According to data published by Daily Trust Saturday, 49 spouses reportedly died between January 2021 and March 2022.
According to the data, 35 women were murdered by their spouses, whereas 14 wives murdered their husbands.
Domestic violence was involved in 39 of the cases compiled by Daily Trust Saturday, while six people killed their wives over adultery suspicions.
Experts say mental illnesses, ritual killings, and forced marriages are other reasons of homicide.
The death of Osinachi Nwachukwu, an Abuja-based gospel singer, was the most recent occurrence that sparked outrage.
Her death was said to have occurred after a series of marital difficulties, including allegations of domestic violence.When visiting the children Osinachi left behind, the Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, painted horrible scenes within the family on live television. Heartbreaking occurrences
In the Sabonpegi-Shabu community of Lafia, Nasarawa State, Mr Ovye Yakubu allegedly killed his wife, Esther Aya.
A witness claimed that Yakubu killed his wife after a quarrel over hiring a carpenter to fix one of their home’s windows when he was apprehended by Nasarawa State Police Command operatives.He said, “The deceased (Esther) had engaged the service of a carpenter to fix net in their windows to prevent mosquitoes from entering the house, but her husband stopped the carpenter.”She reportedly resisted and her husband started beating her in the process.
She was alleged to have perished as a result of the injuries she received when he swooped down on her.
In January 2022, Muhammed Alpha, a 57-year-old man, was arrested for reportedly attacking his wife of over 20 years with a knife over the ownership of a zinc door, while Motunrayo Alaba allegedly used a hot-pressing iron on her husband’s chest after returning from a holiday overseas. The man died as a result of his injuries.
In a case of domestic abuse, Ramota Soliu allegedly poured boiling water on her spouse. Wisdom Emmanuel Chigozie allegedly strangled his pregnant wife Evelyn Alifiya to death over a small argument, while Joseph allegedly strangled his wife Evelyn Alifiya to death.The children are at the centre of these killings, as they are left without both parents while one rots in police jail and the other is buried.
Osinachi left four children behind, while her husband remains in detention awaiting a final verdict from the court.
Muhammed Alpha killed his wife, leaving eight children without a mother. When Mr Alaba was assassinated by his wife in Lagos, three children were left without a parent.
In 15 months in Nigeria, more than 20 children were left behind by their parents who were victims of spousal homicides.
In a case of domestic abuse, Ramota Soliu allegedly poured boiling water on her spouse. Wisdom Joseph is accused of strangling his wife Evelyn Alifiya to death, while Emmanuel Chigozie is accused of murdering her.“Some children trained in abusive marriages grew up with psychological scars and trauma that shape their marriage view,” Said Abdullahi Usman, a psychologist.
“It affects their perception about life and life will never be the same for some of them,” he said.
Olamide Ogundele is a graduate based in Abuja. He said he did not plan to get married due to what he experienced with his parents.
“I will rather remain single because I do not think marriage is for me. Marriage is not for everybody, and I have seen it from my parents. Not that they were violent but there were things I saw in their relationship that have led to fear within me,” he said.
When probed further, Ogundele said his views might change later, but at the moment, all his relationships with females are platonic.Another Abuja resident who preferred to be anonymous said that growing up was difficult for her as she joined her sisters to beat their father when he abused her mother.
“I had to pray when I was about to get married because I did not want to get into an abusive relationship, and God answered my prayers,” she said, adding that despite her fears, her husband of over 20 years has never abused her.How abusive spouses deceive their partners
Cynthia Ogwu claims she has been separated from her spouse for more than ten years after receiving a court order for the dissolution of their marriage.
She got a job and has been fending for her children ever since, with little possibility of getting back into the marriage.
She claimed that not everyone understood her predicament and the events that led to the divorce, adding that she was forced to transfer to a different part of Abuja to start a new life with her children owing to societal stigma.
Cynthia would not say why she left the marriage, but she expressed gratitude for being alive to tell her experience, no matter what transpired.A victim of an abusive marriage, Grace Ityosaa, said people in such situations who refuse to walk away risk being killed.
She said such people must be willing to leave the marriage the moment the first slap or punch landed on them.
“At times it is not punches or slaps. It could be by words. At this point, you would start feeling that the person is treating you badly.
“A woman should not wait till it gets to a point when she is reporting to people because the next blow could take her life. I am talking today not because I am better than those who had died, I am just lucky, and probably, God has allowed me to be able to talk to other women,” she said.
The Benue State-based broadcaster said she was in an abusive marriage for over two years and had to walk away because, “There is nothing worth your life. If you move out, people will talk; unfortunately, it is the same people that will talk when you walk out that will blame you when you die in it,” she said.
She said an abusive marriage could cause great damage to people’s mental health.
“It affects your mental health, making you feel less about yourself. He starts (husband) by abusing you gradually, then apologising for every abuse and getting you gifts. He gives you that feeling that he is going to change. He makes you feel he is weak and needs your acceptance to change. He puts you in a position where you feel that leaving him will make you a bad person because you have to help him change. Gradually, it goes to the point of ‘what will people say?’ Then you start thinking ‘if I leave this person, I would have failed.’ When you get to that point you are afraid of leaving your marriage. Every woman wants their marriage to work. You find yourself consistently trying to make it work despite the abuse. It is dangerous because you would never know what is coming next, but you know it is not good. In my case, my husband was abusing me even when I was pregnant. He hit me always.
“He would refuse to buy food as punishment for a lactating mother. Where abuse is involved, there is nothing worth fighting for,” she said.
The circumstances that led to the death of spouses worry some Nigerians, including Kelechi Davids.
Davids said people in abusive relationships died gradually because they must have suffered a psychological breakdown.
“When you read about some of these things you wonder why they get married in the first place. Maybe the media or home videos have made killing easy, but taking a life is difficult. Now, taking the life of someone you had once professed your love to is another level of wickedness,” he said.
He said there was no excuse to justify killing one’s spouse, adding that such people should not be married in the first place.
He said some got married despite not being ripe for the union because they desired social status and recognition, or due to pressure from families.
“So they get married and end up being tormented or tormenting their partners,” he said.
Davids further urged the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) not to jettison the idea of conducting drug tests on intending couples.
He said, “If someone is not on drugs and mentally stable, abusing your spouse should be a difficult thing to do. I can assure you that drugs also contribute to it.”
On what happens when one of the partners starts using drugs after the wedding ceremony, he said, “Religious organisations should take up the responsibilities. Society should also do more in disabusing this patriarchal belief that the man is free to do whatsoever he pleases. Some of these women that ended up killing their husbands must have been frustrated into doing so.”
Another resident simply identified as Juliana said, “I see no reason why two people who are not compatible in any way should live together in the name of marriage. God will never authorise any marriage where the man or woman is a bully and demonic sadist to the other spouse.”
‘Poor law enforcement encouraging abuse’
A housewife, Wunmi Lawal wondered why Nigeria is good at enacting laws but could not implement them, especially those that have to do with neglect and abuse of children and women.
“Nigeria harbours sick behaviours,” she said.
She called for the enactment and implementation of laws that would save women and children.
Sylvia Edoh called for legislation that would make domestic violence a serious crime that will attract serious sanctions.Although there are no laws in Nigeria specifically enacted against domestic violence that are applicable throughout the Federation, the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act (VAPP), passed in 2015, protects a wide range of violence against women, including domestic violence, according to the Daily Trust Saturday.
Persons guilty of violence face a maximum penalty of five years in prison or a fine of N100,000 if they do not cooperate.The Act defines ‘violence’ as “any act or attempted act, which causes or may cause any person physical, sexual, psychological, verbal, emotional and or economic harm, whether this occurs in peacetime or conflict situations.”
Also, Section 113 of the Criminal Code provides that “A person is guilty of this offence if they unlawfully offer or attempt, with force or violence, to strike, beat, wound, or do bodily harm to, another.”Nigeria is a signatory to several international conventions on violence against women, including the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which was adopted in 1979 and ratified in 1985; the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (domesticated); the African Protocol on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol); the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.