Women Rally Against Domestic Abuse in ural Communities

A non-governmental organisation, Adaojiriver Optimal Communications says women must support other women who face domestic violence or sexual abuse.

At a town hall and sensitization interface, at the Oji River Local Government Secretariat on Tuesday. Convener of the event, Onyinye Udeh, said even women blame victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse for bringing their situation on themselves by not respecting their husbands.

Ude said that there was an urgent need to drive the message of Intimate Persons Abuse to the grassroots because many women find themselves in such abusive situations but hardly speak up because they get easily blamed.

A public health expert, Prof. Cajetan Ilo, from Ebonyi State University, warned that many women have lost mental comfort and happiness because the abuse from there because of the abuse of their husbands. He said that it is not only physical abuse that women face but the tendency for many men to talk down on their wives.

Professor Cajetan Ilo explained that families of abused women also exposed the women to more abuse when they pressure the victims to return to their husbands because marriage is for better for worse.

However, a former Senior Special Adviser to the Enugu State governor, Sylvia Onwubuemeli advised women against over-assertion of what they may consider as their rights.

She said it is competition for right that creates the environment for abuse.

Mrs Onwubuemeli advised women to develop productive occupations or businesses and not depend wholly on their husbands as a means of giving themselves a greater worth, earn respect from their husbands and reduce the chance to be abused. She called on women to also get involved in politics.

The Centre Manager of Enugu State government-owned Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Mrs Evelyn Onah frowned at parents who blame their daughters for lacking perseverance and fortitude to preserve their marriages even in the face of abuse.

Mrs Onah said that some women mock fellow women whose husbands abuse, especially if the abused woman has not given birth to a male child.

The town hall was attended by representatives of the Nigerian Police, Civil Defence, the Department of State Service and Senior government officials.