The annual Nigerian festival is held in Delta State, which has sparked widespread anger and global condemnation after disturbing online videos that capture men running and chasing, stripping women, and sexually assaulting them were published. The issue came from the Alue-Do festival in Ozoro, a village in southern Nigeria.
The violence of gangs carrying out obvious "women chasing" tasks on busy streets was caught on film by bystanders. The videos sparked immediate outrage worldwide as a handful of people on the internet used the term “rape festival” in a controversial way.
Nigerian police and Nigerian authorities, though, denied the description, saying that there were no registered rape complaints at the time of the investigation, though police officials were "taking public sexual assault and other public harassment allegations seriously." Many suspects have been arrested so far, including a footage-viewed person and one community leader who was detained and accused of conducting the festival, Bright Edafe, a spokesperson for the Delta State Police said.
They also said that they were looking into the cases and more arrests would be taken as officials reviewed video footage and witness accounts. Alue-Do, a festival commonly associated with fertility rites and prayers for women seeking children, is also highly popular among and observed by many local communities.
The organisers of Alue-Do said that the original cultural event had “been misinterpreted” and that ritual violence and abuses were not included in the festival’s rituals. Calling the group a gang, they suspected them of hijacking the events and led the public into hysterical violence and abuse.
Indeed, if the explanations alone were omitted, the jarring images have been useful tools to help fuel the conversation on women’s welfare, accountability and the misuse of cultural occasions in pernicious ways. Human rights activists and women’s groups have condemned the violence, saying the footage laid bare a hostile environment in which mob crowding and gender-based violence have become active.
One victim said she had been assaulted before getting to the festival park. There was a clustered group of men, tearing apart her clothing and attacking her until one bystander arrived to rescue her and take her away, media websites reported. It also sparked a broader national debate over rights and how women should be treated at larger public gatherings and whether local authorities should weigh in on the safety of those women, she said.
Many decried a lack of response to the footage they viewed of mobs looking at footage of the crowd on television, and instead of helping the victims, it appeared they could be seen watching or recording the incident. The Delta State police authorities and administration shall punish all delinquents, including the police and administration, who have committed a crime contrary to the laws of the state.
The government looked closely at the festival itself and continues investigations to determine how it became so dark and savage at all. In contrast, rights organisations have urged people who report sexual violence to come forward because of public fears and social stigma, which prevent survivors from reporting.
In the face of continued anger, this episode has become one of the flashpoints in the public debate over public safety, women’s rights and accountability for cultural events in Nigeria when the citizens of that country’s traditional culture and tradition are endeavouring to live out their lives abroad. It’s all just going on and on, and police are said to have informed the world that their department would pursue all of the men who went along with the attack and seek justice for all of them.
