“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” – Desmond Tutu (South African Cleric, Anti-Apartheid Advocate & Nobel Laureate)

On April 1, Lekki Concession Company Limited (LCC), a company 100 per cent owned by the Lagos State Government (LASG) since 2014, resumed tolling on the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge. Its public statement said there would be two weeks of grace as they test the new technology at the Toll Plaza and toll collection will start Friday, April 15.

April 1^st – April Fool’s Day. When the announcement was made in March, the message implied in the date chosen by LASG was not lost on Lagosians. There was anger, sadness, frustration and the recurring feeling of being voiceless, invisible and hopeless.

LASG had done its polling and ‘consultations’ and was confident that the backlash could be contained. The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, did some media rounds and promised there would be more engagements. Those engagements were haphazard and dishonest in intent. The decision to toll was a fait accompli.

For most citizens, the issues were two-fold:

(1) Timing: Given Nigeria’s current socio-economic reality, adding another cost that could serve as a trigger for civil unrest seemed obviously unwise. Let’s look at NIgeria’s socio-economic environment in numbers: According to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)/National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), unemployment is at 33 per cent, while youth unemployment is at a staggering 42.5 per cent; and when you add youth under-employment, you have 63.5 per cent of youth either unemployed or underemployed. Also, Consumer Price inflation (CPI) is currently at 15.7 per cent resulting in increasing cost of food compounded by increased cost of electricity, fuel and diesel. In addition to all of this, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is on strike, meaning students are at home, with other unions threatening to go on strike.

(2) #EndSARS: While Lagos State complied with the directive to set up a Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Police Brutality, it has undermined the report of the panel and failed to engage nor make public the implementation plan of the recommendations that it accepted from the report. Of the 32 recommendations made by the panel, 11 were accepted; 6 were accepted with modifications; 14 were forwarded to the Federal Government and 1 was rejected.

When LCC announced that the Lekki-Epe Toll Plaza would be reopened in February 2021, there was an immediate response with citizen protests. The Nigeria Police had also learnt nothing from the #EndSARS protests as they tortured, humiliated, dehumanised and abused citizens they arrested, with the boldness to record their actions for public broadcast, fully confident that they will face no consequences. No police officer has been disciplined for clear illegal acts as their actions violated several laws through their abuse of power.

Therefore, as matters relating to the #EndSARS protests, which led to the termination of tolling activities in the first place are unresolved, tolling is inappropriate and disdains those who were injured or died following the army’s actions at the Lekki-Epe Toll Plaza. I have heard the stories of some of these citizens who died and I have seen the pictures and videos that were presented as evidence before the Judicial Panel of Inquiry. Some of them are:

1. Jide, whose name appears as number three on the Panel Report Proven Casualty List.
2. Kenechukwu Ugoh, whose name appears as number 39 on the Panel Report Proven Casualty List.
3. Adesanya Abiodun, whose name appears as number 40 on the Panel Report Proven Casualty List.
4. Ajasa Olamilekan Abideen, whose name appears as number 35 on the Panel Report Proven Casualty List.

However, as discussions continued on the tolling issue, other issues were added:

1. Lekki Concession Company is NOT a Private Company

During the Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Police Brutality, LASG and LCC had separate legal teams to give the impression that they were different entities. During the panel, the Head of Service for LASG, Hakeem Muri-Okunola, admitted that LCC was owned by Lagos State while the Managing Director of LCC, Yomi Omomuwasan, said LCC was a private enterprise. Both statements were made under oath.

The deceit continued during Mr Omomuwasan’s Zoom Meeting with Lekki Estates Residents and Stakeholders Association (LERSA) members and other stakeholders including a traditional ruler on Monday, March 14, 2022. In the meeting minutes captured by Gbemi Adelekan for the LERSA Secretariat, “… the MD stated that LCC is a private company that has continued to incur costs including maintaining over 500 workers in employment, providing essential services to the community including ensuring sanity on our roads. He mentioned that the Company was being considerate by not introducing toll fare on the 2 tollgates, by providing an alternative road for users that would want to avoid paying toll on the Link Bridge, until the ongoing road dualization of the Oniru alternative road is completed.”

According to the LCC’s website, the LASG, “… acquired the shares/equity of the previous owners of LCC in December, 2014.”

It was therefore clearly misleading that LCC presented itself to LERSA members and Lagosians through several media rounds, press statements and articles as a private company. Thus, as a public company, all the services that LCC provide in the Lekki-Epe corridor are as of right to taxpayers, not a favour from a private company!

LASG has consistently fought the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011. As such the finances of the state are opaque and this includes LCC. Since it became a government entity in 2014, its revenues and expenses are unclear. How much is left on the loan and how long will it take to pay it off? The MD of LCC and Governor Sanwoolu have promised at different times to make the finances of the Toll Plazas public, but that is yet to happen.

1. Pending Court Matter

In 2012 Ebun Olu-Adegboruwa challenged the legality of tolling and judgement was found in his favour in 2014 at a Federal High Court in Ikoyi. LASG filed an appeal and an order for a stay of execution. The stay of execution was granted almost immediately and tolling continued. As of April 2022, we are unaware that Lagos has a case before the Appeal Court, therefore the stay of execution should be struck out and the judgement executed. In simple terms, it would be illegal for the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge to be tolled.

Governor Sanwoolu hosted LERSA and the Lekki Phase 1 Residents Association (LERA) to a meeting on Sunday, April 3^rd, in response to LERA’s open letter and their position against the tolling. At the meeting, he stated that he was unaware of the lawsuit and asked the Attorney-General to look into it.

Call to Action

1. Engage Your Public Servants

LASG and LCC have engaged Lagosians, not just Lekki residents, in a dishonest manner. The Zoom meeting LCC hosted was only accessible to 100 people! They were forced to host a town hall meeting on Wednesday, March 30^thjust one week before the test run of the tolling technology. I attended the town hall meeting and challenged the Commissioner of Information & Strategy that the tolling was presented as a fait accompli as none of the issues raised – ownership, transparency, court judgement and #EndSARS – were addressed.

Engage your representatives and make your position on the tolling clear.

• Babajide Sanwo-Olu – @jidesanwoolu
• Gbenga Omotosho, Commissioner of Information & Strategy – 08034004237
• Frederic Oladeinde, Commissioner for Transportation – 08068519606
• Oluremi Tinubu, Senator – 08095300251 (@oluremitinubu)
• Ibrahim Obanikoro – House of Representatives – 0801454000 (@Jidekoro)
• Noheem Babatunde – Eti Osa I – 07038698271
• Gbolahan Yishawu – Eti Osa II – 08055502154, 08099055055
• Bankole Adesegun Saheed – LG Chairman – 08026652079
• Bolaji Ogunderu, Local Government Councillor – legislative@etiosalocalgovernment.com
• Azeez Eshinlokun Habeeb, Local Government Councillor – deputylegislative@etiosalocalgovernment.com
• Maiyegun Afis, Local Government Councillor – majoritylegislative@etiosalocalgovernment.com
• Towolawi Abayomi, Local Government Councillor – chiefwhiplegis@etiosalocalgovernment.com

1. Sign the online petition – change.org/NoJusticeNoToll
2. Register to vote, get your PVC and engage in the electoral process.
3. Join a protest.

Rather than work to seek peace, Lagos State is actively working through LCC to inflict more suffering and hardship as it denies its citizens justice. Governor Sanwoolu and LASG can NOT ignore what happened on October 20, 2020 as it keeps its operations secret from the very people its officials swore oaths to serve.

Tolling is now supposed to start this Saturday, April 16 – Easter weekend. It’s instructive to note that #EndSARS did NOT feature in the discussions between Governor Sanwoolu and the two Lekki residents associations. The outcome was a negotiation on the “discounts” for Lekki residents.

It is clear that with elections around the corner, rising insecurity in Lagos and across the country, combined with Nigeria’s precarious socio-economic environment, any additional triggers that provide an opportunity for citizens to express their anger and frustration should be avoided. If protests are allowed to happen by LASG refusing to be wise in this situation, the residents and businesses in Lekki will be the most affected. LASG should immediately suspend this planned resumption of tolling at the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge in the overriding interest of peace and order for ALL Lagosians.

#NoJusticeNoToll!

Adamolekun is the Executive Director of Enough is Enough Nigeria (EiE Nigeria). 

At least, 1.2 million students in Nigeria’s 49 federal government owned universities have been at home for two months now, no thanks to the ongoing strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). As usual, the country has carried on as if nothing is amiss. Apart from ASUU that keeps begging well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the authorities to honour its agreement with the Union, there has been dead silence from civil society organisations, parents and even the affected students themselves. Rather, the noise around town now centres around 2023, and who gets what on the basis of political calculations. We have chosen to be excited by our politicians’ gimmicks again. The political class has never helped us, yet, unfortunately, we have refused to learn from history.

To add salt to our injury, none of these political gladiators is even talking about Nigerian students. None is talking about the country’s decayed education sector or the plight of those currently at home without hope. That shows the level of priority accorded to the sector by people jostling for power in our dear country.

We can’t blame them. Many of these politicians don’t have any child in these public institutions and those who do are probably planning on how to relocate them abroad. You can only empathise with people when you feel their pains. Nigeria’s political elite live in another world. Their children are in some of the best institutions outside the country’s shores, so they don’t care and probably don’t even know what is happening to students in Nigerian universities. They may not even know if there is anything called ASUU strike in Nigeria.  

When the “Bill for an Act to Regulate International Studies for Wards and Children of Nigerian Public Officers, to Strengthen Indigenous Institutions, Provide Efficient Educational Services for National Development; and for Related Matters” was introduced in the House of Representatives on March 3, it failed to pass the first reading. It is not surprising that the Reps rejected the bill. The political class knows that the soup they are cooking for Nigerians is bitter, so they don’t want to partake of it!

ASUU has told us that there will be no resumption in public universities until the re-negotiated 2009 agreement is implemented and the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) platform is deployed. The Union said that government is owing its members 12 years of earned academic allowances and that they have been 13 years on an old salary, when political appointees and elected people in government enjoy the periodic review of their allowances and salaries.

Well, talking about the salaries of lecturers, I guess that many Nigerians may not really know how bad the situation is in our universities. Personally, I don’t know how and why ASUU has lived with the miserly salaries of its members, in the face of spiral inflation over the years. The Union keeps talking about decayed infrastructures, the lack of equipment and facilities in our universities, but rarely talk about their depressing salaries and emoluments. Probably this is the case because members are too ashamed to let the cat out of the bag, in their bid to continue to command the respect of the populace. I am not sure many people are aware that a professor on the last bar of the professorship salary scale in Nigerian universities earns less than N500,000. Mind you, we are talking about professors with over 20 years of experience here.

When a very senior and prominent professor in this country disclosed what he was earning about 15 years ago, I couldn’t believe my ears. I can’t mention his name here because I do not have his permission to do so, but trust me, the lecturer in question is a professor emeritus, who is well respected at home and abroad, and who has won so many international awards and received accolades for his input towards higher education delivery globally. He has not only occupied prominent national positions, but is also well known for his contributions to the United Nations higher education system. But as impressive as the CV is, even back then, I knew journalists in Nigerian newspaper houses who earned far more than he did. Fast forward to 2021, nothing has changed. I had the privilege of seeing the pay slip of another internationally acclaimed professor, one of Nigeria’s best in the field of Communication today, and the salary is, to say the least, depressing.

I came across a posting on a friend’s Facebook wall recently, where he was talking about one of his PhD holders’ friends in the University of Lagos, who despite his many years of experience, is on a salary of N142,000 per month. According to him, his friend lives in Ikorodu and goes to UNILAG to lecture from there. He spends most nights in the office to save himself the suffering of commuting to and from work every day.  He has to do this because his salary can’t get him a decent accommodation in town.

He cited another example of a friend who earns lesser than what the UNILAG teacher is earning, though also a PhD holder. Unfortunately, this lecturer does not have an office space, so he uses his car as his office. From the reactions to that post, it was obvious that many people don’t really know what is going on in our universities. These are common things. I have friends who are associate professors and who sleep in their offices for three days in a week. I know PhD holders who practically sleep on campus and go home only on weekends. They have to do that to conserve their meagre resources and save themselves from the trouble of commuting from their houses – usually in remote neighbourhoods where house rents are cheaper – to campus on a daily basis.

Do we know that the last time that the salaries of lecturers were reviewed in Nigeria was 12 years ago, and precisely in 2010?  So, when ASUU is adamant about a certain 2009 agreement, there is a lot to it. That is the agreement that stipulates the welfare package for lecturers, their entitlements, and how their salaries should be reviewed from time to time, among others. The agreement is very comprehensive. It is high time ASUU distilled this into bullet points for the easier understanding of the populace.

Honestly, I don’t know how ASUU members have been surviving. Their salaries are just too poor. They talk about the Federal Government owing them earned allowances in billions of naira, and you think that the money is for all of them. Meanwhile, the money is strictly for lecturers who teach postgraduate students, supervise postgraduate projects, or have excess workload, among others. Going through the so-called 2009 agreement, you realise that the allowances recommended are nothing to write home about, considering the current economic realities.

Now, let’s see the breakdown of salaries of lecturers in our universities. According to an article on the structure of lecturers’ salaries published by University World News, the salaries of Nigerian lecturers range from about N99,768 to N342,442.

A graduate assistant, usually with a first degree and, ideally, a first-class pass, earns about N99,768 (about US$240) per month.

It takes three years to get to the position of an assistant lecturer, with a monthly salary of N114,464 (US$275). A lecturer II must have a Master’s degree, with at least two years’ teaching experience, although a PhD holder, without teaching experience, qualifies and earns N130,002 (US$313) monthly.

A lecturer I position, which is a rank below that of the senior lecturer, requires a PhD with a minimum of five years’ teaching and research experience. The salary is N163,709 monthly (US$394).

A senior lecturer must have a PhD, at least eight years’ teaching experience, as well as publications in both local and international journals and the salary is N231,393 per month (US$557).

A reader or associate professor, which is a rank below a professor, must have at least 12 years’ teaching and research experience, publications and earns N281,867 per month (US$678). A professor earns N342,442 (US$824) monthly and it takes an average of 15 years of teaching and research to become one.

Recently, Professor Chima Onouha of the University of Port Harcourt said that professors at the last bar of their pay structure go home with a paltry N416,000 take home every month. Meanwhile, they have to spend part of this money to attend conferences, and publish their articles and books.

Do we need any soothsayer to tell us that this country cannot develop with this kind of arrangement? Isn’t it obvious that anyone waiting for Nigerian researchers to solve the problem of our technological backwardness will wait in vain? How can anyone do anything reasonable in this kind of situation?

I think we should be thanking every good lecturer remaining in Nigeria’s university system today. We may also need to correct this erroneous impression that the lecturers back home are the less endowed ones or those who are not smart, and that the good ones always find their way out of the country. Recently, I met a lecturer who made a first class and won a scholarship for his doctoral programme in the U.K. He teaches at the Lagos State University. He isn’t here for the lack of opportunities to teach abroad, but he chose to remain here. He wants to make his impact here. That is the proper way to think. But we have turned everything upside down in Nigeria.

Today, Nigerians are going through a second level of slavery abroad. While our forefathers were forced into slavery by their white slave masters, many of us are now willingly buying our way into slavery. People invest millions of naira just to leave the country with their degrees to become janitors and dish washers in foreign lands – this is a story for another day. Should all the bright lecturers in Nigeria relocate abroad, what happens to our higher education institutions?

We are all aware of the implication of brain drain and the pivotal role of intellectualism in the knowledge economy.  Even President Muhammadu Buhari, in 2020, approved some incentives for primary and secondary school teachers to prove this point. Why is government reluctant in implementing an agreement that has to do with the welfare of lecturers for this long? Honestly, what Nigeria pays its lecturers is an insult to the profession!

Olabisi Deji-Folutile is editor-in-chief, franktalknow.com and member, Nigerian Guild of Editors. Email: bisideji@yahoo.co.uk.

A good number of those I have spoken with since the news of her tragic death broke on Friday night, said Nigerian gospel artiste, Osinachi Nwachukwu, 42, should not have died. She was such a tremendous gift to millions of people and inspired even millions more through her songs, yet she had not even reached the peak of her potential.

During the COVID-19 lockdown when many struggled with anxiety, boredom and depression, a famous song in which she featured prominently, “Nara Ekele”, was repurposed by Tim Godfrey and Travis Greene and rendered in over 10 local and international languages, from English to Spanish and Mandarin, lifting millions from the edge.

That was not her only major effort; she also produced the hit solo, “Ekwueme”. In a world so used to greed, graft and getting, a song like “Nara Ekele” that celebrates gratitude, resonates in a special way.

“What a waste”, many have said. “How could such an extraordinary talent die in a needless, tragic way?”

That reaction to her death was after it emerged that Osinachi may not have died from throat cancer, as was previously thought. She may have died, it is alleged, from circumstances linked to domestic violence. That information, still under investigation, but strongly suggested by friends and close members of her family, sparked outrage and raised the question: Why?

Lawyer Deborah Enenche, a member of her church, Dunamis International Gospel Centre, and daughter of the pastor, said on her Facebook page: “The deceased was very isolated from her loved ones. Much of what happened could have been avoided if she hadn’t been marooned from the ones who cared for her most. I believe she not only passed due to the compendium of physical hurt and pain, she died of a broken heart.”

Did Deborah seriously think Osinachi enjoyed being marooned, dying alone day-by-day under the terror of a broken marriage? Or that Stockholm syndrome improved her creativity? That post obviously did not comment on suggestions that, at some point in Osinachi’s troubled marriage, she had confided to her pastor, Deborah’s father, that she had had enough, but was advised to endure.

The pastor has denied this, saying he only intervened to secure medical help for her when Osinachi complained of chest and respiratory problems, but her mother insists that unnamed pastors advised her daughter to return and rock her miserable marriage.

In hindsight, it’s easy to say Osinachi should have left. It is easy to blame her for indulging an abusive relationship and slam her for allegedly letting her husband run her life – and her career – as if she lived for him.

Why didn’t she see the writing on the wall much earlier? Why didn’t she speak up or ask for help? What good can come out of a relationship with a controlling spouse, more selfish than a raven, who is not only interested in hijacking your earnings, but also in telling you just how much of it you can spend and on what?

Surely, troubled marriages leave enough telltale signs, enough straw to clutch at just before things fall apart. Why didn’t Osinachi see the signs, seize the straw and escape? That appears to be what most people are now saying: She should have known better than to endure an abusive relationship to the point that it may have potentially led to her death. It was her fault.

The blame is coming thick and fast, as truckloads of garbage pile up at the doorstep of the dead mother of four children. But there’s really no need to think long and hard, or to play the Ostrich while the truth stares us in the face. How we treat single women, especially those forced to leave troubled marriages, is the reason many spouses, women in particular, will stay in troubled marriages until it kills them.

Single women generally, but particularly those who are divorced or separated, are often treated as plagues. They are ostracised and made the butt of vicious jokes. Sometimes, the attacks are subtle, such as when mothers point at divorcées in the neighbourhood as possibly the worst examples their female children could emulate. At other times, it is scathing and public, such as when the former First Lady of Anambra State, Ebele Obiano, called widow, Bianca Ojukwu, “a bitch”, and “Asewo!” (prostitute), an occupation which often requires talent and experience to spot.

Single women are stereotyped as loose, sex-hungry animals roaming the neighbourhood for men (read other people’s husbands) to devour and other people’s happy marriages to wreck. They are to be tolerated and humoured but essentially avoided at all costs. To put it straight, it’s not a secret that eternal shame is the price a woman must pay for leaving her marriage.

When quarrelling couples are told by parents who have had many years of successful marriage that it is the duty of husband and wife to make the marriage work, the wife is later summoned separately. She is then told, in no uncertain terms, by the same people who had just finished advising the couple, that it is in fact, the woman’s job to make the marriage work!

“What will people say?”, is the world’s largest prison of the unhappily married; the reason the parties won’t walk away even when they know it’s all well and truly over.

Osinachi, obviously a woman from that generation, tried to make her marriage work, and may have died trying. We kill single women with our mouths and then turn around to ask millions like Osinachi, traumatised in troubled marriages, why they didn’t jump off quickly enough.

Osinachi patiently built her career and was happy to let her husband be her manager, her director, her accountant and her banker, just so people won’t talk. All she ever wanted, it seemed, was to have an inspiring career and a happy home. And she seems to have given everything to make it work; because as they say around here, if the marriage works, it is the woman that works it.

Men like to think that they’re victims as well, and maybe they are to a far lesser degree. But until parents begin to raise their boy children differently and faith groups and cultural icons also make it clear that women don’t have to die to save a failing marriage, nothing is going to change.

The Global Gender Gap report 2020 said that 31 per cent of women had suffered from intimate partner physical and/or sexual assault; with Middle East/North Africa, South Asia, North America, and sub-Saharan Africa topping the abuse league in that order. In the U.S., a woman is being battered every nine seconds.

According to a UN report published last year, exposure to violence spiked significantly during the pandemic, with countries like Kenya reporting up to 80 per cent, Jordan 49 per cent, and Nigeria 48 per cent increase in domestic violence.

In case this sounds like mere statistics, what it means in Nigeria, for example, is that 48 million people, or a country with the population of Uganda, are in danger of physical violence, and Osinachi was potentially the latest victim. A report by ThisDay newspapers in 2011, said out of 50 per cent of women being battered by their husbands, the majority were educated women. There could be more unreported cases.

I’m, of course, not suggesting that couples should break up at the least provocation or that troubled marriages are not worth saving. Among other things, financial pressures, poor modelling and poor impulse control, are probably some of the biggest challenges for many of today’s marriages.

These challenges require understanding and patience that have become scarce commodities in the modern world of instant gratification.

True, these problems, especially the financial one, are often easier to manage when the burden is shared. But it is not in every situation that two are better than one. Sometimes, it is better for one to walk alone to save two or more from greater misery. The dead or severely emotionally damaged are not only useless to their children (often cited as the reason to endure at all costs), they are also useless to themselves.

Gender-based groups have done considerable work in highlighting the dangers of domestic violence, creating support groups and encouraging victims to speak up. What Osinachi’s death reminds us of, however, is that we still have a very long way to go before we stop killing women in troubled marriages by insisting that it is better to die married than to live single.

Ishiekwene is Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP.

It seems that in the midst of anguish and gnashing of teeth, Kemi Olunloyo, a blogger who cares less about emotions while plying her trade for profit, constantly enjoys choosing a perspective that not only tramples upon the grave of the dead but also burdens family and friends (#FrankEdwards in this case) of the deceased for the rest of their lives. She claims Frank Edwards has been sleeping with the late gifted gospel singer, Evangelist Osinachi Nwachukwu.

Olunloyo, as we all know, will always add her own twist to every story. Look at the case of #Justice4SylvesterOromoni (Oromoni was the schoolboy who died after alleged brutalisation by his schoolmates) for example. After reading her twist to the story, I couldn’t help but wonder if she had lost her empathy as a mother in Sylvester’s case (and her identity as a woman in Nwachukwu’s case)? Or, like Nigeria male barbie, Bobrisky, is she also on a mind confusion adventure?

Hearing about the death of the gifted singer was a shocker but the alleged cause of her death wasn’t in the least surprising. I see everywhere on social media that almost everyone has an opinion to share—ranging from the late singer being stuck in an abusive marriage to the role of the church in keeping her in the abusive union.

It constantly amazes me how people of the world are quick to point fingers at the church, someone must be blamed and, obviously, it should be the church. Now had the scenario been different and Osinachi opted for a separation or a divorce, these people would still have taken to social media to talk about how Christian marriages are a sham. Recently, these social media armies applauded self confessed Area father of Nigerian Entertainment Charly Boy, who has been married for 40 years, while denigrating Pastor Chris Okotie and Pastor Chris Oyakilome.

But Charly is “better” than the Church and the world in that there is no hypocrisy in him. On his 40th wedding anniversary, he had this to say, “My 40-year-old marriage has been a living hell many times!” Keep in mind that the Church in itself is not the building but humans who are committed to serving Christ. Perhaps, speaking out like Charlie may be all that is needed to have better marriages, for secrecy oftentimes is the strength of abusers.

Now the best these humans can do is to offer advice and guidance. In the end, the decision is ours to make. Christ gave us the power of choice, which after 2,000 years is still constant. We can only wonder why Osinachi decided to stay in the marriage but the sad truth remains she had a choice and she made her decision.

Now the ones who love her are left to deal with the pain of the choices she made.

But since the world needs something to talk about, let’s look at the rate of abuse and how much of a norm it has become.

Remember Bamise? The beautiful young lady who was abused then brutally murdered in by a BRT bus driver?

Ooh, you think it’s just a coincidence? How about our very famous Remi Tinubu? Mother of modern Lagos like her political fans will yell! In July 2016, Senator Dino Melaye stood on the grounds of the hallowed Red Chambers of the National Assembly to insult her, using vulgar words I’d rather not write for the sake of my readers who are minors.

Well, you all thought Remi deserved it. And hailed your ‘abuser’ in the Senate for a job well done! That day, the dignity of the Nigerian woman, wife and mother was caricatured before the watching world. For whatever reason, the world didn’t deem it fit for Melaye to apologise to a woman. Days after, he marched on Bourdillon with pride to trample on the consciences of a nation that wouldn’t stand up for its women. Oh, you felt it was for Asiwaju to defend his wife? No! Nigerians own the Senate where Remi was verbally and emotionally abused and not her husband. We failed Remi, Bamise and now Osinachi!

The truth is every woman in Nigeria is open to abuse, especially from the male gender and we have been told countless times to stay put and deal with it.

They are men, they would flex muscles. We are women, we should be understanding. Don’t provoke your husband. Don’t argue with a male colleague, you should rather learn from them.

Growing up, my younger brother used to hit me a lot. I obviously didn’t have his physical strength, so I was no match for him. My late mom, God bless her soul, couldn’t do much other than shout at him and tell me how he was a “man” (boy though) and I shouldn’t “look for trouble.”

My Dad travelled a lot back then, so by the time he came home, the news was old and he would just have a talk with my brother. But I remember the last time my brother hit me. It was after our mom’s demise. We had an argument as usual and he used his fist. My dad came home that night and after I recounted the day’s experience, he dealt with my brother. I don’t know what he did but the magic worked.

I am a believer in the institution of marriage as exampled by Christ in His love for His church, an advocate for gender equality and freedom for women in the context of the scripture, but I have come to realise that while we encourage women to fight for their freedom, our desired results will not be achieved without the support of amazing men who are modelling Christ like my father, who have just the right magic wand to give male chauvinists a brain reset.

Akinyemi writes under the pen name Shilly Pepper and can be reached via akinshiloh1@gmail.com

THE news that the popular gospel singer, Osinachi Nwachukwu, who died recently might have died from injuries inflicted on her by her husband has brought to the fore again the issue of domestic violence. Some people who knew the late musician vowed that her husband had been abusing her. Curiously they all kept quiet until the worst happened to her. The cop-out is that “you can’t help a person who’s not ready to be helped.” According to reports, she had trauma to the chest from a kick from him. But it might not be the only serious injury the woman suffered!

People have kept wondering why she could have covered up all this. Why did she not leave the marriage? Why didn’t she go to the police? But she said it was because of her faith she stuck to the relationship. The husband has been arrested and we hope that the matter will be thoroughly investigated and justice be allowed to take its full course. Domestic violence should be condemned.

According to the United Nations, domestic abuse, also called “domestic violence” or “intimate partner violence,” “can be defined as a pattern of behaviour in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner.” It is not a Nigerian problem. It’s found all over the world. It is said that almost one in three, or 30 per cent of women, have suffered physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner or non-partner sexual violence or both.

Abuse could be physical, emotional, sexual, economic or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. It also involves any behaviours that intimidate, frighten, terrorise, manipulate, hurt, blame, humiliate, injure or wound someone. And whenever the victim tries to run away the maltreatment worsens.

Domestic violence can happen to anyone of any race, age, gender, sexual orientation or religion. It could occur between those who are married to each other, living together or dating. This malaise affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels. Incidents are rarely isolated and usually escalate in frequency and severity.

Domestic abuse may lead to serious physical injury or death. But even with the awareness of domestic violence, few relate the experiences of these women with traumatic brain injuries. In some minds, the victim only suffered “a small push” or just a “small smack to the head.” Unfortunately too for the victims, they may not be able to recollect what happened and, worse, the assaults may not even be reported to the police.

Brain injuries are said to be like earthquakes. A severe brain injury is like a major earthquake: we find fractures, haemorrhages or penetrating wounds (bridges fall and there are collapsed buildings): There is devastation to the city. But it’s not so for mild brain injuries or small earthquakes: we see cupboards overturned; cracked glasses. It’s more difficult to make sense of the damage and we can easily miss things that are broken, but no doubt something is wrong.

It was a British doctor, Gareth Roberts, who first alerted the world to domestic-violence brain injuries specifically, in a brief letter to the editor of The Lancet. Then he was teaching neuroanatomy at Imperial College London while studying Alzheimer’s disease with one of the world’s leading groups on the subject. One of his colleagues asked him to evaluate the autopsy of a 76-year-old woman who died after years of suffering domestic violence from her husband. In that letter, he described bruises, abrasions and rib fractures. The woman had a history of stroke and was reported as “demented” (majorly memory loss and confusion) in later years.

Interestingly, Robert also found that the brain of the woman had similar features to that of the brain with Alzheimer’s, what scientists call tangles of tau and beta-amyloid proteins which are associated with neurodegeneration or deterioration of brain cells. Her brain was akin to those of boxers suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy or C.T.E., which was formerly known as “punch-drunk syndrome.” This was the first time the literature had linked abused women with neurodegenerative disease.

In another study of 26 women, a majority of them had been punched in the head. One was smacked in the head with the handle of a broom; another got a stab in the head; for another, it was the door of a car that knocked her out, while another was run over. All nine of the victims complained of dizziness, impaired hearing and blurring of vision.

It’s not only trauma to the brain that can lead to brain injury of victims. They also suffer strangulation even if momentarily. Strangulation can choke off oxygen supply leading to what is known as anoxic and hypoxic injuries which come about because brain cells have been starved of oxygen. This could lead to fatigue, confusion, and loss of memory.

In addition, traumatic brain injury can also result in irritability, social anxiety, depression, anger, feelings of overwhelm, general anxiety, mood swings or emotional lability (teariness). It is instructive to say that many survivors of head injury suffer chronic personality changes, such as increased impulsivity, lack of insight and poor judgement. Insight has to do with a person’s understanding of their illness but also in terms of understanding how the illness affects the person’s interactions with the world. These changes are well-known and likely to affect the ability to make decisions.

Mrs Nwachukwu might have decided to cover all she was experiencing because of her religious belief. It could also be because of fear. But it could also be because she might have suffered repeated concussions in the head leading to traumatic brain injury which then affected her thinking ability!

Osinachi Nwachukwu’s sonorous voice moved people to tears and joy while she was alive. With her death joy has died. That is why many are outraged with her demise. To know that a man could torture his wife in the most damaging and the most dehumanising way is heartbreaking. But as you are reading this piece know that somewhere, another woman is being punched in the face, in the head and kicked all over by a man who claims he loves her, and no amount of cues from her will save her. In the end, like Osinachi Nwachukwu, it’s not only her body—and brain—that fail her. Her society too fails her.

Dr Odoemena, a medical practitioner, writes from Lagos. Twitter: @cuzdetriumph

The social media platform was awash this week with the presidential declaration speech of the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo. Though it has been in the news for a few days that the VP would also show an interest in succeeding retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari as the president of Nigeria, many a people, most especially those of the Bourdillon’s bullion van owner extraction were quick to dismiss it as mere rumour. Their excuse? They believe that the fact that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu identified Osinbajo’s achievements and found him worthy of being appointed the Attorney-General of Lagos while the former was the Governor of Lagos State makes him a slave who must do nothing that is against the interest of his ‘benefactor’.

But, as is typical of an average Nigerian politician, Osinbajo’s presidential declaration speech is stuffed with inaccuracies, downright concoctions and trivialities aimed at raising the hopes of Nigerians and painting him as the ‘messiah’ just as President Buhari was presented to the voting masses in 2015. Osinbajo did all he could in his presidential declaration speech to validate the inefficiency of this regime and to also take a vertical shift away from the hardship this government has inflicted on the Nigerian people which has made the country to be ranked the 12th most fragile state out of 179 countries in the Fragile States Index 2021.

Osinbajo claimed in the third paragraph of his declaration speech that he has visited “our gallant troops in the North-East and our brothers and sisters in the IDP camps” and that he has “felt the pain and anguish of victims in violent conflicts, terrorist attacks, flooding, fire and other disasters.” To him, these are achievements which qualify him to be elected the president of the country. But he failed to admit how the aforementioned illustrates the helplessness, carelessness and incompetence of this government and how this government has lost its bearing. This is a government that looks forlorn and lost in the face of insecurity ravaging the country while insisting that it inherited insecurity and taking no bold step to salvage the situation.

We all know that, in 2015, Buhari’s electoral allure was his ‘capability’ and ‘willingness’ to tackle corruption and insecurity. Today, Osinbajo’s is his eloquence and a perceived disruption of the cabal system since he’s a ‘saint’. Rather than sweet-tongue as usual in the face of the present realities, Osinbajo should admit that this government needs help and that it has lost its bearing. He should also admit that Buhari has been playing sectional politics for the past seven years.

Also, Osinbajo’s statement that “we must complete what we started” negates his ‘plan’ of making “the love of our nation burns alike in the hearts of boys and girls…” The statement shows that Osinbajo is warming up to finish the disintegration agenda that was launched by retired Major General Buhari, which has made national cohesion to be under severe strain. The implication is that Osinbajo intends to sustain the legacy of ruin that Buhari and their party, the All Progressives Congress, have bequeathed to Nigeria, which has left democracy imperilled and the country on the brink of unravelling.

Those trying to exonerate Osinbajo in the face of the crises this government has brought upon the country must understand that the pastor-politician chaired the economy and messed up the implementation of deregulation, currency devaluation and that he also handled the IDP welfare programme which was so woeful among others.

It is essential we begin to think about what has been started that needs to be completed. The last eight years have been marked by bloodshed across the nation, abuse of fundamental human rights, disregard for the judiciary by executive officers and security personnel, inflation, molestation of civilians by men in uniform, infrastructure decay, abuse of public property, among others. In this stead, embarking on a mission to complete what has been started should leave us with the clear-cut fact that we may only be embarking on a journey to bury a dying nation. Rather than retrace our steps and fix the faults, if the mission is to complete the journey of burning the nation down, we should fear for what would be left of us all after the journey ends.

Nigeria will be great again. But this requires our conscientious and collaborative efforts in identifying wrongs, impunity and maladministration and standing vehemently against such.

Nigeria and Nigerians will overcome.

Israel writes from Ibadan, Oyo State. He can be reached via olalekankazeem01@gmail.com

There is no denying the fact that not few Nigerians that are active on Social Media platforms, particularly on Facebook, since Evangelist Osinachi Nwachukwu was allegedly murdered by her husband have seen a video depicting how a particular woman was mercilessly flogging her husband. In a similar vein, there is another video now trending depicting how a man slapped his wife, and the woman retaliated by giving the man multiple slaps, and went ahead to lift the man up, and threw him on a bundle of firewood, and got the man beaten black and blue.

To anyone that is wondering why such videos are trending on the trail of the death of Osinachi, he should not wonder anymore as the sharers of such videos on Social Media platforms are unarguably trying to water down the seriousness of Pastor Peter Nwachukwu’s case as interpretations of such videos seek to portray the fact that it is not only husbands that perpetrate violent acts against their spouses, but that wives also engage in the violent acts that is quite reprehensible.

Without any iota of exaggeration, the intention of such sharers on Social Media platforms is to prove that women are also guilty of spousal violence. To my view, the thinking that women are as violent towards their partners as men is erroneous and misleading.

“Why is the thinking that women are as violent towards their partners as men erroneous and misleading?” You might have asked. The reason for opining that it is misleading cannot be farfetched as a poll carried out by NOIPolls Opinion Polling Centre (NOPC) in April 2020, exactly 2 years ago “revealed that 56 percent of respondents stated that spousal violence of husbands’ violence is prevalent while 47 percent of respondents stated that spousal violence of wives against husbands is prevalent. Interestingly, 100 percent of Nigerians-polled agree that it is not justifiable for both husbands and wives to assault/abuse or kill their spouses.

In a similar vein, another report embarked on by Professor Michael Kimmel, Professor of Sociology at the State University of New York, under the auspices of the Department of Education and Science. considers the age long controversy surrounding whether domestic violence is a “women’s issue”, whether it is a crime perpetrated by men against women or a problem shared by men and women equally and whether women are abusing men as much as men are abusing women.

Based on a review of the major studies that have been carried out into domestic violence, the report concludes that there is indeed significant international evidence now to suggest that women are violent and abusive to their male partners. “Women’s violence towards male partners certainly does exist, but it is different from that of men: it is far less likely to be motivated by attempts to dominate or terrorize the partner.”

The key difference, Prof Kimmel argues, is that women tend to use conflict in an argument, to get the man’s attention or to defend themselves against violence. Men, however, tend to use violence to take control and dominate their partners. Men generally perpetrate much more serious violence than women. A total of 90 per cent of the more systematic, persistent, and injurious type of violence is perpetrated by men.

Professor Kimmel suggests it is simplistic to say women’s violence against men is the same as men’s against women. Such claims are “often made by those who do not understand the data, what the various studies measure and what they omit”. They are also made by those who are politically motivated and “attempting to discredit women’s suffering by offering abstract statistical equivalences” that turn out to be untrue.

The report suggests that it is necessary to be compassionate towards all victims of domestic violence and male victims deserve access to services and funding, just as female victims do. But men do not “need to be half of all victims in order to deserve either sympathy or services”. It is of vital importance to develop intervention services which can protect women from the more severe forms of violence which they invariably suffer.

Given the facts that are inherent in foregoing reports, it is enough in this context to say that “Domestic violence can be described as the power misused by one adult in a relationship to control another. It is the establishment of control and fear in a relationship through violence and other forms of abuse.”

In fact, this violence can take the form of physical assault, psychological abuse, social abuse, financial abuse, or sexual assault. The frequency of the violence can be on and off, occasional or chronic.
As gathered, domestic violence is not simply an argument. It is a pattern of coercive control that one person exercises over another. Abusers use physical and sexual violence, threats, emotional insults and economic deprivation as a way to dominate their victims and get their way”.

Having opined enough on this issue in this context, it is expedient to advise that it is high time the churches, concern Non-governmental Organizations, the governments at all levels began to campaign against the spousal menace more than ever before. In as much as the retrogressive trend in marriages is neither a new nor an easy subject to grapple with, it is advisable that efforts should be exerted on it in this regard as it has become a worrisome issue.

There is no denying the fact that prolonged national activism will help us to name the many evil dimensions of violence against women and how they affect quality of life for everyone. Most critical in this case is that the churches should find a way of passing the message that women should remain in marriage even when their husbands have resorted to killing them instalmentally.

And finally, permit me to issue a point correction to some Social Media trolls that are already sharing all manners of video ostensibly to make the malady look like a child’s play.