Governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Mohammed has apologised after his administration pardoned a serial rapist Yusuf Bako, who was arrested for raping a four-year-old girl inside a mosque among other cases.
The governor issued the apology while receiving the state Action Committee on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, led by his wife, Hajiya Aisha Mohammed, at the Government House, Bauchi on Tuesday.
The Herald gathered that Bako and many others had been granted pardon by the governor during the COVID-19-induced lockdown.
He said that his administration would never condone sexual violence, noting that it was not his desire to pardon the serial rapist.
Mohammed said, “Gender-based violence has become a pandemic and in Bauchi, unfortunately, I understand through the Ministry of Justice, that we pardoned a serial rapist.
“We must apologise to the women for doing this. It is not our wish to do that. Had it been that I was aware, he would have served his full jail term. I didn’t know, I wouldn’t have appended my signature.”
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Sounding a note of warning, the governor said his government would deploy the instrumentality of the law to deal decisively with anyone caught engaging in gender-based and sexual violence in the state.
Speaking during the advocacy visit, Mohammed’s wife explained the importance of creating a mobile court to ensure rapid dispensation of justice in gender-based and sexual violence cases.