A 44-year-old widow, Mrs Fidelia Emejor has cried out over domestic abuse and ill-treatment meted out on her by her late husband’s family.
The window who hails from Eluoro Achara Uturu Abia State, said her late husband, Paul Lewachi Emejor, was a successful business man in Kaduna State but that he died in 2017 after suffering an illness.
The window who reported the case to Women Aid Collective (WACOL) in 2021 said she decided to open up on the numerous abuses she has suffered in the hands of her late husbands kinsmen as part of her contribution to the campaign against domestic abuse as the world marks 2022 Windows Day.
She told her story thus: ” I feel so bad today because I remember the death of my late husband. Since the passing of my husband, I have been facing untold hardship due to domestic violence and abuse from my husband’s brothers. The arrowhead in this wicked act is Mr. Joseph Emejor who has been making life miserable for me since the unfortunate incident.
“My late husband was the first son amongst five (5) men in the family, others are Comrade John Emejor, Mr. Chinedu Emejor, Chibuzo Emejor, and Chibuike Emejor.
My husband married me years after he lost his first wife. While alive, we lived peacefully, and happily until death took him away, throwing me out in the cold.
“Since my husband left, I nurtured and cared for all our children without discriminating against children from her late wife. I attended to both their welfare and academic needs including one of them in the university.
“In 2021, my brothers-in-law conspired among themselves and stripped me of all the properties we labored for, abandoning me and the children to suffer. One of them called Mr. Joseph Emejor, and his brother forcefully ejected us from our home and locked the houses in both the village and in Kaduna state where I lived with my husband until his demise.
“As if that was not enough, they returned six months after and took the children from me, leaving me alone with my son. In addition, they have been collecting rent from our house and shops without giving me a dime out of it even though I have no other source of livelihood. We have been suffering because they took away everything from us.
“Beside these humiliations, Mr. Josepph Emejor who is currently occupying our shops and houses in Kaduna with his own family has been haunting my life like a ghost. He has threatened to kill me unless I hand the property documents over to him. I am depressed, that is why I am crying out for help.
“I reported the matter to the traditional ruler of our community, but they ignored the Eze when he invited them. That was why I went to the WACOL office in Enugu to seek justice. I decided to speak out because domestic violence is getting out of hand. I want the whole world to hear my voice and come to my rescue,” she concluded.
In a statement to mark the 2022 Window’s Day, WACOL said that cases such as Mrs Felicia Emejor have been linked to negative cultural norms common in the South East.
They said that according to research carried out by WACOL in the South East and South-South States, harmful cultural norms are still prevalent in Igboland more than two decades after the Beijing declaration.
They said that: “It is a fact that widows in Nigeria face frightening ordeals as a result of harmful widowhood practices which include economic disinheritance, social exclusion, forceful custody of children, physical/emotional abuses, and ejection from matrimonial homes. Some are accused of killing their husbands and forced to drink water used to wash their husband’s corpses to prove their innocence.
“As the world marks International Widows Day the WomenAid Collective (WACOL) has joined her voice to other human rights agencies to clamor for a better life for Nigerian widows. We note that this is another opportunity to escalate the plight of widows in and around our communities, our neighborhoods, and even at the workplaces.
“In line with the theme of this year’s celebration which is “Sustainable Solution for Widows Financial Independent”, we call for the total emancipation of widows from economic deprivation, physical/emotional torture, and its attendant poverty and deprivations.
WACOL however revealed that it is currently working with the traditional ruler of Mrs. Emejor’s community to ensure that she return home without further hindrance.
“We shall also continue with our interventions in other related cases before us. We are also collaborating with partner organizations including; Action Aid Nigeria, UNDP, and UNWomen on various projects to tackle violence against women and girls, including harmful cultural practices.
“We, therefore, call on all relevant agencies to ensure the effective implementation of these extant laws that guarantee and promote safety as well as better living standards for widows in society.”
