August 19, 2022

The Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) has demanded the immediate prosecution of the estranged husband of a female journalist, for brutalising and inflicting various degrees of injuries on her.

This is contained in a statement issued by NAWOJ National President, Ladi Bala, in Abuja.

Bala said the journalist, Nafesah Vandi of the Adamawa Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Yola was allegedly beaten to stupor by her estranged husband, who brutalised and caused a dislocation of her hands.

“The most recent being the case of a female journalist, a mother of three working with the ABC Yola, Vandi.

“The irony is that the estranged husband, a dismissed staff of PHCN, has not been living up to his responsibility of fending for his family as he totally abdicated such to his wife.

“Painfully but, curiously, is the fact that he resolved to brutalise the wife few minutes after issuing her with a divorce letter as a parting gift,” she said.

According to her, the increasing cases of physical and domestic violence against women by their spouses is worrisome, reprehensible, dastardly, and thus, totally unacceptable.

“The fundamental rights and dignity of women must be upheld and respected by all at all times.

“No spouse deserves to be brutalised and dehumanised in the guise of provocation of any form or reason,” she said.

Bala lamented the recent incident of the Nnewi North Local Government Transition Committee chairman, Anambra, who allegedly beat his wife to death and another in Rivers state, who with his side female lover macheted his wife.

She said in spite of the ongoing sensitisation campaign on sexual and gender based violence aside the domestication of the VAPP laws in many states of Nigeria, some persons still carried out these wicked acts.

The NAWOJ President, therefore, called on the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and Adamawa Commissioner of Police to fish out the perpetrator and ensure that justice is done to serve as a deterrent to others.

She also called on faith-based organisations, human rights activists, as well as relevant Non-Governmental Organisations, (NGOs) to rise to the occasion and speak out against such societal ills in the country.