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UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, has demanded answers from the Nigerian government over the sexual violence against women and girls during the Alue-Do festival in Ozoro, Delta State, asking President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government to provide details of its response to the attacks, the investigations that followed and the support available to survivors.
Reem made the demands in a letter dated July 2, 2026 and addressed to President Tinubu. The seven-page communication, which has now been made public, raises concerns about the sexual violence against women and girls during the festival, restrictions placed on women’s movement, the response to the attacks and the lack of full access to justice for survivors.
The attacks took place on March 19, 2026, during the Alue-Do festival in the Uruamudhu community within Ozoro Kingdom, Isoko North Local Government Area of Delta State. The festival is a traditional fertility rite reportedly held every three to four years, with its central practice involving the playful dragging and pouring of sand on married people without children. One of its customary rules requires unmarried girls and women to remain indoors during certain stages of the ritual.
According to the information detailed in Reem’s letter, the sexual assaults began around midday on 19 March and continued into the evening. Horrifying videos that surfaced on social media between 19 and 20 March showed women being attacked by groups of men. One video showed a woman seated on a motorcycle being forcibly dragged to the ground and physically assaulted, with her clothing torn.
Another showed a woman fleeing as men pulled at her dress, leaving her partially exposed. A third showed a distressed woman clutching torn clothing while being surrounded and groped by several men. There were also reports of women being chased, stripped in public spaces, and physically harassed throughout the community.
Students of Southern Delta University were among those affected. The university’s Student Union Government president, Oribelua Precious, confirmed to the press on 20 March that some students had been admitted to a local hospital. A doctor at the hospital said no student had confirmed penetrative rape, while acknowledging that sexual assault and molestation had occurred.
Reem’s letter notes that under Nigeria’s Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015, which has been domesticated in Delta State, sexual assault includes non-penetrative acts of sexual violence, forced public exposure and degrading treatment.
The exact number of women and girls who were attacked and the full range of acts committed have not been established. However, the documented violence and the accounts contained in the communication have raised serious questions about the official response.
According to the information available to Reem, police had formally interviewed only four victims as of 23 March. By July, arrests and investigations had been reported in connection with the violence, but there was no publicly available information indicating that any suspect had been formally charged or brought to trial. There was also no public confirmation that a civil society organisation or legal aid body had been formally engaged to represent survivors in criminal proceedings.
The letter points to another disturbing aspect of the attacks: people who stood by and recorded what was happening. Social media footage showed bystanders filming the assaults and, in some cases, appearing to cheer as women were attacked. Reem noted that no accountability measures had been publicly announced against people who facilitated the assaults or watched without intervening.
Government officials and other groups did condemn the attacks. Those cited in the letter include the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim; First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu; the Delta State Government; community leaders; and civil society organisations. The Alue-Do festival was also formally banned.
Authorities also announced support measures, including covering survivors’ medical expenses and providing psychosocial care and legal aid. But Reem said it remained unclear how much of that support had actually reached survivors. She questioned whether women had been systematically connected to Sexual Assault Referral Centres or specialised psychosocial services and noted that access to such services could be limited because Ozoro is not a major city.
She also raised concerns about the students who returned to their home communities after the attacks, noting that there was no public information showing whether the university administration or Delta State Government had reached out to them. The letter further notes that there had been no government statement addressing the need for witness protection and confidentiality raised by the Nigerian Federation of Business and Professional Women in its petition to the Delta State Government.
While Reem said she did not prejudge the accuracy of every allegation contained in the information she received, she expressed serious concern about the reported sexual violence, the restrictions placed on women’s freedom of movement and the gaps in access to justice. She reminded the Nigerian government that under CEDAW, states have a duty to prevent, investigate, punish and provide redress for sex based violence against women, including violence committed by private individuals.
She said government assistance to survivors must be accompanied by prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigations and the prosecution and punishment of those responsible. Support must also be comprehensive, and survivor-centred, with confidentiality and protection from retaliation guaranteed.
Reem specifically rejected any attempt to minimise sexual violence because it did not involve penetrative rape. She said all forms of sexual violence must be treated with the utmost seriousness and warned that the state cannot use the absence or low number of formal complaints to dismiss the violence. Instead, authorities must create conditions in which women and girls feel safe and supported enough to report what happened to them, including by addressing stigma and removing barriers to reporting.
She also addressed the custom requiring women and girls to remain indoors during parts of the festival. According to Alsalem, portraying women’s presence in public during a festival as an invitation to harm reinforces the idea that women’s mobility, conduct, and dress can be controlled by men. She described confining women and girls to their homes during such events as an illegitimate restriction on their freedom of movement, contrary to Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
She further pointed to Article 2(f) of CEDAW, which requires states to take appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish customs and practices that discriminate against women.
In her letter to President Tinubu, Reem asked the Nigerian government to provide an account of what happened on 19 March, including the immediate measures taken by law enforcement when the violence began, how quickly officers responded, how many personnel were deployed and what they did to stop the attacks.
She requested detailed information on the status of every investigation connected to the Alue-Do festival, including whether suspects had been charged or prosecuted. She also asked whether anyone who filmed and posted footage of the attacks had been investigated and whether survivors had faced barriers to reporting or fears of retaliation.
The government was also asked to provide details of the medical, psychological and legal services made available to survivors, including whether student victims who returned home received follow-up care. Reem requested information on measures being taken to review or regulate customary practices that restrict women’s movement, including the requirement that unmarried women and girls remain indoors during specific periods. She further asked what public-awareness or community-engagement initiatives had been undertaken or planned to challenge harmful stereotypes, victim-blaming attitudes and tolerance of sexual violence.
The letter places these questions within Nigeria’s obligations under several international human rights instruments. Alsalem cited the ICCPR, which Nigeria ratified in 1993, noting its guarantees of equality between men and women and freedom of movement, as well as the requirement that restrictions on movement be lawful, necessary and non-discriminatory. She also linked access to justice with Nigeria’s obligation to provide an effective remedy for violations of human rights.
She also referred to CEDAW, which Nigeria ratified in 1985, and its requirement that states work to eliminate discriminatory customs and practices. The letter cites CEDAW guidance recognising that harmful practices can be associated with, or constitute, serious violence against women and children and can sometimes be justified as forms of protection or control.
She also cited CEDAW’s standards on women’s access to justice, noting that gender stereotypes, stigma, patriarchal cultural norms and gender-based violence can prevent women from accessing justice equally. She pointed to the state’s responsibility to act with due diligence to prevent, investigate, punish and provide reparation for violence, while investigations must be timely, impartial, victim-centred and free from stereotypes and must protect survivors’ safety, dignity and privacy.
Nigeria’s obligations under the Maputo Protocol and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights were also highlighted. The Maputo Protocol requires measures to combat discrimination and harmful practices and guarantees women equal protection and benefit of the law, while the African Charter provisions cited by Alsalem protect against discrimination and safeguard equality, personal integrity and human dignity.
The letter also invokes the 1993 UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which recognises physical, sexual and psychological violence, including rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and traditional practices harmful to women, as forms of violence against women. It says states must work without delay to eliminate such violence, investigate and punish it and provide victims with just and effective remedies.
Alsalem additionally referred to the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation, which require states to investigate violations effectively, promptly, thoroughly and impartially and to take action against those responsible where appropriate. The principles also call for victims to be treated with humanity and respect and for measures protecting their safety, wellbeing, privacy and protection from intimidation and retaliation.
She cited the Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power, which provides that victims should be treated with compassion and respect and should have access to justice and prompt redress. She also noted that failures to investigate or communicate with victims can amount to secondary victimisation and stressed the need for survivor-centred responses to sexual violence.
Finally, Reem reminded the Nigerian government that during the 2024 Universal Periodic Review, Nigeria supported recommendations on combating violence against women and girls, including sexual violence and improving victims’ access to justice. Nigeria also committed to combating patriarchal gender stereotypes, including through public-awareness campaigns.
The Nigerian government was given 60 days for the communication and any response to be made public through the UN communications reporting system. Reem said that while awaiting a response, Nigeria should take the necessary interim measures to stop the violations and prevent their recurrence and, where investigations support the reported violations, ensure that those responsible are held accountable.
In announcing that the letter had been made public, Reem said no response had been received from the Nigerian government to date.
