Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly Hon. Abubakar Y Suleiman has called for consolidated efforts among policy makers and Nigerians to fight violence against women and children in the country.
The Speaker was speaking when he received Arewa #MeToo Group, a syndicate in supporting women and children’s initiative to end gender based violence, as they marched to the State Assembly Complex.
He said that violence against women such as rape, kidnappings of children, children destitution and child trafficking are condemnable and should be eliminated immediately.
“As fathers, we all want to see our children walking freely without been harmed. “The incident of children kidnappings in Kano which is tagged Kano 9 and similar incidents in other places has touched all of us. It’s in this light I join this campaign on the social media and here you are today”, the Speaker said.
On the request of the Group to the State Assembly to domesticate Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act (VAPP), Hon. Abubakar Y Suleiman pledged that the lawmakers will scrutinize the Act and if it is not against the cultures and religions of the people of Bauchi State, the house will domesticate it.
Earlier speaking, the convener of the rally Hajiya Maryam Mohammad said the march to the State Assembly was to call on the legislators in Bauchi State to domesticate the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act (VAPP) which is passed by the National Assembly in May 2015 in order to protect all women and children.
She said Arewa #MeToo is a group of northern activists who are passionate about changing lives of abused victims in order to give them maximum protection, effective remedy and ensure the perpetrators are punished.
Hajiya Maryam lamented the increasing cases of rape, kidnapping and other forms of violence against women and children in Nigeria.
She called on the legislators, civil society organizations, community leaders and all stakeholders to join hands together to end the menace.
