In her relentless efforts advocating for the safety of women and girls,Her Majesty,Queen (Barr) Josephine Diete-Spiff embarks on a road Walk with the Response Initiative Team of Bayelsa State,an initiative of the First Lady ,Her Excellency Dr Gloria Diri and Convener Barr (Mrs) Dise Ogbise to say NO to Killings,Abuse of Women and Girls in the society.
Highlighting the main purpose for the walk,which she termed,Timely,Her Majesty,Queen Josephine Diete-Spiff said,” the awareness on the ugly and increasing cases of violence against women, the callous abuses and dehumanization of women, particularly the gruesome attempted murder of the female undergraduate in the Bayelsa owned Niger Delta University, Miss Deborah Emafidon.
The dastardly attempted killing of this promising young lady underscores the danger facing girls and women in our present-day society and glaringly reveals the potent and consistent threat to the right to life of girls and women as guaranteed by the Universal Human Rights Declaration and the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.
As Queens and mothers of kingdoms in this our dear state, we stand collectively to say No to killings, disrespect for life, and abuse of women and girls.”
Her Majesty commends the first Lady of Bayelsa State,Her Excellency Dr Gloria Diri for such a life touching initiative, the Gender Response initiative team Bayelsa State, the Committee for Democracy and Environmental Dividends (CODED) Bayelsa Office, members of concerned non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other Civil Society stakeholder groups working on human rights protection, more specifically, gender-based violence (GBV) across the eight Local Government Areas of Bayelsa State for their commitment to stop killings of this nature.
The event which was well attended calls for genuine and proactive measures from Government and Security Agencies in the country and Bayelsa in Particular to permanently put an end to such heinous and inhuman crime or reduced drastically to 1%.
While reiterating on the importance of Women and girls in the society, Her Majesty,Queen Evangelist Josephine Diete-Spiff who is also The Chairperson,Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers’ Wives Association and President,Queens of Niger Delta Initiative,said
“Women and girls are essential partners to men and boys, and this is properly understood to halt the long-held belief that they are properties for the comfort of the opposite sex. They help make society more manageable and more comfortable and, in return, deserve appreciation, respect, protection, and support rather than the ugly attacks in the form of kidnap, rape, assault, ritual killings that now characterize happenings in the state, region, and country. Only feeble-minded societies destroy their women and girls.”
She emphasized that, the solidarity walk is a clarion call from concerned Bayelsians strongly supported by the Royal Queens and their husbands, (the Traditional Rulers of the State) to the government, to urgently do the needful to end the violent crimes against women and the rampant criminal trend of targeting women for money rituals.
According to the Queen, “It is appalling that the mad quest for quick wealth has stripped our youths of their conscience and the value for lives. It is time to stamp out taking lives to fulfil personal goals. Our children should be called to face the reality of life-that education and hard work are the only actual routes to lasting and peaceful riches.
The police and other law enforcement organs must take up this challenge of going after the killers of Miss Emafidon and related victims, freeing Leah Sharibu, and others still in captivity from terrorist. The force should bring them to book and create innovative and technology compliant strategies and tools for tracking perpetrators of all forms of violence against women and girls in Bayelsa State and the country.
There should be enacted laws to promote easy tracking of ritualists, drug peddlers, harmful activities in hotels and other leisure centres, and proper monitoring of underage boys parading the state with questionable wealth.”
Parents and community members should join in this campaign for a safer Bayelsa State by meeting their obligations of setting the proper steps for their children. To direct their school-age children back to school, encourage hard work, equality, and gender respect in their homes, with a total stoppage of promoting wealth acquisition among the youths.”she added
