“Evoke VAPP Law to Prosecute Uwa Omozuwa’s Killer”
Edo State Reproductive Health Journalists have challenged government to evoke the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Law to prosecute Miss Uwa Omozuwa’s killer.
In a statement issued by Network of Reproductive Health Journalists of Nigeria, NRHJN and signed by the state coordinator, Joy Olabisi Akpaida, the group receives the news of the death of Miss Uwa Omozuwa with “shock and disbelief”.
The media group expresses concern that the alleged rape and murder of Omozuwa, who until death was an undergraduate of University of Benin, as an act of Sexual and Gender Based Violence SGBV, which is the spirit of the VAPP Act 2015.
The media nongovernmental organisation called on Governor Godwin Obaseki, State Police Command and Ministry of Justice as well as other stakeholders to immediately find and prosecute the killer (s) of Omozuwa under the VAPP Law which was domesticated by Edo State in 2019.
Late Omozuwa was reported to have been raped and killed on Friday, May 29 at the premises of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Ikpoba Hill where she went to study.
“As concerned Reproductive Health Journalists, we consider the act of rape as a Gender Based Violence and Violation against the humanity and womanhood of Late Miss Omozuwa.
” As Advocates of SGBV, we affirm that no woman, girl or anyone for that matter, should suffer Sexual Violence or have their dignity violated by another without facing the legal implication and consequences as stipulated by Laws and Acts of Nigeria”, the media group writes.
The group described Late Omozuwa as a promising young girl and an ideal role model in the Nigerian educational system who despite the Federal Government restriction order placed on schools and the tertiary education occasioned by the covid-19 pandemic, kept on studying in preparation for the ease of lockdown on Schools”.
The Network of Reproductive Health Journalists of Nigeria (NRHJN), is a cluster of Health Reporters, Editors and Producers with passion for reporting and working on issues related to Sexual, Reproductive Health & Rights.
The group was set up in April 2010 through partnership with Ipas Nigeria, principally to be the bridge between the Nigerian Society and Reproductive Health partners/ stakeholders working in Nigeria.