No less than 49 spouses reportedly died between January 2021 and March 2022, data compiled by Daily Trust Saturday have revealed.
The data showed that 35 women were killed by their husbands while wives killed their husbands on 14 different occasions.
From the cases compiled by Daily Trust Saturday, 39 deaths were related to domestic violence while six killed their spouses over allegations of infidelity.
Other causes of homicide according to experts are mental disorders, ritual killing and forced marriages.
The latest incident that was greeted by uproar was the death of an Abuja-based gospel artiste, Osinachi Nwachukwu.
Her death reportedly followed marital ordeals as there were allegations of domestic violence being orchestrated by her husband.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen had, on live television, painted disturbing situations within the family when she visited the children Osinachi left behind.
Heartrending incidents
Mr Ovye Yakubu allegedly killed his wife, Esther Aya, in the Sabonpegi-Shabu community of Lafia, Nasarawa State.
When he was arrested by operatives of the Nasarawa State Police Command, a witness alleged that Yakubu killed his wife when an argument ensued over hiring a carpenter to fix one of the windows in their residence.
He said, “The deceased (Esther) had engaged the service of a carpenter to fix net in their windows to prevent mosquitoes from entering the house, but her husband stopped the carpenter.”
She reportedly resisted and her husband started beating her in the process.
She was said to have died from the injuries sustained when he descended on her.
Also, in January 2022, a 57-year-old man, Muhammed Alpha, was arrested for allegedly stabbing his wife of over 20 years with a knife over the ownership of a door made from zinc, while Motunrayo Alaba also allegedly applied a hot-pressing iron on the chest of her husband, having recently returned on vacation overseas. The man also died from the injury.
Ramota Soliu also allegedly poured hot water on her husband in a case of domestic violence. Wisdom Joseph allegedly strangled his wife, Evelyn Alifiya, to death while Emmanuel Chigozie killed his pregnant wife over a minor disagreement.
Children are the greatest casualties
At the centre of these killings are the children who are left without both parents because while one rots in police custody, the other will be buried.
Osinachi left four children behind while the husband is still in custody pending when the court will make a final decision.
When Muhammed Alpha killed his wife, eight children became motherless. Three children were without a father when Mr Alaba was killed by his wife in Lagos.
More than 20 children were left behind by their parents who were victims of spousal killings in 15 months in Nigeria.
“Some children trained in abusive marriages grew up with psychological scars and trauma that shape their marriage view,” Said Abdullahi Usman, a psychologist.
“It affects their perception about life and life will never be the same for some of them,” he said.
Olamide Ogundele is a graduate based in Abuja. He said he did not plan to get married due to what he experienced with his parents.
“I will rather remain single because I do not think marriage is for me. Marriage is not for everybody, and I have seen it from my parents. Not that they were violent but there were things I saw in their relationship that have led to fear within me,” he said.
When probed further, Ogundele said his views might change later, but at the moment, all his relationships with females are platonic.
Another Abuja resident who preferred to be anonymous said that growing up was difficult for her as she joined her sisters to beat their father when he abused her mother.
“I had to pray when I was about to get married because I did not want to get into an abusive relationship, and God answered my prayers,” she said, adding that despite her fears, her husband of over 20 years has never abused her.
How abusive spouses betray partners
Cynthia Ogwu said she left her husband over 10 years after obtaining a court injunction for the dissolution of the marriage.
She took up a job and has been fending for her children since then and does not nurse any hope of returning to the marriage.
She said that not everybody could understand her plight and what led to the dissolution of the marriage, adding that she had to relocate to another area in Abuja to start a new life with her children due to social stigma.
Although Cynthia did not reveal why she left the marriage, she is grateful that she is alive to tell her story, regardless of what happened.
A victim of an abusive marriage, Grace Ityosaa, said people in such situations who refuse to walk away risk being killed.
She said such people must be willing to leave the marriage the moment the first slap or punch landed on them.
“At times it is not punches or slaps. It could be by words. At this point, you would start feeling that the person is treating you badly.
“A woman should not wait till it gets to a point when she is reporting to people because the next blow could take her life. I am talking today not because I am better than those who had died, I am just lucky, and probably, God has allowed me to be able to talk to other women,” she said.
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