The President of International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA, in Benue State, Barr. Prisca Ula, has urged women to wisen up and leave abusive relationships for their sanity and safety of their lives.
Barr. Ula who stated this while speaking to the Next Edition in Makurdi was reacting to the spate of domestic violence which allegedly led to the death of the gospel artiste, Osinachi Nwachukwu.
Recall that the late Osinachi allegedly died after serial abuse by her husband, a situation which has generated serious controversies.
Barr. Ula said women should not submit themselves to be killed as it is better to to leave than die in an abusive relationship
According to her, FIDA Benue State has handled over 20 cases of domestic violence in the last two years, some of which are first abuse and some continuous.
“There are so many of such cases here. Almost all the divorce cases we handled were abuse. In the last one, two three years, we have had up to 20 cases of domestic violence.
She said they have not had any extreme case of abuse leading to death saying “Sometimes when these cases come and they are abusive in nature, none has gone to the extreme of somebody dieing, so most of the times, if there are injuries, we report to the police and most of the time, the police will say go and settle it as family issue.
“But on the part of FIDA, what we normally do and advise them is to go out of abusive marriages.”
While acknowledging that many women, like Osinachi, have died of domestic violence, Barr Ula said “Yesterday, a case was reported to me and she told me she has been abused for 11 years. She has been married for 11 years and the man has been beating her and she has been putting up with it.
“Some have been living with domestic violence and abuse of all forms and have been bearing it. Some cannot bear it; once it started, they are out of there already.
READ ALSO: Police arrest 98 scavengers over alleged criminal activities in FCT
“Even the last report I told the woman are a stranger in Nigeria? Have you not heard of what happened to Osinachi? And she said that was the major fear in her heart.
“You are seven months pregnant and someone is beating you, don’t you think he will kill you. He hits you somewhere and you start bleeding and before you know, you are gone.
“For FIDA, we always advise them opt out of the marriage. That is why we ask for separation from the abusive husband. Sometimes, for some men, its not always that they are serial abusers. Something just comes up and they do it once in a while. So, in this case, if they are separated from him, he will begin to have value goes them and probably, it will stop.
“We haven’t had extreme cases of death and if there are bodily injury, we report to the police because we don’t have powers to prosecute criminal matters.”
She said “with what is happening, it is better for you to be alive than to die in an abusive relationship. If the abuse is not physical, you can tolerate it. If it is an economic abuse, you can also start something and begin to earn a living. But when it becomes a physical abuse, you don’t know where he will hit you and it will be the final straw. So it is better to apply caution. Either you separate or you outrightly divorce.”