Confronting domestic violence and abuse

Last Saturday was a significant day in the history of The Sun newspapers. The staff of the organisation held a walk against two of the most upsetting social ills of our time, domestic violence and child abuse. Decked in tee shirts emblazoned with the mission of the walk, and with banners pronouncing our objective, members of the The Sun management and staff launched out from around the Golden Tulip Hotel in Amuwo Odofin, Lagos, and walked for about an hour  to raise awareness about the growing problem of domestic violence and to charge commuters along the way on the need to eschew violence in their   homes. The walk took the workers through the Festac Link Bridge, to Apple Junction Roundabout, and from there through Rabiu Babatunde Tinubu Road and Durbar Road back to the Golden Tulip.
The Managing Director of The Sun, Mr. Eric Osagie, who led the about 500 workers of  the company, was ably supported by a veteran of walks against social ills in the country, Joe Odumakin, who is the Convener of  Women Arise for Change Initiative. She kept the walk lively, and the walkers, motivated, with her repertoire of songs. Other celebrities who joined The Sun on the walk were Ruggedman, Nurse Titi of Clinic Matters, Princess Chineke, PMAN Vice President and Sunny Nneji, and President of PMAN, Pretty Okafor.
They all acknowledged that The Sun walk against violence was a trailblazer as it was the first time a newspaper in the country was staging a walk to protest a social vice in the country.
The walk against domestic violence is, indeed, a worthy initiative. It is a timely response to the growing incidence of child abuse and domestic violence in the country. Hardly a day passes now without reports of one husband killing a wife or vice versa in the country. Domestic violence in the country has also not spared children as children are being raped, tortured and killed at an alarming rate over flimsy excuses.
Ever since the banker, Mrs. Titilayo Arowolo, was murdered by her husband, Akolade Arowolo in Isolo area of Lagos in July 2011, there appears to have been a resurgence of domestic violence occasioning death in the country.  Torturing of children, which sometimes results in death, is also on the increase. So also is sexual violence against children by their own fathers and other family members.
The charge of The Sun that domestic violence must stop is a timely one. The problem is probably partly being fuelled by the growing frustrations of many Nigerians. It is also a fallout of the failure to promptly bring offenders to justice. This has been creating the impression that domestic violence is a domestic issue that is really no big deal in the country.
Even among the police, the crime of sexual abuse is hardly ever taken seriously as victims’ families are many times advised to settle the matter out of court. Not only that, many policemen have also been reported to be involved in rape.
Of late too, there have been reports of the chaining of people, such as that of Korede Taiwo, the son of a supposed pastor who was chained and deprived of food for many days until he was rescued by the officials of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps. Not long after his rescue, another young girl was found chained somewhere also in Ogun State. And, just yesterday, 13 children and 15 adults were reported to have been found chained and locked up by a suspect identified by police as Emmanuel Adeyemi, at the Oke Ira area of Ojodu, in Lagos. The police had gone to the house said to be on Olamidun Close, Oyingbo Unity Estate, Yakoyo, Ira, to rescue a 17-year old boy identified as Toba Adedoyin, who was reported to have been chained there, only to discover 18 other persons in chains in the building. At the time of writing this, the police had not yet determined the motive for keeping the rescued persons under lock and key.
One thing that the growing incidence of child abuse and domestic violence has thrown up in the country is the need for citizens to be extra-vigilant to report such cases to the authorities. But for a citizen who alerted the police to the fact that a certain boy named Toba was locked up in the house, he and the 28 other persons held in chains in the house would not have been freed and only God can say what their fate would have been.
The time has come for all Nigerians to be their brothers’ keepers by reporting all suspected cases of abuse to the authorities. This will help to save the lives of persons who, otherwise, would have perished unsung in the hands of predators. The police should also begin to take a serious view of abuse. But for the growing determination of the media to continue to highlight such cases, many more of these abuses would have gone unnoticed.
This is why initiatives such as the campaign against domestic violence by The Sun Publishing Company should be emulated to ensure that the problem is not swept under the carpet and that the people are made to know that domestic violence is a crime that is punishable under the laws of the land.