Osinachi’s Death: 24.9% FCT Women Believe Husband Can Beat Wife

A survey by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) in Nigeria has shown that about 25 percent of women in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja will excuse gender-based violence perpetuated by a husband.

This becomes relevant following last weekend’s reported death of Nigeria’s gospel singer, Osinachi Nwachukwu, after allegations of domestic violence from her husband.

On Monday, the police in FCT arrested her husband, Mr Peter Nwachukwu, in a case of suspected homicide, noting that the brother of the late gospel singer, reported the case to them.

However, the survey report showed that women who are mostly the victims of gender-based violence would acquiesce a husband in beating his wife in at least one of the five specified circumstances, as compared with 18% of men.

“In both streams of the survey, more women who are at the receiving end of domestic violence justified the violence than the men who engage in the violence against women. This is a surprising result,” Eze Onyekpere, the lead director of CSJ said.

The survey suggests that women who have experienced both physical and sexual violence are more likely to have sought help than women who have experienced only sexual violence as well as those who have experienced only physical violence.

“In the circumstances, the violence against women and its justification engages the state’s responsibility to educate and raise awareness; to prosecute offenders and mete appropriate punishment as well as to take preventive action,” Weng Dung, the gender and inclusivity officer of CSJ said.

According to Dung the FCT has more women who have experienced physical violence than the national average and a proportion of men and women still justify domestic violence.

Incidents of gender-based violence have continued to top the chart of discourse among stakeholders, despite efforts by the government to check the threat.

Although campaigns to end gender-based violence have intensified, experts say the crime persists due to lack of requisite punishment for offenders. Gender advocates on their part attribute its rise to the slow dispensation of justice in the trial of sexual offenders.