0
The scourge of Gender Based Violence (GBV), particularly the sexual assault on minors and adolescent girls, has in recent months been giving the Lawanti community in Gombe State sleepless nights.
Before now, the serene and peaceful Community in Akko LGA and host to the Gombe International Airport, has turned into a shadow of itself because some known bad eggs in the community have become so powerful that their illicit sexual crimes go unpunished.
In the past few years, the reports of GBV in Nigeria, particularly as it concerns rape, have been on the rise. But in Gombe State, it has been particularly different, as the number of cases is only lower to big cities like Kano and Lagos.
These prompted many local and international Civil Society Organizations to commence a national campaign against GBV using different names and slogans until laws are promulgated to protect girls, women and other vulnerable groups in different States.
The widely known campaign was the one to ensure that the ‘Violence Against Persons Prohibition’ (VAPP) Law was enshrined in Gombe State.
What makes the case in Gombe peculiar is the fact that the culture of silence, especially by survivors and their relatives, seems to be a clog in the wheel of progress to stop the trend despite having a well-gazetted official law known as ‘Gombe State Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Law, 2022.
The other hindrance is that up till now, there is very minimal cases of culprits being punished, and even at that, many culprits find their way out on the streets, evading punishment, or serve minimal jail terms, thus posing great danger to society, while survivors live with lifelong psychological torture.
Even with the fact that ignorance of the law is not an excuse while on trial, the cases in Lawanti seem to flourish as if no VAPP Law exists in the State.
The confirmation of the existence of the menace in the community was visibly seen during a very recent enlightenment visit to the community by Barrister Naomi Mualin Abdu, the Gender/GBV Desk Officer in the Ministry of Justice, Gombe State.
During the enlightenment session after Barrister Naomi rolled out the various VAPP laws and punishments in the Palace of the District Head of Lawanti, Alhaji Bello Hassan, it was obvious that the District Head was overwhelmed by the series of GBV cases, particularly rape in his domain.
She gave many harrowing incidents of GBV she had come across, such as a father having sex with his underage children, and another case of a father giving his daughter the condition of sleeping with her if he must pay for her WAEC fees, among many other sad incidents.
She sought for the cooperation and support of the District Head to ensure that the bad publicity the Lawanti community has had due to rape cases nationally and internationally is erased.
In attendance at the palace were village and ward heads, elders, Imams, Pastor, sub-Community leaders, hunters, local vigilante groups, various youth groups and a large crowd of members of the community.
During the interaction, the community, through various contributors, agreed that there is a group known for perpetuating the crimes but that lack of punishment is what is making the crime to continue.
The Chairman, Lawanti Community Development Foundation, Alhaji Habu Ubaida, emphasised the seriousness of the issue in the community and urged every person at the meeting to take the message to all nooks and corners of Lawanti town.
Some Imams and a Pastor who also spoke during the meeting felt a sigh of relief over the intervention by the Justice Ministry Desk Officer’s delegation. They stressed that their work has been lessened after emphasising the seriousness of the crimes spiritually and what they have been doing in their various worship places to address the scourge.
They requested more copies of the law for the enlightenment of the entire community, and how to pursue cases while decrying the attitude of cover-ups or silence by survivors because of stigmatisation. They also alleged that security agents were culpable in covering up many cases.
Personally confirming the cases, the District Head of Lawanti, Alhaji Bello Hassan, revealed that the cases could be over fifty within a short period while blaming men for failing in their responsibilities at home.
While expressing his handicap in addressing the crimes due to vested interests above his official capacity, he appealed to the community members to support and cooperate with him in addressing the issue of GBV.
He said one of his efforts in addressing the menace is the formation of a committee of women who have already started going round houses to enlighten their fellow women on the GBV issue, while requesting that a similar meeting be held by the delegation with solely women.
He then made a commitment to henceforth involve authorities, especially the Desk Officer’s delegation, that came so that the law would take its appropriate course on cases and suspects. He also directed all his subordinate leaders to take the message to their various communities by having a serious meeting, stressing that a battle line has been drawn.
In the meantime, it was observed from the ‘town-hall’ like meeting that, apart from the GBV cases in Lawanti town being an ‘open secret’, many leaders have lived with the unfortunate development for quite some time but lacked how to tackle it. More enlightenment and proactive measures must be taken by ensuring that the law is seen to be taking its cause in the community.
The coming of Barrister Naomi Mualin Abdu is an eye opener to the largely ignorant population of Lawanti community, the first contact to Gombe State when coming by air and even by road from popular cities of Bauchi, Jos, Kaduna and Abuja from the western axis.
