by Paul Nwabuikwu
Abuja is getting dirtier, more disorganized and less safe but the FCT authorities are more interested in harassing and arresting women for the crime of going out for a drink at night.
Over the past few days, scores of women accused of being prostitutes have been crudely assaulted and detained by mobs of policemen and task force enforcers.
No man, including “customers” caught in the act was arrested proving that the exercise was more religious and “cultural” than legal.
No effort was made to determine the identity of those accused of soliciting. On the streets, in gardens, in “joints”, in nightclubs and lounges, these women and girls were accosted and whisked away, protesting their innocence.
I read the heartrending story of a distraught couple who kept screaming “We are married! See our rings!” as the woman was being dragged away. Mercifully, the man refused to let go of his spouse and the “law enforcers” eventually left them, bruised but relieved, to search for more “prostitutes” to throw into their buses.
Many of the arrested women reported that they were verbally and physically abused in detention. Some were given stark options: “pay N5000 or spread your legs…”
To think that the official objective of this horrendous exercise is to improve the moral tone of Abuja. Hypocrites in high and low places.
Misplaced priorities. Atrocious lawlessness. Mediaeval cruelty. All happening in Nigeria’s capital city in 2019.
Nwabuikwu, media aide to Ex-Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala writes from Abuja.
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