#TrackNigeria – A group, Concerned Abuja Residents, has called for an immediate end to the indiscriminate arrest of women by FCT Task Force Team in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
In
a statement issued Friday, the group also demanded “that the state must ensure that the perpetrators of
the physical and sexual violence against women in Abuja are brought to book.”
Equally they are asking that “the women who were victims of sexual and other forms of abuse by the FCTA Joint Task Force Team be duly compensated by the state.
The statement which further admonished the FCT residents to be vigilant, also accused FCT authorities of planning further raid on clubs and public places this weekend.
“We have been able to gather from reliable sources that the FCTA Joint Task Force Team are planning to randomly carry out another raid on women this weekend at different places which may include night clubs and public places in Abuja,” the statement said.
The statement reads in full: “We are gathered here today as a group of Concerned Abuja Residents consisting of Human Rights Activists, Women’s Rights Groups, Non-Governmental Organizations and people from all walks of life, in furtherance of our recent interventions and coordinated actions against the continued inhumane and unlawful profiling, arrest, torture and discriminations against women in Abuja.
“You would all recall that between April 17 and April 26, 2019, there were series of coordinated state-sponsored physical and sexual violence against women in Abuja by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) Joint Task Force Team, which includes the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), Nigerian Police Force, Social Development Secretariat and the Department of Development Control. These series of state-sponsored attacks have led to the unlawful detention, abuse and persecution of several women in Abuja.
“We must mention, also, that over the past two weeks, we have been involved in ensuring that women who became victims of this barbarity, about 29 of them, were bailed from police detentions and prisons. We have also been involved in several meetings with the different groups involved in the unlawful and inhumane raids on women in Abuja, as well as the National Human Rights Commission and other concerned authorities.
“From our findings and as has now become public knowledge, these women were arrested and abused not because they committed any crime against the state but simply because they are women, and because the FCTA Joint Task Force wishes to shamelessly perpetuate a chronic system of extortion and impunity. This is clearly a Gender War and Gender Discrimination targeted only at women and manifesting itself through the malicious overreach of state-sponsored agencies. We say NO to this needless abuse of women in Abuja as it contradicts all extant laws on Human Rights in Nigeria including International human rights norms and treaties that Nigeria has agreed to be bound on.
“It is, however, important to note that despite our public interventions against this ever-worsening menace, the FCTA Joint Task Force Team have so far remained adamant in continuing their unlawful arrests and random dehumanization of women in Abuja.
“More importantly, we have been able to gather from reliable sources that the FCTA Joint Task Force Team are planning to randomly carry out another raid on women this weekend at different places which may include night clubs and public places in Abuja.
“We hereby call on all Abuja Residents to remain fearlessly vigilant in resisting this heinous operation in different parts of the city. We encourage all Abuja Residents to stand against every attempt by any state-sponsored group to harass, arrest or intimidate women in Abuja this weekend. Such action is totally unlawful and must be courageously resisted by all residents of Abuja, regardless of Gender, or any other reason there may be to cower in silence or fear.
“To be clear, our demands remain strong and emphatic:
1. That the indiscriminate arrests of women in Abuja for the above-mentioned reasons must come to an immediate end.
2. That the state must ensure that the perpetrators of the physical and sexual violence against women in Abuja are brought to book.
3. That the women who were victims of sexual and other forms of abuse by the FCTA Joint Task Force Team be duly compensated by the state.
“In conclusion, therefore, our resolve to ensure that these demands are acceded to by the state remains resolute and firm. We will neither sleep nor rest until all women in Abuja are free of any form of harassment, discrimination or dehumanization; we will neither sleep nor rest until all women are accorded the honour and respect they deserve in our society; we will neither sleep nor rest until all women are free to walk, dress and live as freely as they wish to, in Abuja and other parts of Nigeria.”
