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SOKOTO, NIGERIA, Aug 03 (IPS) – In February this yr, Chichi Okonkwo not solely misplaced her husband however was stripped of all the pieces they owned collectively. Her husband was severely injured in a automotive accident a couple of month earlier. Regardless of being rushed to a hospital in Enugu, the place they resided, he succumbed to his accidents weeks later. To compound her grief, Okonkwo’s late husband’s male siblings forcibly entered her house within the metropolis a number of hours after his passing, confiscating her husband’s land paperwork, automotive, cash, garments, and marriage certificates.
Within the wake of those heart-wrenching occasions, Okonkwo was left with nothing however her six youngsters. The eldest is simply 18.
“They took all the pieces my husband and I owned and forcibly evicted me and my youngsters from our house,” laments Okonkwo. “They heartlessly claimed that, as a widow, I had no rights to any of my late husband’s possessions.”
Okonkwo’s youngsters at the moment are out of faculty as a result of she was a housewife who trusted her husband’s revenue and is now left with nothing. She revealed that her late husband’s siblings, who seized and had been conscious of his financial institution PIN, callously left her with a mere 1 000 naira (roughly USD 2) out of the two million naira ($2,600) he had in his account.
Okonkwo stated her husband’s family members swore to tug her to court docket to problem her rights, however she can not afford a lawyer as a result of her monetary state of affairs.
In Nigeria, there are round 15 million widows.
Sadly, widows within the nation typically face the denial of their fundamental human rights as a result of conventional and cultural practices rooted in patriarchal beliefs.
In line with The World Financial institution, “In a lot of Africa, marriage is the only real foundation for ladies’s entry to social and financial rights, and these are misplaced upon divorce or widowhood.”
In a rustic like Nigeria, the place males dominate the financial and political methods, ladies are sometimes anticipated to be submissive. The challenges ladies face are significantly amplified once they grow to be widows, making a doubly marginalized subgroup. Furthermore, this weak place typically exposes widows to dehumanizing rituals and dangerous practices.
These dangerous practices embody mourning rites that contain widows sleeping with their deceased husbands’ corpses, shaving of widows’ heads, seclusion, carrying black or white garments, and being compelled to sleep and sit on the ground or mat. Moreover, some widows are coerced into marrying different members of the deceased husband’s household.
Regardless of legal guidelines granting ladies the precise to inherit their husbands’ property, many widows can nonetheless not declare their rightful share of land and property.
Efforts to fight these practices, such because the Violence Towards Individuals Prohibition Act (VAPP) enacted in 2015, have confronted challenges in implementation and adoption by all states. In line with the legislation, offenders are topic to a 500,000 naira ($648) nice or two years in jail. However arrests and prosecution of offenders are uncommon. And gender-based violence has persevered, which incorporates violence in the direction of widows.
The enforcement of legal guidelines in opposition to offenders has been hindered by spiritual and cultural norms that promote silence and suppression of victimization circumstances. Victims typically face threats or stress from members of the family, neighborhood, or spiritual leaders every time they attempt to report incidents to legislation enforcement.
Like Okonkwo, Sarah Temidayo’s life took a tragic flip when she misplaced her husband of 4 years to lung most cancers in 2019. Nonetheless, her grief was compounded by the actions of her husband’s family members, who invaded her house in Lagos mere hours after his passing, intent on claiming all the pieces that belonged to him. They even went as far as to take her wedding ceremony robe, certificates, and her then-five-year-old daughter’s garments. Devastated and with out recourse, Temitope sought justice by the authorized system, however her efforts have yielded no outcomes.
“I didn’t choose a pin out of my home. I needed to begin my life once more,” she says.
Sadly, the nightmare didn’t finish there for Temidayo. She was subjected to fixed threats from her husband’s mom, who continued to torment her and accuse her of killing her son by witchcraft. These threats escalated to a terrifying climax when assassins attacked her at a bus cease in March 2021. She managed to outlive, albeit with six bullets lodged in her leg. Regardless of reporting the incident to the police, no investigation was carried out, leaving her feeling deserted by the system meant to guard her.
In line with Ifeoma Oguejiofor, a authorized practitioner in Southeast Nigeria, widows face challenges in looking for justice as a result of understaffed courts, which may trigger delays within the decision of circumstances. Moreover, the monetary burden of hiring a lawyer turns into a major impediment for a lot of widows, making it troublesome to entry correct authorized illustration to deal with their circumstances.
“There’s a important distinction between the legal guidelines written in books and the precise pursuit of justice. In line with the legislation, a surviving partner, whether or not in a standard marriage, a protracted interval of cohabitation, or a wedding registered underneath the act, is entitled to inherit the property of their deceased partner. Nonetheless, reaching justice by the authorized system is commonly a chronic and expensive course of, significantly for widows who’ve already misplaced a considerable portion of their property to their husband’s family members,” she explains.
“It’s excessive time the federal government, conventional rulers, and spiritual clerics implement legal guidelines to guard widows in Nigeria. No lady must be discriminated in opposition to as a result of she misplaced her husband,” says Hope Nwakwesi, the founding father of Almanah Hope Basis, a non-governmental group targeted on supporting Nigerian widows.
Nwakwesi, a widow who misplaced her police husband in 1994, endured distressing cultural rites, together with having her hair shaved and carrying a mourning gown for a yr. She confronted additional hardships as her family members forcibly took her property, and she or he was expelled from her office and residential within the police barracks. Regardless of looking for assist, many, together with law enforcement officials who provided help, demanded sexual favors in return.
Now, Nwakwesi is advocating for a invoice in Nigeria’s legislative chamber. The invoice goals to eradicate repressive cultural practices in opposition to widows and safeguard their basic human rights.
“My purpose is to get the invoice I am preventing for authorised and signed into legislation by the Senate. The present Violence Towards Individuals Prohibition Legislation is just too imprecise and lacks particular clauses for safeguarding the rights of widows. As soon as the brand new invoice turns into legislation, those that discriminate in opposition to widows will face arrest and prosecution by legislation enforcement companies,” says Nwakwesi.
Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, a civil rights activist and founding director of Ladies Advocates Analysis and Documentation Centre, famous that “For the federal government to guard widows successfully, they need to assessment and replace current legal guidelines associated to widows’ rights to make sure they’re complete, enforceable, and in keeping with worldwide human rights requirements.”
“Merely having legal guidelines in place is just not sufficient; the federal government should guarantee their efficient implementation in any respect ranges of the justice system. This requires coaching and sensitizing legislation enforcement officers, judges, and authorized practitioners on the rights of widows and the significance of defending them,” she provides.
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