The Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network (CRRAN) has raised alarm over the increasing incidents of women being stripped naked in Nigeria, describing the acts as barbaric, unconstitutional, and a violation of international conventions on human rights.
In a strongly worded statement signed by its President, Olu Omotayo Esq., CRRAN cited recent cases where women were stripped both by state and non-state actors, warning that such abuses were eroding Nigeria’s democratic values.
“All human beings – male and female – are born freely, without an inhibition on grounds of sex; and that is constitutional. Any form of societal discrimination on the ground of sex, apart from being unconstitutional, is antithetic to a civil society built on the tenets of democracy,” Omotayo said, quoting Hon. Justice Niki Tobi’s famous words in Mojekwu v. Mojekwu (1997) 7 NWLR (pt. 512) 283.
He described the case of Comfort Emmanson, who was stripped and dragged out of an aircraft at Nigeria’s foremost airport, as “worrisome” and “barbaric,” stressing that the assault portrayed the country as a jungle before the international community.
“In that case, a mob of able-bodied men were seen on camera stripping and dragging a lady out of an aircraft, when the normal thing would have been to promptly invite female law enforcement agents to act professionally and arrest the lady without resorting to such humiliation,” he noted.
CRRAN also condemned the activities of a local vigilante group in Anambra State, reportedly established by Governor Chukwuma Soludo, accusing it of human rights abuses, arbitrary detention, and extortion.
The group cited the July 25, 2025, assault on Jennifer Edema Elohor, a female Youth Corps member, who was stripped naked by the vigilante operatives. “Despite complaints to the security outfit’s office, nothing was done until the video of the assault went viral,” Omotayo lamented.
According to CRRAN, such actions amount to torture and degrading treatment, contrary to Section 31(1a) of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees respect for the dignity of the human person.
“It is further submitted that the act of stripping citizens naked amounts to torture, inhuman and degrading treatment and is therefore unlawful and unconstitutional,” Omotayo stressed.
The rights group also reminded both the Federal and Anambra State governments of their obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), noting that the convention affirms that discrimination against women is incompatible with human dignity.
Omotayo insisted that both levels of government must “take proactive and definite actions” to halt the trend, warning that Nigeria risks sliding into the image of a lawless state.
“These actions of the agents of the respective governments fell short of what is acceptable in the comity of decent nations of the world,” he declared.
