The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) disclosed that within the past 12 months in Yobe State, they documented a minimum of 260 instances involving rape and human rights violations.
Labaran Babangida, the coordinator of the commission in Yobe State, made this revelation during a media briefing held in Damaturu, the state capital, as part of the commemoration of the 2023 International Human Rights Day and the 16 Days Activism against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence.
Babangida specified that a majority of these cases consisted of incidents such as rape, violent altercations within marital relationships, misunderstandings, and instances where husbands failed to meet their financial responsibilities.
“We have a backlog of 260 complaints, but more than 200 of these complaints centered on the aspect of violations of women and girl’s rights”, he said.
On the level of conviction, the state coordinator noted that the bulk responsibility of prosecution and conviction centered on the government. Therefore, some gaps need to be covered for proper convictions.
“For instance, the judiciary is the large benchmark where litigations always take place and there are gaps that exist in it as such government should cover those gaps to ensure that justice is done”, Babangida added.