Women wing of the
All Progressive Congress, Osun Statechapter
yesterday demanded that Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West) be sanctioned
for his unruly behaviour at the Senate’s Executive Session.
The group made its
displeasure known to the public in a press statement signed by the Women Leader
in the state, Alhaja Kudirat Fakokunde, Read the brief in full: “Our attention
has been drawn to the widely reported attack on Senator Oluremi Tinubu, a
Senator representing Lagos Central Senatorial District of Lagos State by Dino
Melaye, the senator misrepresenting Kogi West District. Even though the direct
victim of the primitive attack of Senator Melaye was Senator Tinubu, a fellow
woman and leader of our party, we women of the APC in Osun, consider the attack
as a collective attack on women in Nigeria.
It is lamentable that a senator
could reduce our Senate to a platform of abuse, physical and verbal assault,
sexual harassment of a woman and consequently against the people whose
interests he ought to protect. Senator Melaye’s attack and threat to beat up
Senator Tinubu and impregnate her, were uncouth, indecent, demeaning,
humiliating, sexist and criminal. It is a clear violation of the law which the
same Senate passed in 2015, to protect our people.
.
The provisions of
the Violence Against Persons Act of 2015 are so clear that no woman and decent
people would allow the heresy of Senator Dino Melaye to go unchallenged. In
sections 4, 5, 14, 18 of the law quoted above, acts of verbal abuse and sexual
threats are taken as attacks which must be prevented against any Nigerian
especially women.
In section 14, the law states, “a person who causes
emotional, verbal and psychological abuse on another commits an offence and is
liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment” Senator Melaye’s attack on Mrs
Tinubu is a disgrace to the Senate and a tar on the image of Nigeria women as
it portrays women as mere object of sexual pleasure and an anatomical symbol.
We demand that a public apology be tendered not only to Senator Tinubu but to
all Nigerian women by Senator Melaye and the Senate President who allowed the
attack on the Nigerian Women to pass without sanctioning Senator Dino on it. In
the least, Dino Melaye must be suspended forthwith preparatory to his expulsion.
A criminal indictment and prosecution on this matter must follow immediately.
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