The Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi has warned that no person convicted for any sex offence, especially rape in the state would enjoy his powers of prerogative of mercy anymore.
The governor gave the warning while signing into law the Sexual Violence Against Children ‘Compulsory treatment and care for child victims of sexual violence’, which was recently passed by the state House of Assembly.
Fayemi while lamenting the rate at which women and the girl child are being violated in the country, called for a state of emergency to deal more effectively with the menace nationally, describing it as an act of extreme violence that must be addressed urgently before it gets out of hand.
He however directed the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Wale Fapohunda, to henceforth oppose bail or plea bargaining for rape offenders in the state.
He explained further that his administration had established a Register of Sex Offenders of all persons convicted of acts of sexual violence and adopted a policy of publicly naming and shaming convicted sex offenders as well as putting machinery in motion to strengthen the Gender-Based Violence Management Committee to oversee the implementation of the GBV Law.
He said, “In many respects, however, it is now obvious that we need to do more to confront the severity of the challenges we face. Our response must be efficient and proactive to end a culture of impunity and foster a culture of justice and deterrent. It is against this background that I now wish to enumerate some of the additional measures we will be taking.
“First, by virtue of the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Child Victims of Sexual Violence Law, 2020’ a child victim of sexual violence in this State will have rapid access to a medical facility that can administer emergency medical care, including treatment to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and counseling.
“We are going to overhaul and modernise our register of sex offenders to ensure it is effective in combating sexual violence. I have directed the Ministry of Justice to consider additional measures to make the register permanently accessible to the public.
“The Ministry of Justice is further directed to reaffirm state policy of opposing bail and rejecting plea bargain proposals from perpetrators of rape and child defilement. The State Government’s policy of ensuring that convicted sex offenders do not benefit from my power of prerogative of mercy remain in force.”
