A faction of women groups has written to the AGF, calling for the prosecution of Bello, son of Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, for purportedly threatening to rape someone’s mother on Twitter.

It is barely 48 hours that the governor’s son took to social media to apologise for his utterances.

El-Rufai’s son had insulted his ethnicity and spat curses on the young man who differed with him.

Bello El-Rufai had tweeted: “Tell your mother I’m passing her to my friends tonight. No Igbo sounds please! Tueh.”

In any case, the women organisations, wrote an appeal to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), dated April 16, 2020.

The letter was received by reporters in Abuja yesterday. The women’s group have called for the investigation and prosecution of Bello.

The document titled: “Request to investigate and prosecute the threats of sexual violence and gang-rape by Mr Bello El-Rufai.”

It was signed by the Executive Director of Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre, Dr Abiola Akiyode – Afolabi and Convener of Women in Politics Forum, Ebere Ifendu, on behalf of 67 groups.

Part of the letter reads:

“We, the undersigned women-led and women-focused non-governmental organisations, activists and scholars write to request you to use your position as the Chief Law Officer of Nigeria to direct immediate action to investigate and prosecute Mr Bello El Rufai (who incidentally is the son of the incumbent Governor of Kaduna State), over threats of sexual violence and gang-rape he made against the mother of another Nigerian online via series of tweets last week.

“With due respect, we believe that Mr Bello El-Rufai’s conduct by written speech posted online committed crimes prohibited under Cybercrimes (Prohibition) Act, 2015 and the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015. 

“We must point out that this case is, indeed, very telling of how women’s rights are readily violated in Nigeria and why there is an urgent need for committed action by the state to deal with egregious crimes of gender-based violence as this case presents.

For emphasis, we note that this was a case of a dispute between two men on perceptions of the adequacy of the quality of political leadership offered by men, how did it come to be that Mr El Rufai considered that the best way to settle the score was to threaten such egregious acts of sexual violence against a woman (representing other women) who was not a part of the dispute.

“From all the above, it is clear that the threats of violence, intimidation, grossly offensive and obscene statements made by Mr Bello El Rufai via his tweets posted online fall squarely within the genre of reprehensible acts that the National Assembly as the custodians of Nigeria’s corporate morality has deemed right to prohibit as crimes.

“Noting that the statements by Mr Bello El Rufai threatening sexual violence and gang-rape as well as xenophobic attacks have been widely shared on social media platforms, with world-wide reach and noting also that the conduct violates the laws of Nigeria, it can be expected that it is not only Nigerians who are now looking to your office for justice but the whole world.

“Indeed, we are hopeful that this request be given immediate attention as it will dawn a new day in the quest for gender justice in Nigeria. While we await your kind response, please accept the assurance of our highest regard.”