In the African setup, it is not strange or out of the ordinary to see a man throw his wife out even in odd hours because he is tired of their relationship and wants to move on. This is due to the cultural assumption that it’s the husband who owns the house, many women face forceful ejection when the marriage gets frosty.
But while the society is used to this, the act of forceful ejection from home is not only wrong but a criminal offence that may attract a jail term
In Nigeria, it is an offence for a man to forcefully evict his wife from the home, or refuse her access into it and it is also an offence for a wife to forcefully evict her husband or deny him access into the home.
This is according to the provisions of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP). Section 9 of VAPP stipulates that: any marriage partner who forcefully evicts his/her partner from his/her home or refuses him/her access commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to fine not exceeding N300,000.00 or to both such fine and imprisonment.
It states further that any person who aids, abets, attempts to commit violence or receives or assists another knowing him to have committed violence is liable to imprisonment not exceeding one year or a fine of not exceeding N200,000.00.
The next time you want to engage in forceful ejection, remember you are committing a criminal offence and there is a penalty.
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