The Nigerian Bar Association has condemned the alleged sexual assault and public humiliation of women at a recent festival in Ozoro, Delta State, describing the incident as a “national disgrace” and a “collapse of conscience.”
In a statement on Saturday, signed by the President of the association, Afam Osigwe and the Chairperson of the NBA Women’s Forum, Huwaila Muhammad, the association said, “A society reveals its true character in how it treats its women. Where women are chased, stripped, groped, violated, and publicly humiliated by mobs under the guise of celebration, what is on display is not culture. It is barbarity. It is a collapse of conscience. It is a stain on our shared humanity.”
The NBA noted that reports from the festival showed women were “accosted in broad daylight, forcefully stripped of their clothing, sexually assaulted, and subjected to degrading treatment by groups of young men while others watched, recorded, and, in some instances, cheered.” The association said, “No woman should ever have to endure such terror, such exposure, such violation of her dignity.”
Describing the incident as “not a festival but lawlessness,” the NBA added that the acts constitute “gender-based violence in its most primitive and shameful form” and a “grave violation of the fundamental rights to dignity of the human person, personal liberty, and security as guaranteed under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), as well as other international human rights instruments.” The statement emphasised that these acts also amount to “serious criminal offences under our laws, including assault, sexual violence, and public indecency.”
The NBA strongly condemned the acts, stating, “No tradition, no custom, no so-called cultural practice can excuse or legitimise the degradation and violation of women. Any practice that permits such cruelty is not culture. It is criminality.”
Calling for urgent action, the association urged the Delta State Government and law enforcement agencies to “act swiftly and decisively. The perpetrators must be identified, arrested, and prosecuted. Those who aided, enabled, or failed to intervene must also be held accountable. Justice must not be delayed, and it must not be selective.”