BY OLUFISOYE ADENITAN
Sexual and gender based violence , SGBV has continued to be on the increase despite advocacy with more women and girls falling victim of rape, domestic abuse and sexual assaults .
In this special report, Correspondent, Olufisoye Adenitan examines stories of some women and girls who have been victims of SGBV in Ondo state
Cases of SGBV have been on the rise across the country with young girls raped and most time to death
The ugly development no doubt poses serious challenge to the advocacy against sexual and gender based violence especially in ondo state
The female folk has reportedly continued to be the target in SGBV cases except on few occasions when men were also victims .
Few months ago, a woman , Funmilayo Ogundare was brutally macheted by her boyfriend in ijapo area of Akure after which she was hospitalized for major surgery due to deep cuts sustained from the injuries
The perpetrator of the crime is still on the run as the woman battles the pains of the incidence
Similarly at Fagun crescent in ondo Town ,Mrs Esther Ojo, a mother of seven suffered loss of three of her children when her husband who happens to be the stepfather of the children set them ablaze over misunderstanding on some domestic issues with their mother .
It was gathered that the 35 years old Esther Ojo eloped with the 65 years old Joseph Ojo two years ago with her 5 children from a previous marriage .
Mrs Esther Ojo recounted her experience over the incidence “my husband came back from work with petrol and kept it somewhere, he was not looking very happy so I asked him what happened he said Nothing!
” Later in the night he refused to sleep and at exactly three ‘o clock in the morning my 17 year old first daughter shouted mummy fire ,fire on getting to their room the whole place was on flames and she confirmed that she saw their mother’s husband pour liquid on them before the fire”
There was also a case of a student who got raped by the man she purportedly met at a motor park in Akure resulting in her going into coma and hospitalized for months after the incident
The student who did not want to disclose her identity told Positive FM about her experience of how she was raped at a Lounge purportedly owned by a security operative and how she suffered both psychological and mental illnesses.
” After many calls, he invited me to a Lounge on getting there, he forcefully took me inside and pounced on me ,I begged him but he refused, he penetrated my Anus Few weeks after the incidence I was hospitalized and almost got paralyzed”
The questions asked by stakeholders was When will the society be safe for the girl child ,women and other children ?
The chairperson, International Federation of women lawyers , FIDA Ondo state, Mrs Jumoke Ogunjebi and an NGO administrator , Mrs Folasade Bamigboye expressed concerns over the incessant cases of sexual abuses and the need to create a safe space for girls and women in the society for them to strive.
They called for quick justice system and stiffer penalities for Cases of Violence against women and girls to serve as deterrent while also imploring parents and Guardians as well as women to devise safety measures that would make them less vulnerable to sexual abuses.
This story was supported by African Women in Media as part of the Reporting Violence Against Women and Girls initiative.