Following the police recent raid on some night clubs in Nigeria and arrest of over 100 women alleged to be sex workers, some activists and leaders of Nigeria Sex Workers Association, on Friday in their hundreds protested what they described as selective arrest by the Nigerian police.
Decrying the level of humiliation, the protesters wondered why the Nigerian police arrested only women who they alleged to be sex workers, leaving the men who ‘patronise’ them.
Recall that the Nigerian Police in two different operations raided some clubs in Abuja where about 100 women who were accused to be prostitutes were arrested, also in Calabar, the Department of State Security (DSS) also arrested about 43 women alleged to be sex workers.
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The National Coordinator of Nigeria Sex Workers Association (NSWA) who identified herself as Amaka queried why the Nigerian police arrested only women while letting the men go free.
Amaka who declined to give her surname called for the end of what she described as humiliation and unlawful arrest of women by the Nigerian police.
Her words: “You must have seen so many things going on in the social media, the unlawful arrest of women, so we want to ask the police, where are the men? You can’t keep arresting women, we want to know why they (police) are arresting women, because when the ladies are arrested, what we hear is that they are loitering, we have not seen them charged for sex work. How can you go to the club and arrest someone and you are saying that the person is loitering, does it make sense?
“How can you go to a club and arrest someone, can’t you go to the club and drink, why do they go and segregate women among men, why don’t they arrest everybody in the club if there is a raid?
“We have not heard from the police, and we need to ask, we are citizens of this country, we need to know why it’s being done, if they don’t want the clubs to work, they should let us know, you cannot go to the club and arrest people and charge them for loitering, how can someone be loitering in a club?”.
She further stressed that “they (police) are interested in the women, that’s why we ask where are the men? how can you go to a club, a man is sitting with a woman, you take the woman and leave the man, in the business, there must be a buyer and a seller, so how will you collect the seller and leave the buyer.
“My message to the police is that they should stop the illegal arrest of women, they should stop humiliating women, they should also know from the human right that is general, those sex workers also have their right as human beings”.
One of the protesters, a man, who identified himself as Edward Ekpeyong, said: “the truth is that if you feel that sex worker is a crime, arrest the buyer and the seller, but don’t arrest the seller and leave the buyer, I love the sex workers”.
Another activist, Ngozi Nwosu said the police did not just arrest the women illegally, but their continued detention is a violation of their fundament human right.
Nwosu said “the law says you can’t keep someone in detention for more than 48 hours, if you think someone is a prostitute, we are waiting for police to define what prostitute means, if you think that people are prostitutes and they have broken any law’ what you need to do is to take them to court, you have no right to detain any Nigerian citizen for more than 48 hours, it is a violation of our right and Nigeria is a signatory to international documents, we are committed to protect and promote the right of women, but what we see is violation and unlawful arrest”.
Another lady who declined to give her name but spoke angrily queried the rationale the police used to detect who is actually a sex worker.
Her words: “I don’t think anybody has the right to tell me what to wear, so you come to the club seeing me dress up doesn’t justify am a sex worker, fine, you caught me in the club, don’t I have the right as a girl to go to the club and have fun? Don’t married women go to the club with their husband to have fun, so it means that if I and my husband are in the club, you will leave my husband and arrest me, what gives you that right as a police officer?
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“Yes, am a sex worker, fine, what justifies it, what proof do you have that am a sex worker when you caught me in the club, what is your proof, did you see me soliciting for money, did you see both of us discussing that we want to have sex? ”
The convener of the protest, Jude Orumabo said the tax Nigerian ps pay is not meant for police to harass and arrest women. He called on the police to desist from such act as it violates fundamental human rights”
“Am a taxpayer, and my money is not meant for the police to arrest my sisters, my money is not meant for the police to arrest my mothers, my money is not meant for police to arrest my female friends, let the police respect the taxpayers.
“Somebody was talking about the Bible, I say he who has no sin, let him be the first to cast the stone”, Orumabo said.
and then