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| Benue camp for flood Victims |
It was double jeopardy for 19 female refugees at various
resettlement camps in Benue State who were raped by men who were not bothered
by the discomforting displacement they are suffering as a result of the flood.
Cases of rape have been reported in four of the designated camps.
The incident may have heightened the woes of the people who
were displaced from their various homes by the flood that has ravaged many
parts of the country, as they are already cumbered by congestion, hunger,
physiological inconveniences, and possible epidemic.
Some of the state governments, like Delta State, have introduced
mobile clinics within the camps, to handle any health challenge of the
displaced people.
THISDAY checks revealed that the insecurity within the camps
and the lack of privacy has given rise to frequent cases of rape there. “It has
become a daily occurrence in the four official camps,” a source said.
The act, it was gathered, is being perpetrated by young boys
and men in the camp, who have also become idle having been sacked from their
farmlands.
The young men were said to have found a passion in
developing randy inclinations within the camp. When THISDAY visited some camps
such as Wurukum, Saint Catherine and Wadata, many of the parents who spoke to
THISDAY decried the orgy of sexual affront within the camps. In St Catherine, a
parent who condemned the growing act, hinted that the male adults in the camp
may be compelled to organise vigilante teams within the camp, so as to ensure
that “our wives and daughters do not get molested by miscreants and rapists”.
The source lamented that it is bad enough that “we are in
this condition, yet it is worse that some ill-bred persons will come and
compound our worries by beginning to attack our wives and daughters”. He pointed out that the consequences of rape
are far more telling, as it has both social and medical consequences for
victims.
It was not certain if there was any medical service in some
of the camps visited.
One of the victims, a 19-year-old girl who craved anonymity,
disclosed that she was raped two days ago at about 10pm in the camp, by a young
man she could not identify.
According to her, "I just walked back into the camp
after I had visited a former neighbour in town. I got into the camp that
evening, while I was walking towards the classrooms where we sleep, somebody
called my name from a dark spot.
"I tried to find out who it was, but before I knew what
was happening, somebody grabbed me from behind and threatened that he would
stab me to death if I shouted. He pulled me down and raped me.
"I am not the only one they have done this to, there
are so many other girls; there are over 19 of us that have been raped in the
last few days, but we are all hiding it because of the shame, but if we don't
cry out, we will not get help because we are helpless.
"And if we don't cry out because of the shame, the
people behind these evil act will continue to torment girls and women in the
camps."
Many persons have expressed fears that the situation in the
various camps has made women vulnerable and could promote illicit acts,
especially in camps that are heavily over-populated.
A former Executive Director, Niger Delta Development
Commission (NDDC), Mr. Power Ziakede Aginighan, had recently called for
security on both camps hosting the flood victims as well as their communities
from which they have been evacuated. He had argued that whatever that is left
of the property of the victims needed to be protected as well, so that they
might have something to fall back on when the floods recede.
When contacted, the Deputy Police Public Relations Officer
(PPRO) for Benue State, Mr. Ejike Alaribe, Assistant Superintendent of Police,
said the rape cases had not been reported to the police.
Alaribe, however, assured the victims that the police would
intensify surveillance around the camps in order to stem the unhealthy
development.
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