Women Cry Out Over Rape

Umuada Igbo, a women group campaigning for reproductive health and rights, has cried out over the spate of rape in Opi, Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State.

Mrs Kate Ezeofor, the president of the group, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Monday that the victims of the rape were usually more than 70 years of age.

Ezeofor, who was moved to tears, said that three bus loads of women from Opi had visited the Umuada Igbo offices in Enugu earlier in the day to lay the complaint.

She said that at least 13 women had been raped in recent times, adding that the perpetrators were usually young men of between 17 years and 25 years.

Ezeofor said that the group would mobilise its members in the seven Igbo speaking states to storm Opi on Saturday to say prayers over the land.

“It is an abomination. I can tell you that one of the rape victims is a blind woman. One has even died as a result of the disease she contracted from the incident,” she said.

“We are going to mobilise our members to say prayers in Opi on Saturday, 15 October. This is an abomination and we will not keep quiet over it,” she added.

The president said the people of Opi needed the prayers to cleanse their land of the sin of raping old women.

She said seven young men were already in the custody of the police in Enugu in connection with the rape cases.