Ms May Ikokwu, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Save Our Heritage Initiative (SOHI), on Sunday called for an end to acts of wife battering in Nigeria.
Ikokwu made the advocacy in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, saying “There has been an alarming increase in the prevalence of wife battering and other forms of Gender-Based Violence as heightened by COVID-19 lockdown.
She said that wife battering is not only a form of gender based violence, but brutality to humanity.
“It is very wrong for husbands to pummel or verbally abuse their wives because it has Psychological effects on the woman.
“Most men do that even in the presence of their children. I urge husbands to be tolerable and calm no matter the level of provocation to avoid homicide,” she said.
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The SOHI boss who said that wife battering is not part of the African culture, advised husbands to always love their wives.
She said that battering of spouse was not part of African culture because African culture upheld the dignity of womanhood.
According to her, women are mothers of future generations who deserve protection and respect from their husbands than battering.
Ikokwu added: “wives like any other woman cannot be subjected to inhuman treatments when actually she is the medium through which new life is created.”
She expressed the commitment of her group to continue to advocate for behavioural change of husbands to make marriages safe for women.
Ikokwu, however, enjoined states to domesticate the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP) to properly address issues of wife battering and other forms of violence against women. (NAN)
