National Bureau of Statistics data recently highlighted key flaws in Nigeria’s security and criminal justice system.
The report shows that 72.5% of Nigeria’s total prison population are inmates serving terms while awaiting trial and without being sentenced.The implication of this is that victims of violent crimes such as armed robbery, banditry, insurgency, rape, sexual assault and other violent crimes are yet to get justice.
But a few days ago, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai, said security has improved from what it used to be. Many Nigerians disagreed with the army chief on this assertion. According to them, there is still violent killings, rape and many more across the country.
Injustice from a terror group
Particularly alarming are reports in the media of happenings threatening the security of the state in many parts of Nigeria. It is disturbing to read of a recent rape allegedly committed by a very terrorising group known as “One Million Boys” in Ogijo Area of Ogun state as widely reported in the news.
The horror and instability that have been established by these bandit groups can only be imagined as we have read of several rival groups clashes in communities leading to deaths of the group members and innocent residents in such areas. One of such widely reported was the assassination of the gang leader in Ibadan.
His name was known as Biola Ebila and often feared for being a known leader of the said group in the Olomi area, Ibadan Oyo State. He was said to have lost his life in a rival group clash with Kudeti Boys, another violent cult group in Ibadan. His death has reportedly led to an orgy of violence in the area. The activities of these cult groups have caused the death of innocent citizens, displaced many residents from their homes and had led to many others fleeing from their abode for safety due to the overwhelming nature of the violent crimes.
To further confirm the status of this report, we interviewed some individuals who had lived in areas with peculiar reports of the groups’ violent crimes.Eye witness account
According to a lady who pleaded for anonymity, she narrated a very ugly incident that happened to her about three years ago. She recounted that she was allegedly raped and molested by the members of the group and despite making reports to the police, she could not get justice till date for want of evidence.
Some leaders of the community who also pleaded for anonymity for fear of reprisal attack pleaded that the government should intensify its efforts to combat the violent crimes of the cult groups. They noted that several innocent citizens have been killed and properties worth millions destroyed by actions of these violent groups.
Another victim narrates the ordeal
A victim of violent attacks, who eventually fled the country, told Law and Society how she escaped from the armed gang, ‘One Million Boys’ in Ibadan.According to the victim who goes by the name, Babalola Sukurat Olabisi, a Nigerian who was born in Cote D’Ivoire, she recounted that she relocated to Nigeria in the year 2002 from Cote Divoire in order to continue with her education, so she stayed with relatives in Ibadan. ”In 2016, we had several attacks by cult and bandit groups in the Kudeti area of Ibadan. It was a very terrorising and agonising experience as the cult groups known as the One Million boys supposedly retained by some politicians as machineries perpetrated all sorts of crimes from rape to armed robbery and some acts of militancy within the area.
”I was particularly a victim while staying with my relatives as I was attacked about two times and this led to my decision to run for my life first outside Oyo state and eventually outside Nigeria. ”To state the exact details, we were attacked around December 2016 by the said cult group in their usual style and they raped and maimed young and the old. My cousin was raped by one of them and I identified the particular person and described him to the police.
”The alleged rapist was arrested for the act but was not convicted for want of adequate evidence. After the arrest of the suspect and the evidence I gave during police interrogation, I received threats to my life in the area via letters and notes of which I reported to the police. Eventually, around late December 2016, there was an attempt on my life. I was attacked and was nearly beaten to death with marks left on parts of my body with a promise that I would be killed within seven days. I fled the state and eventually the country in 2017,” she narrated.The events narrated by Miss Sukurat made it obvious that the state of insecurity is more alarming than reported. There are many Nigerians living in fear of such reprisal attacks for their efforts in exposing the ills of the society as this. Consequently, it is pertinent for the government at all levels to step up its efforts to ensure security of lives and property in Nigeria being a fundamental human right.
The activities of groups such as the One Million Boys, Badoo Boys, the Kudeti Boys and the principal actors of the Boko Haram groups have made living in Nigeria more dreadful than most parts of the world and economic growth, stability and peaceful living can never be achieved in the face of insecurity.
