Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State has opined that most university girls who get s.e.xually molested are dullards.
Governor Ayade made the comment in Calabar at the end of a kilometre walk to commemorate this year’s “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV)” in Cross River State.
The walk took off from Cultural Centre Calabar to the premises of the state Ministry of Women Affairs.
The governor who was represented by Secretary to the State Government(SSG), Ms. Tina Agbor, said university female students who accused their teachers of sexual molestation are ‘dullards’.
“As a girl in the university, study hard and no one will take advantage of you because they know that you are worth your onions.
“Some of the university girls that say they were sexually molested are dullards who visit lecturers privately to beg for marks,” he said.
While urging female students to study harder, the governor told women in the state that being married is not a special qualification in womanhood as believed in some quarters.
According to him, society made women believe that marriage was a special qualification, making many of them to submit themselves to be hurt.
“Because society has told you that for you to be a complete woman, you have to be married, many women are holding on to very wrong and abusive relationships.
“As a woman, you must add value to yourself for the men to respect you because when you reduce yourself to nothing, the men will kick you around.
It is worthwhile to note that The 16 Days of Activism is an annual event organised between Nov. 25 and Dec. 10 to raise awareness on GBV and harmful practices against women and girls in the state.
The theme of this year’s event is: “Orange the World: Leave No One Behind, End Violence against Women and Girls.”