The First Lady of Ekiti State and wife of Governor Abiodun Oyebanji, Dr Olayemi Oyebanji, has declared zero tolerance for the activities of rapists and domestic violence in the state.
Dr Oyebanji who made this known while speaking during a street procession in Ado Ekiti, the state capital on Monday, rallied the people of the state to join hands with the state government to put an end to the rape epidemic in the state.
According to her, the state government is more determined to apprehend perpetrators of rape, child molestation, defilement, and other forms of Gender-Based Violence, and bring them to justice to serve as a deterrent to others.
The Governor’s wife noted that the offence now attracts life imprisonment for any convicted offender in Ekiti State.
According to Dr Oyebanji, while addressing market women, motorcyclists, motorists, and other members of the public, failure to report a crime or any attempt to cover up the crime is also punishable under the law, noting that the rally was also aimed at enlightening the people to avoid running afoul of the law.
She further warned men and boys in the state, to discipline themselves refrain from engaging in sexual violence and avoid spending the rest of their lives in jail over sexual offences as the law must take its course on anyone caught committing the crime.
Similarly, the governor’s wife criticized the increasing rate of domestic violence in the state, warning men against beating their wives and wives beating their husbands, warning that such could lead to loss of lives within the four walls of marriage.
Dr Oyebanji who also advised parents to utilize the opportunity of free education from primary to secondary school in the state, charged them to send their wards to school and not to use them for hawking which exposes the female ones to sexual abuse.
Oyebanji noted that apart from free education in public primary and secondary schools, Dr Oyebanji said the state government also pays West African Examinations Council fees for School Certificate candidates and also sponsors the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination to relieve parents of the burden of paying for their children.
She further urged parents to be interested in the education of their children including the females, noting that education can set them on the path of greatness and also secure the future of the parents in their old age.
She however declared that there is no hiding place for the offenders of rape, vowing that they would be arrested and be made to face the law no matter how long it takes.
“The rate of rape, child defilement, and molestation is very alarming in Ekiti State. Many of the rapists among us are people who are familiar with the victims and these include some family members living under our roof, stepfathers raping stepdaughters their wives brought in from previous marriages.
“A recent report of rape has just landed on my table of a 16-year-old girl who struggled to free herself from the rapist but the rapist stabbed the girl in the chest and the belly to have his way. The girl landed in the hospital.
“The perpetrator is still walking the streets free but we are going after him, we are going to apprehend him and bring him to justice. There is no hiding place for rapists and perpetrators of sexual crimes again in our midst, the hands of the law will catch up with them and they will get punished under the law for their crimes,” she said.
