By Chinyere Aruogu
ProjectAlert Vaw has urged the police not to discriminate against women in the course of their investigation and handling on cases concerning them.
The group has therefore appealed to the Inspector General of Police to implore on his officers and men not to take advantage of women while handling their cases before them.
Josephine Effa-Chukwuma, Executive Director of Project Alert with emphasis on violence against women (VAW) said on Thursday that “we expressed our concern for the way and manner police respond to cases affecting women.”
Speaking at a news conference in Lagos, she said three recent cases being handled by the police rightly show how bias they could be in dealing with the opposite sex in their investigation.
She explained: “We used three recent cases as examples. First, the case of 14 year old HABIBA Isyaku who is still being forcefully detained by the Emir of Katsina under the guise of an under-aged child “deciding on her own” to convert and marry. What is the police doing about it? Habiba is a child. She was forcefully taken from her parents. Why no action by the police?
“Second case is that of Ivie Ivie Edobor, a mother of three who was almost killed by her husband. He was caught in the act as neighbours accosted him and called in the police. At the end of the day, the police only charged John Edobor with assault occasioning harm. Ivie’s case comes up next week Thursday – November 10th.
“Third case is the recent one of the banker, Mbonu Oluchi who was arrested and paraded by the police last week. Oluchi a mother of one, who has been estranged from her husband since January 12, 2016 on grounds of incessant battering and threat to life, was within 6-8 hours of her arrest (2am – 10am) paraded as a criminal suspect without thorough investigations by the police on attempted murder charges, along with two robbers caught with her husband’s car which was earlier “stolen”.
“How did the police get to tie this woman up with the crime? One of the robbers is known to Oluchi and her husband Tochukwu as an agent who supplies them drivers and maids. In fact the guy was introduced to Oluchi by Tochukwu. Is this the reason?
“Today we heard and saw firsthand, the agony and pain of Oluchi’s parents (both in the 70s), as they shared the worst nightmare of their lives. A nightmare that started the day their daughter Oluchi decided to marry Tochukwu. Their family, they both said, has known no peace since Tochukwu became a son-in-law.
“Why was the case taken to Ogun State when the “purported crime” took place in Lagos?”
Chukwuma called on the Police Gender Desk & the Inspector General of Police to “look into these out-rightly discriminatory and sexist manner officers and men of the police handle cases affecting women” and particularly to look into these three cases mentioned, as “justice must not only be done but seen done.”