By Bukola Olasanmi
The Minister of State for Niger Delta Affairs, Mrs. Sharon Ikeazor, has said that women must resort to self-defence as part of measures to cope with the increasing spate of gender-based violence and women’s right violation in the country.
The Minister advised women to defend themselves with the use of pepper spray.
The Minister lamented the escalating violence against women in the Nigerian political arena as the country prepares to hold elections in 2023.
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Ikeazor urged women to make use of “pepper spray” anytime they were on political activity ahead the 2023 elections.
Ikeazor, who expressed concerns that that most interventions in addressing Gender Based Violence (GBV) do not look into the violence that happens in politics, said the menace is a deciding factor of women’s political participation in Nigeria.
While stating that she had also been a victim of grave violence in her years as a politician, the Minister observed that the growing cases of violence against women in politics were due to lack of dire consequences for such actions.
Ikeazor said, “When I experienced my first political violence, I was lucky that we had policemen around who were able to rescue me but after that, I never took chances. So every woman here, please never take chances when you go out there, have a second layer of clothing under your rapper. I learnt that as a tomboy, and it helped me in politics.
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“Then at the end of my rapper, I tie my pepper spray. You have to defend yourself. I distributed pepper spray to our women when we were all active in politics. I remember the incident of a lady in Kaduna, when she was attacked by her party chairman and some other men, it was the pepper spray she deployed. That was what saved her.”
The Minister while lamenting that the issue had been largely ignored, urged security agencies to ensure that perpetrators are caught security agencies to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of violence against female politicians, or “else, our women will continuously be at risk as their lives are offered at the altar of politics with no repercussions.