Non-disclosure by victims promoting domestic violence ― Former Edo AG

A former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Edo State, Prof. Yinka Omorogbe, has said that non-disclosure of experiences by victims was one of the factors promoting domestic violence in the country.

Professor Omorogbe, stated this in Benin on Thursday while delivering a keynote address at the pre-launch of a book titled “Surviving Domestic Violence in Relation to Laws of Protection in Nigeria,” written by a survivor of domestic violence, Mrs Louisa Eikhonmu-Agbonkhese in collaboration with the Edo State Ministry of Social Development and Gender Issues.

The professor of law noted because domestic violence, most times occurred between two persons in an intimate relationship, most victims would not report the other partner, thus making the offender to go without prosecution and sanction for the crime committed.

According to the former Attorney General, who was represented by Stella Ojemen Esq, an official of the Edo State Ministry of Justice, “many women don’t report domestic violence because they’re reluctant to report their husbands, they’re reluctant to report their boyfriends or their men friends. But that is not in their interest. You can’t continue to remain in an abusive relationship.

“We all know that most domestic violence is occasioned by two people who are close and are in intimate relationship and that makes it difficult to address. The people who are victims depend on the perpetrators either emotionally or economically,” she said.

While noting that the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Law in Edo State and other extant laws like the Criminal Code and 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended made provisions for the protection of women and children, Prof. Omorogbe cautioned that domestic violence should not be classified as a personal problem of the victims, as according to her, “it affects the society and the environment. The victims are most time in a terrible state and this call for education of men to be abreast with the dangers inherent in domestic violence.

“I want us to know that domestic violence is not just a personal problem, it has to do with the entire society because of the magnitude of the problem and its effects on the society. So it’s something that must be taken seriously. We must work to protect women and girls from domestic violence, we must not condone it, no matter how subtle it is, no matter how mild it presents itself because it’s something that can destroy an entire society and we must continue to orientate the people around us, particularly the men to know that we cannot continue with that way of life,” she said.

Welcoming guests to the book pre-launch, author of the book, Mrs Louisa Eikhonmu-Agbonkhese, said she decided to document her experiences in an abusive relationship so as to give women undergoing domestic violence opportunity to learn from her experience and speak out.

According to her, the book would also be of immense assistance to the media, academia, policymakers, governments, students and researchers.

While thanking Halle Foundation of Netherlands, Shelter City, Groningen and Justice and Peace of Netherlands for financing the publication of the book, Lousa said copies of the book were not available at the moment, adding they’ would be available by the end of December or early January 2021, while its launching would hold in March 2021 during the celebration of International Women’s Day.

In her good will message, a lecturer in the University of Benin, Dr. (Mrs.) Esther Jamgbadi, said women are not the only victims of domestic violence as some women who are better off than their husbands also violate their spouses.

She called for a reversal to our traditional values as according to her, research had shown that domestic violence is predominant in monogamous homes and less in polygamous homes.

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