Kogi women reject amnesty for rape offenders

 

Women in Kogi state have appealed to the state government to stop giving amnesty to rape offenders. 

The women, instead, recommended death sentence or life imprisonment to serve as punishment for anyone found guilty in the state. 

Women of Kogi Central senatorial district made the appeal Tuesday in Okene at a sensitisation workshop organised by the 

Challenged Parenthood Initiative (CPI) in collaboration with ActionAid Nigeria for the proposed bill on Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP), which has passed through second reading in the Kogi state House of Assembly.

The women, who were overwhelmed on the content of the bill and what it intends to achieve in their lives unanimously knelt down and offered prayers against any person who intend to work or stand against the passage of the bill in the state.

In her address, the executive director, Challenge Parenthood Initiative (CPI)  Eunice Abimbola Agbogun, while noting that the bill is currently awaiting public hearing in the hallow chamber said, if passed, it will help address most of the societal and domestic violence in Kogi state.

Agbogun admonished participants to take the sensitisation down to the grassroots in a bid to allow quick passage of the bill and said the campaign on violence against women is a collective responsibility.

“We have read of some horrific accounts of this heinous crime through various media channels in recent times.  A lot of times, victims of this heinous crime don’t even report the incident to the appropriate authorities, so their stories do not even make it to the newsroom.”

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