The founder of Passion Against Rape and Abuse Africa (PARAA) Ms Foluke Daramola-Salako has said that 75 per cent of the perpetrators of rape cases handled by her organisation are religious leaders.
The Nollywood actress revealed this on Funmi Iyanda’s weekly Public Eye Live instagram programme last Friday
“Seventy-five per cent of the cases I have on my table are from religious leaders, and a lot of time, we don’t get to the end of it, because when we start, the family would come and tell us we should leave the religious leader to God,” she said.
Addressing the common ideology that indecent dressing is the cause for the rampant cases of rape in Nigeria, she said: “Nothing attracts rape; it is a sign of weakness. Why do they rape minors, teenagers, and even old women? Is that also about indecent dressing?
“You hardly find rape cases against young women except for sexual assaults and abuse in workplaces. We find it mostly amongst kids, teenagers, and elderly women. How come you are now telling me it is indecent dressing? And we are not animals.”
On the role of Nollywood in the fight against rape and abuse, she said: “The role of Nollywood is for us to create more awareness programmes, have more movies that are preaching the negativity of rape and abuse, the reason it can happen to anybody and the reason under no circumstances should any rapist be made to look like a good person.”
