‘Kwara records 1,000 rape cases annually’

KWARA State government has said there are increasing cases of rape in the state, with a record of more than 1,000 rape cases every year.

Speaking while taking part in a “Walk Against Rape” event, organised by an Ilorin-based group, Saab Foundation, which advocated death penalty for rapists, an official of the state Ministry of Women Affairs, Hajia Bilkis Sidiq, lamented that rapes cases being recorded in the ministry featured more elderly people than young adults as perpetrators.

Bilkis, a director in the ministry, who represented the state Commissioner for Women Affairs, Alhaja Ayinke Saka, at the event, said there was a booklet where such cases were recorded, adding that the number kept rising on the list.

Founder of Saab Foundation, Miss Bibire Sa’adat, a 21-year-old graduate of Mass Communication, expressed concern that there was no effective law yet against rape, saying that the police and society still stigmatised victims (survivors).

Bibire, who started the campaign against rape in January, said she had so far been involved with eight survivors, among them three young boys, one of who was raped repeatedly by the maid in their house.

The other two, she narrated, were raped by their uncles.

While commending the “walk against rape,” Hajia Bilkis said government remained committed to doing everything possible to stem the tide of rape in the state.