How security men harass us over prostitution’

Dorothy Chioma Njemanze has been hearing stories of abductions in Abuja and given interviews campaigning against the practice. Because of these campaigns, a friend called her on the night of 23 September 2011 to inform her

that 3 young women from a bridal trail had been picked up by officers of the AEPB (Abuja Environmental

Dorothy Chioma Njemanze has been hearing stories of abductions in Abuja and given interviews campaigning against the practice. Because of these campaigns, a friend called her on the night of 23 September 2011 to inform her that 3 young women from a bridal trail had been picked up by officers of the AEPB (Abuja Environmental Protection Agency) and put in a bus. She quickly left her house to the location of the bus in Garki II. She witnessed first-hand how the officers of AEPB and armed mobile policemen were forcibly carrying more women into the buses. She decided to follow them in her car. When they got to the AEPB offices in Area 3, she begged that they release the young women who were in the bridal party arguing that from the t-shirts that they wore that they were bridesmaids attending a bridal shower night party. She was ignored, verbally abused and told that these women were ‘ashawo’ and she should leave. As she continued to beg, the officers armed with guns cocked their guns and threatened to shoot her. She then had a personal experience about a year after. On the night of the 29th of September 2012, she went to meet her brother at Dreams Recreational Resort in Wuse II. She had parked her car and was walking down the street when a man in a white bus grabbed her breasts and held on to them to stop her from walking. The bus had the inscription “AEPB in collaboration with SAPCLN”. He was joined by 3 men in military uniform who tried to force her into the bus. Her cries alerted passerby who came to her rescue. She made a formal complaint at the police station the next day but no one has been prosecuted. For Edu Ene Oroko narrating her experience to Inside FCT, she said in January 2010, she had just attended her brother’s birthday party and on their way home, she and a few friends decided to stop at a sharwarma spot in front of Studio24 on Ademola Adetokunbo Street in Abuja. Before she knew what was happening two police officers hit her in the face and started beating her, 3 of her friends were also attacked and all four of them were pushed into a waiting bus. She discovered that the policemen were working as a taskforce team together with the AEPB. They kept abusing them and calling them prostitutes until they got to AEPB offices in Area 3. Justina Etim: One evening on 25 October 2012, she was with friends along Blantyre Street Wuse 2, Abuja when a pickup truck and a white bus came close to them. She noticed that AEPB was on the side of the white bus.  Suddenly, armed officers ordered her to get into it. She was shocked and refused. Then they started pulling her and touching her inappropriately. They pulled at her clothes, touched her breasts and bum. She kept resisting and shouting. People nearby came round asking why they were harassing her, so she escaped being taken by them that day. Two days later on 27th October 2012, while walking on the same street in Wuse 2, more officers from the task force came and started to drag them to waiting buses. She resisted and was beating and she sustained bruises. Based on this perception, it came as a surprise to Amarachi Jessyford: who suffered a similar incident when she was with friends at Kuramo Garden, in Gwarinpa, Abuja on 8th March 2013 in the evening. She was with friends and they had ordered food but before they could have their dinner policemen came to where they were seated and asked them for identification. She did not have her ID card. However, they rounded up all of them both those with IDs and those without. She was pushed into a bus and detained at Gwarimpa Police station overnight. Throughout her ordeal, she was abused verbally, called ashawo or prostitute. There were men present at the venue but they were not asked for identification or ordered out. The four women, Dorothy Chioma Njemanze, Edu Ene Oroko, Justina Etim and Amarachi Jessyford have filed an application for the enforcement of their human rights against the Federal Republic of Nigeria before the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS Court) at Abuja, Nigeria. They submitted their application on 16 September 2014 and it was filed on 17 September 2014 with case no: ECW/CCJ/APP/17/14. The women were supported in bringing their action by Alliances for Africa (AfA), in collaboration with Institute for Human Rights in Africa (IHRDA) and the Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF). The legal team is led by the Law firm of SPA Ajibade & Co, a prominent law firm in Nigeria. The Lawyers are: Dr, B.A.M. Ajibade SAN, Mrs. Bolaji Gabari, supported by Mrs. Osai Ojigho and Gaye Sowe. The women’s case briefly is that the violence they experienced in the hands of the Abuja Environment Protection Board (AEPB), the Nigerian Police, the Nigerian Army and other government security agencies working in Abuja amounted to gender-based violence (GBV) and is also gender discrimination as it violates their fundamental human rights secured in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). “We are now waiting for the ECOWAS Court to set the date for hearing. My position on the issue is that the case provides a unique opportunity for violence against women the most common form of gender-based violence to be decided as an act of gender discrimination. This singular recognition or pronouncement will raise the issue of protection of women’s human rights not only in Nigeria but all over West Africa. It is important to stress that the reason why human rights abuses continue is because of impunity. Where perpetrators or human rights violations are not prosecuted and are not punished, the abuses continue and the victims and survivors continue to suffer in silence. These four women complained to the authorities about the abuses they suffered but nothing was done. By going to the ECOWAS Court they are reminding Nigeria of its responsibility to protect and to ensure that women’s human rights are protected and enforced effectively in the country.” Going further, she said: “we must all speak out against this type of discrimination against women. I am not in support of prostitution, but the way a woman dresses is not a factor or justification for labeling a woman as soliciting for sex. Something must be done about this. I am so traumatised having been beaten to a stupor is a mental image that tortures me, government needs to hear us out, get the facts and figures  and stop the abuse against women. I wish the National Assembly will permit me make a full presentation. "We want women in general to see their rights as important and as human rights. They should speak up and speak out where their human rights have been violated. They should have courage and not be deterred in fighting for their rights. It is not easy but if you have a good case, you should seek support from non-governmental organisations who often provide free legal advice and counseling to assist persons in enforcing their rights." The counsel to these women, Osai Ojigho, said, the women were picked up and harassed, physically, sexually assaulted at different times in different parts of Abuja since 2010. In fact, many women are still being abducted in 2014. Dorothy Njemanze alleged that was threatened by members of the AEPB and the Police when she tried to intervene when they picked up a group of women going for a bridal shower party. Because of her experiences and the experiences of other women, she set up a foundation the Dorothy Njemanze Foundation to try to interface between the security agencies and the victims. She also petitioned the Commissioner of Police, Public Complaints Commission, the National Human Rights Commission, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Ministry of Justice, the National Assembly and other government agencies in an effort to get justice for victims of these acts. Edu Ene Oroko and Justina Etim alleged that they were sexually assaulted and physically assaulted and illegally detained also by officers of the AEPB and the Nigerian Police. Amarachi Jessyford was also allegedly beaten and illegally detained by the AEPB and the Nigerian Police "We want the government to recognise our rights have been violated”.