Kaduna State Government held a widely publicised investment conference titled ‘KADINVEST 5.0’ on Monday, September 21. The investment summit which would be the fifth held since Governor el-Rufai become governor of the State in 2015, aims to attract investors from Nigeria and outside of the country to invest in the State. Kaduna is an old city of Northern Nigeria and has for long been the political capital of the entire region with most of the elite of the region owning residences in the city. Kaduna however has come into the news and into notoriety in very recent years owing to the large scale levels of insecurity that has bedeviled the State. In the last two years, the level of killings in Southern Kaduna inhabited mostly by minority ethnic groups, mostly Christians has been alarming. The State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai has been accused by Southern Kaduna indigenes of taking sides in support of the perpetrators of the violence against the people. Indeed, the governor himself has not hidden which side of the divide that he supports. Southern Kaduna indigenes have also accused the governor of denying the area of development. They have also protested the insensitivity of the governor in picking a minority muslim from Southern Kaduna as Deputy Governor during the last general elections, disregarding the religious and ethnic balancing that has somewhat helped in the past to reduce tensions in the State. The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) had in reaction to Governor el-Rufai’s actions, banned the governor from speaking at its annual conference after he had earlier been invited. The governor himself has shown total disregard of the criticisms against his biases and policies.
On September 1, the governor signed into law, an amendment to the Kaduna State Penal Code Law that punishes the offence of rape of a child. The new penalties include barbaric application of surgical castration for male offenders and bilateral salpingectomy for female offenders. In addition, listing the convict in a Sex Offenders Register to be published by the Attorney-General of the State and death, for the rape of a child under 14 years. However, in the case of rape of a child over 14 years, life imprisonment, instead of the death penalty shall apply.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has expressed concern over the introduction of castration as a penalty for rape, stating that it negates human rights and fundamental freedoms, as contained in section 34(1) (a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), which guarantees the right to the dignity of the human person. It also contravenes the Anti-Torture Act of 2017, which prohibits mutilation of essential body parts. Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Dr. Tony Ojukwu underscored that torture cannot be justified even by criminal jurisdiction exercised in accordance with internal laws. He stated that the said amendment is capable of undermining the progress recorded by the country in human rights protection.
Gender based violence has risen to an all-time high in recent months, particularly as it relates to sexual offences. This has given rise to calls by various interest groups and Nigerian citizens in general, for more effective laws, diligent investigation and prosecution to tackle the incidence of rape. The new penalties introduced by the Kaduna State government have been criticised for being draconian, archaic and brutish. Observers worry that equally burning issues such as the mass killings in Southern Kaduna have not been accorded the required urgency and attention by the State Government.