Religious leaders, on Tuesday in Kaduna during a two-day conference spoke against rapists noting that the act was partly responsible for insecurity.
A prominent northern Islamic scholar, Sheikh Kabir Gombe, suggested capital punishment for rapist while the Kaduna State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev. John Hayab, said rapists must be punished according to the law of the land.
Gombe said “There is no country in the world that treats rapists with levity, because they are terrorists. Therefore, they should be treated as terrorists.”
He made a list of things that serve as predisposing factors to rape: drug abuse, human trafficking, uncontrolled sexual urge and lack of stringent punishment.
On the other hand, the CAN leader said, “Rape has contributed significantly to the security challenges we are facing today because many have given birth to bastards as a result of rape.
“Those children, because they lack parental care, have now grown to become criminals disturbing the peace of our society.
“We therefore have to stand up against rape so that we don’t have many bastards in our society.
“God forbid a future where bastards will take positions of authority and direct the affairs of our country.”
The two-day conference was tagged ‘Emergency Call to Action Against Rape’ and was organised by one of the wives of Kaduna State Governor, Ummi El-Rufai.
Ummi called for the involvement of local government chairmen and their spouses, traditional leaders, religious leaders, influential women leaders, influential youth leaders, heads of civil defence, heads of vigilante services as well as community volunteers in the fight against rape.
