Professor Joy Ezeilo, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, activist, and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons in Africa, has strongly condemned the brutalization and stripping of a female corps member in Anambra State, describing the act as torture, degrading, and utterly reprehensible.
Speaking on Arise Television Newsnight on Wednesday from 2:11, August 20, 2025, Ezeilo reacted to revelations by Governor Chukwuma Soludo that the incident occurred in July but arrests were only made after the video went viral. She expressed deep concern over the growing impunity by security personnel and vigilante groups.
“We are becoming so beastly, brutish, the brutality and impunities out of this world. I really wept when I saw that video. And one of the first thing I tweeted was like, who recorded this, who shared this, you know, how they have debased this young woman, how they’ve taken away her dignity, violated her sanctuary, you know, everything, nothing short of torture, degrading, inhuman treatment and punishment, and highly repulsive, reprehensible, condemnable, and to think when we say that it happened in 23rd, because I have reservation about how we do eyewitness account and how people in Nigeria these days want to share videos, including very obnoxious ones. But again, also reasoning. Some people say if this video hadn’t even surfaced, but I believe that we should have still protected her privacy, that no action would have been taken,” she said.
Ezeilo linked the assault to the unchecked excesses of vigilante groups and other armed security outfits.
“It has become like the recklessness, the brutality of law enforcement agencies, security personnel, whether you call them vigilante groups, once you arm them, they have this mentality, you know, very negative masculinity, and the mentality of power over you, and they just go on about their job without care. I was just wondering how many women would they have raped? How many people would they have disappeared? How many people would they have killed without anybody knowing? How many people would they have extorted money from? How many people who they have silenced, who they have traumatized, who may never break their silence? This is the time for them to come out. Because for me, enough is enough,” she declared.
The rights activist further criticized the delay in bringing the perpetrators to justice.
“We have for far too long, as a people, bearing this impunity, we need public education, enlightenment, accountability is key. There is low persecution. Because I listened and I watched personally on TV one of the essays to the governor in just yesterday saying, oh, we know where they are, they’ve been cautioned, we can get them when we want. So nothing happened. Somebody did things like what they did, and they were just, you know, going about their business as normal. It’s just because this video surfaced that they are being held to account. So it shouldn’t be so. We should never normalize this type of behavior. It is abhorrent, and it’s zero tolerance for this gender-based violence, for this type of torture. We have laws, and extant laws must be implemented,” Ezeilo insisted.
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