Nigerian Bar Association Denounces Delta State Festival Assaults as National Disgrace and Collapse of Conscience

The Nigerian Bar Association demands justice for women assaulted at the Ozoro festival, calling the mob violence a national disgrace and a criminal act.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 21, 2026, 5:53 AM EDT

Source: The information in this article was sourced from Politics Nigeria

Legal Leadership Challenges Cultural Justifications for Violence

The Nigerian Bar Association has issued a scathing critique of the recent events in Ozoro, labeling the sexual assault and public humiliation of women a national disgrace. In a joint statement, NBA President Afam Osigwe and Huwaila Muhammad, Chairperson of the NBA Women’s Forum, argued that the treatment of women serves as a primary indicator of a society’s true character. The association maintained that when women are stripped and violated under the guise of celebration, the result is not a cultural expression but a fundamental collapse of conscience and a stain on shared humanity.

Constitutional Violations and the Criminality of Mob Action

According to the NBA, the incidents reported from the Alue-Do festival represent a primitive form of gender based violence that directly contravenes the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The association noted that the forced stripping and molestation of victims in broad daylight constitute grave violations of the rights to personal liberty, security, and human dignity. By framing these acts as serious criminal offenses, including public indecency and assault, the legal body is moving to strip away any perceived legitimacy that local traditions might claim in shielding perpetrators from the reach of statutory law.

Accountability for Enablers and Bystander Complicity

A critical component of the NBA’s stance involves holding not just the direct attackers accountable, but also those who recorded, cheered, or failed to intervene during the assaults. The statement emphasized that silence and indifference in the face of such brutality only serve to embolden future abuse. The association has called on the Delta State Government to identify and prosecute all individuals who aided or enabled the violence, insisting that justice must be neither delayed nor selective if the state hopes to prevent the normalization of such lawlessness in public spaces.