With the recent kidnapping of schoolgirls in Borno State, women are coming together to seek ways to stop rape, sexual assault and gender violence.

Around the country, the women are no longer at ease with the way they have become easy target of gender-based violence. The recent kidnapping of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State has accentuated their clarion call for protection. Last week, an Islamic women group in Ilorin protested the abduction of the girls who are students of Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok Borno State by suspected members of Boko Haram.

The group, Nasirullahi Fathi Society of Nigeria, (NASFAT) staged a peaceful protest and matched to the Kwara State Government House in Ilorin, insisting that the members of the sect are not genuine Muslims. The leader of the Ilorin branch of NASFAT, Mrs. Ummuhani Abdulrahman, told the State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, that they were in the Government House to protest the Nyanya Municipal Motor Park killings and female students' kidnap in the northeast. She lamented that, as mothers, they were mostly affected by the kidnapping of girl students and called on various governments to intensify efforts in curbing the menace. The women leader noted that it was obvious that the frequent bombings and kidnappings had no religious undertone, urging Nigerians to rise to the occasion by speaking out against the crimes.

Abdulrahman, who presented a letter of protest to Ahmed, for onward transmission to President Goodluck Jonathan, said: "Our hearts are bleeding. We are mothers. We know what it takes to lose a pregnancy how much more a child." She added: "We want these children to be recovered because they are our futures. They are what we depend on as mothers." The NASFAT women leader, who said as mothers, they felt the agonies of the mothers of the abducted girls, noted that the activities of the insurgents had gone beyond religious affiliations.

She tasked people of all religious faiths to come together to tackle the onslaught of the insurgents, especially the violence against women in different forms. And in Lagos, gender-based violence was the subject of discourse at a rally to mark the International Day of Women recently. At the rally, the Lagos State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire linked fair treatment of women in all spheres of life to key for unlocking national development and prosperity.