Horrifying footage from southern Nigeria has ignited global fury after showing packs of men and boys hunting down women in public, ripping off their clothes and sexually assaulting them while crowds watched and filmed.
The incident unfolded during the annual Alue-Do fertility festival in Ozoro, Delta State a couple of months ago, but has gained traction online in the past few days.
What was billed as a traditional rite to bless childless couples instead produced scenes of women being chased, stripped naked and groped in the streets. Multiple videos captured the chaos, turning a local event into an international flashpoint.
Brutal 'rape festival' in Nigeria sparks outrage worldwide after horrifying video of men chasing women through streets surfaces https://t.co/vXqFa72QBq pic.twitter.com/FgI34Rf8uF
— New York Post (@nypost) May 2, 2026
The clips spread rapidly across social media, with millions of views on platforms including X, Facebook and Instagram. Viewers described the event as a “rape festival,” highlighting the scale of the brutality carried out in daylight with little intervention.
The Ozoro people are a subgroup of the Isoko and live in Delta State, Nigeria.
— National Conservative (@NatCon2022) March 20, 2026
Their annual fertility festival, the Alue-Do Festival, on March 19, featured so many mob attacks on women that people are now calling it “Rape Day” on Nigerian social media. https://t.co/8AGZqPnyJD pic.twitter.com/8DJ3Bebhep
One victim, student Ezeugo Ijeoma Rosemary, recounted the attack to authorities: “Immediately I came down, they started shouting ‘hold her, hold her, that’s a woman’, and they swooped on me like bees. A large crowd started pulling my clothes until they stripped me naked. They were pulling my breasts and touching my whole body … I was shouting for help.”
She said she was rescued by a bystander but lost her phone and remains traumatized, unable to return to school.
To those saying this is a lie…watch! pic.twitter.com/ROWXTGqKNw
— JayL ?? (@NoSpinZA) May 2, 2026
Delta State police launched an immediate investigation. Spokesperson Bright Edafe confirmed multiple arrests, including a comunity leader and several young men identified in the videos. “The Commissioner of Police has instructed that the suspects be transferred to the State CID without delay. The Commissioner is committed to ensuring that anyone involved will be arrested and brought to justice,” Edafe said.
Police described the acts as sexual assault and public humiliation. While no formal rape complaints had been filed at the time of initial statements, authorities urged victims and witnesses to come forward. More than a dozen suspects were ultimately detained as investigators reviewed footage.
Local community leaders pushed back against the “rape festival” label. They insisted the Alue-Do event is a longstanding fertility ritual involving symbolic acts such as dragging and pouring sand on participants to invoke blessings for couples struggling to conceive. They called claims of widespread sexual violence “false and misleading” and said no rapes had been officially recorded.
The leaders acknowledged that some individuals acted “irresponsibly” but stressed this was not part of the tradition. Women, they noted, are traditionally advised to stay indoors during parts of the festival.
Women’s rights advocate Rita Aiki of the Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA) saw deeper issues at play. “This is not just about what happened in those videos,” she said. “It’s about the conditions that make it possible for this kind of violence to happen in public, with so many people watching and no one stepping in.”
Aiki added: “It tells you something about what is being normalized in a given society. When people can do this in the open, and others treat it like spectacle, it goes beyond individual actions.”
The story has drawn sharp reactions online and in international media. Many pointed out that such public collective assaults reveal troubling attitudes toward women, even as defenders frame the violence as the work of “criminal elements” hijacking a cultural event rather than the culture itself.
Delta State authorities condemned the harassment and have moved to hold those responsible accountable, with some reports indicating the festival itself faces scrutiny or restrictions going forward.
This episode forces a blunt reckoning: some cultures have long normalized behaviors that others rightly view as incompatible with basic human dignity and safety. Denying the scale of what the videos plainly show only delays the necessary confrontation with reality.
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