She was downcast, lost
and in total despair as she looked into the future with little or no optimism.
This was the condition and status Mrs. Silifat Atanda (Not real name) has found
herself over the demand of her husband's family to submit her daughter for
genital mutilation.
Silifat in her late
30s couldn’t bring herself to term with the incessant threat she receives from
her hubby's family immediately her little girl attained the age of 10. The
family has made it clear to her that they would take it to any length to make
her suffer and even her girl would not be spared because they would make her
future very terrible.
Recounting her ordeal
to our reporter, she said, "It has not been easy convincing my husband's
family why my child would not go through their barbaric ways of life. They
planned subjecting her to torture and severe pains by circumcision and my being
adamant did make them threatened to make life a hell for me and my little
girl."
Married to an Ekiti
man; a state according to UNICEF is among the five states in Nigeria with high
rates of FGM/C. The states are Osun, Ebonyi and Ekiti leading at 77,
74 and 72 percent respectively. Despite the fact that some states have
passed it into law, it is still a daunting task fighting FGM/C in the
Southwest, especially in Ekiti, Osun, Ondo and some other states in Nigeria.
Despite international
outcries against the cultural practice coupled with the mass campaign and
awareness against genital mutilation amongst female children, people in a small
town in Ekiti still find pleasure in female genital mutilation and cutting
(FGM/C), thus making it poses a huge challenge in the area.
In her story, the mother
of two said, "Women in the area find it difficult to stand in defense for
their girl-child. They threatened to kill whoever intends putting a stop to the
barbaric act and even make the future of the girl bleak if her parent refuses
following the norms of the area as regards genital mutilation. This evil act
they called culture comes with big celebration with the slaughtering of animal,
it could be goat, ram or chicken with lots of drinks. They see it as an act of
worship without considering the pains and gruesome experience they made people
go through."
My husband relatives
have been on my neck making me see reasons why the culture in the family must
not cease to exist and my fear is I don’t want my girl to experience such act
that could cause infertility, maternal death, infections and loss of sexual
pleasure in future. She posited.
Silifat said the
reason given by the family is that a partial or total cutting of the female
genitalia will dissuade acts of promiscuity. Also their belief of many centuries
ago must continue to exist because its stoppage will brings doom to the family.
However, research has
shown that the mutilation of the female genitalia does not affect sexual
behaviours positively, while cultural belief on female mutilation is nothing but
a ruse and another evil way to inflict wound and untold hardship on an innocent
girl.
Recent happenings in
the country show that the African child, especially the girl-child, is still
subjected to some out-dated practices and traditions that threaten their right
to development, protection and ultimately survival.
This is an unbridled
contravention of the international Child Rights Act adopted by Nigeria in 2003
to domesticate the convention on the Rights of the child.
In her cry to save her
child and every Nigerian girl out there from the barbaric act, she has called
on the First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari and other well meaning Nigerians to
checkmate the act in the area and other states that the act is prevalent in
Nigeria.
