Attacks on women and ritual activities continue to gain momentum in Nigeria

Nigerians were left in shock on September 5 when the death of Christianah Idowu, a 300 level student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) was reported.

Christianah was murdered by Ayomide Adeleye, 23, a 200-level philosophy student at Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU). She went missing on August 19 while traveling from Ita Oluwo to the University of Lagos, Yaba, where she was pursuing industrial training. Her death was only revealed on social media weeks later.

Adeleye, who had known the victim for three years through their church, Redeemed Christian Church of God, confessed to strangling Idowu when she visited his house to get her phone repaired.

While confessing, he said: “I killed her because I had financial problems. I thought about the problems and decided to strangle her while she was searching my phone.

In another incident, 20-year-old Paul Jeremiah was arrested by the Kogi State Police Command on September 12 for the alleged murder of Damilola, a 19-year-old first year student of the Federal University of Lokoja.

Jeremiah killed her and harvested her organs for ritual purposes after demanding and receiving a ransom of N400,000 from her family. According to him, he met a native doctor on TikTok who requested the body parts to perform the rituals.

Recently, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, FCT Command, arrested 30-year-old Joseph Efe, who was accused of taking a woman to a hotel in Abuja with the intention of using her for ritual purposes.

The suspect was arrested on September 17 on charges of kidnapping, robbery and attempted murder of Olivia Ijeoma Chukwuemeka, a 25-year-old woman from Abia State.

These attacks on women continue to increase, raising serious concerns.

Troubling data

According to the DOHS Cares Foundation, an NGO that protects women, children and vulnerable people from abuse, violence and exploitation, seventy-eight cases of violence against women have been reported since the beginning of this year.

The factscoming from several states – with Lagos having the highest number of cases of violence against women – shows that the perpetrators behind these attacks are often people who have some kind of relationship with the victims.

“These data mean we have a serious femicide problem, and these deaths are usually characterized by sexual or domestic violence,” said Ololade Ajayi, founder of the DOHS Cares Foundation.

“In 2024 alone, 78 women and girls will have died at the hands of their intimate partners, family members or acquaintances. What these deaths have in common are the above characteristics and the fact that they are usually violent deaths: raped to death, beaten to death, butchered, beheaded, burned,” she added.

According to a 2023 document According to figures from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), 15 percent of divorced/separated/widowed women and 9 percent of married women have experienced sexual violence. Furthermore, 49 percent of divorced/divorced/widowed women and 35 percent of married women have experienced marital violence.

In one report by Amnesty International entitled “The State of the World’s Human Rights: April 2024”, there were 24,720 reported cases of sexual and gender-based violence in 2023.

Part of the report reads: “According to the Minister for Women, as of October last year, 24,720 cases of sexual and gender-based violence had been reported, including 975 deaths. On June 15, an eight-month pregnant woman was raped by John Akpo in Irabi, Benue State. On June 22, police arrested Chukwuemeka Orji for raping a 13-year-old domestic worker in Aba, Abia State.

“On July 14, the mutilated body of 32-year-old Dorcas Shangev was found in Makurdi, Benue State. On July 15, 27-year-old Chinyere Awuda was beaten to death and dumped in an abandoned hotel swimming pool in Awka, Anambra State.

Experts offer a way out

Women’s rights activist Ọmọlọlá Pedro said the reason for these attacks on women can be attributed to the patriarchal nature of Nigerian society. According to her, the political, economic, legal and legal systems have failed to protect women’s rights.

“For a deeply rooted patriarchal society like Nigeria, femicides would be normal. I would also say that our political, economic, legal and legal systems have failed us. The justice system in particular is a huge contributor to the increase in these killings because justice in Nigeria is like chasing a shadow,” she said.

Pedro emphasized that when a criminal is not punished for a crime, it emboldens others, and that offenses that are considered minor (not capital crimes) and go unpunished lay the foundation for the commission of capital crimes.

“Sexual abuse and other GBV acts go unpunished. Killing women is the icing on the cake for these criminals,” she added.

Pedro, who identified patriarchy as the root cause of violence against women, said the only way forward is a social revolution. She believes that the reason for the incessant attacks on women is the existence of a system that allows this.

“Society views women as objects to be picked up and thrown away at will, as property to be owned. Women and girls are seen as different things, other than people. So when you see someone as less human, you want to exert power and dominance, and you achieve that by any means necessary, including killing,” she further emphasized.