All Women's Peaceful Walk Against Increased Incidences Of Rape, Cites Security Threats Allegedly Halts By The Kano State Government

Yesterday,  In a surprising move, the Kano state government has halted the St Louis Old Girls Association's all women's walk against the rising case of rape in the state.

According to one of the women, "people gathered at the meeting point) with their banners and white clothes as agreed, only to be told that the protest walk has been cancelled by the state govt.! So people just took pictures and left."

A statement signed by SLOGA President, Aisha Ibrahim Dankani said the association consulted and got approval from the State government, Emir of Kano and the State Police Commissioner, the association scheduled the walk for morning of Tuesday, July 25th.

However, a few hours to the time, the State Police Commissioner, said it is unlike women of the state to come out enmasse for a walk on the streets for any reason.

Thereby citing security threats as a reason for the withdrawal of the earlier approval granted to the association for the purposeful venture.

Earlier in a statement by the association, it stated that reliable data on reported cases of rape from some hospital sources indicate that the incidence of different types of sexual violence is rising within Kano state at an alarming proportion.

"Apart from young adolescent girls and women, the data indicates that a large proportion of victims of rape are now children aged between 0 – 10 years. The unfortunate case of Baby Khadija who was brutally raped in February 2017 at the age of 6 months and sustained severe perineal injuries is a case to reckon with".

"Many other innocent children have suffered from a similar horrific fate in the hands of evil and wicked sexual predators and peadophiles".

"As professional women, mothers and grandmothers, wives, sisters and aunts, we have united together with ONE STRONG VOICE to condemn all forms of sexual violence especially against children, in the strongest possible terms".

"Rape is an unacceptable crime in every part of the world and we unanimously say ‘NO TO RAPE’, ‘ NO TO SEXUAL VIOLENCE’ and ‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’".

"In order to be the voices of the hundreds of voiceless innocent children who have fallen victims to rapists and paedophiles in Kano, St. Louis Old Girls Association (SLOGA) has therefore concluded all plans to collaborate with many other Women Associations in the State to conduct an ALL WOMEN’S PEACEFUL WALK".

"The aim of the walk is to register our grievances with the State Leadership and Law Makers respectively and solicit for an urgent intervention to end this evil trend and seek full justice for the victims. We have followed all due process of seeking permission for the activity from the State Police Command Headquarters",  the statement concluded.