Outrage over anti-rape bill

The bill which is still awaiting presidential assent was sponsored by Senator Chris Anyanwu and seeks to prevent and protect all persons from harm and unlawful sexual acts. Speaking to our correspondent during a telephone interview yesterday, Barrister  Chino Edmund Obiagwu, National Coordinator Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) said that the bill is a […]

The bill which is still awaiting presidential assent was sponsored by Senator Chris Anyanwu and seeks to prevent and protect all persons from harm and unlawful sexual acts.
Speaking to our correspondent during a telephone interview yesterday, Barrister  Chino Edmund Obiagwu, National Coordinator Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) said that the bill is a set back as it brings the age of defilement from 18 to 11 years.
Non-governmental organisations that participated in the process of the passage of the bill including FIDA, WRAPA and HRAN, did not support the bill but requested that it should be merged with the (Violence Against Persons (VAP) Act.
The Sexual Offences Bill, 2015, was among the 46 bills passed by the 7th Senate in a last minute flurry of activities last week.
The bill stipulates life imprisonment for any individual found guilty of rape or sexual intercourse with children under 11 years; 10 years for incest; 10 years for child pornography or a fine of N2 million; and 14 years for sexual abuse, among others.
Obiagwu said the new bill gives a different definition to a child other than the definition in the Child’s Right Act, adding that punishment already exist in the criminal and penal codes for rape and defilement.
Specifically, the bill provides that anyone who rapes a girl under 12 years should be sentenced to life imprisonment.
Chino however commended other provisions of the bill that punish sale of pornography, using others for prostitution and sexual harassment.
National President of International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Barrister Hauwa Shekarau who spoke with our correspondent in an interview, said that the bill still is not law until it has been assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.