5 Top LGs Where Women Batter Their Husbands In Lagos State

CYRIACUS IZUEKWE

Reports have confirmed that Alimosho, Ikeja and Kosofe are now among the top five Local Government areas in Lagos State, where women are leading in domestic violence by battering their husbands.

This was the submission of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) on Wednesday, which said that 194 men were reportedly assaulted by their partners in the past six months.

P.M.EXPRESS reports that DSVRT provided the figure in its bi-annual report which positioned Alimosho as leading with 200 cases, Ikeja took second position with124 cases while Kosofe has 123 case followed by  Ikorodu with 115 cases and Oshodi-Isolo with 95 cases. 

The report made available to newsmen in Lagos was for January 2021 to June 2021.
The figure is 44.33 per cent higher than the 108 assault cases reported by men from January 2020 to June 2020, which indicated that more women beat their husbands in those Local Government areas.

In the latest report, the DSVRT, had from January  2021 to June 2021,  attended to 1,329 cases involving adults.

The data showed that 1,125 of the adults, representing  85 per cent, were female while 194 (15 per cent) were male.The data revealed that 77 per cent of the adults were married, 11 per cent, single, seven per cent, widowed and divorced  while five per cent were cohabiting.

The Coordinator of the DSVRT, Mrs Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, said that there had been a steady increase in reported cases of gender-based violence on the part of both men and women in the state since 2014.

She, however, said that men had difficulty reporting incidents of assault by their partners largely due to cultural norms.

Vivour-Adeniyi said: “Patriarchy is an enemy of everybody because it keeps people in silence. From a young age, males are not allowed to express themselves when they are experiencing trauma, and that lingers on to adulthood”.
“When a man is experiencing violence, even his fellow men mock him, and such a person will not be able to speak up.With the data we are seeing, we are confident that when men are aware, they can report these incidents.”
“They will be treated with empathy and professionalism and they can be encouraged to speak up and report.”

The DSVRT report revealed that, of the 1,329 adults, 1,236 were aged between 18 years and 45 years while 93 were 45 years and above.
Further breakdown of the figures showed that 954 adults  reported cases of violence, 53 reported rape and 29 reported attempt to commit rape and sexual assault.The data also  showed that 24 people reported sexual assault by penetration and threat, while 269 were for others.

“All the cases of sexual assault by penetration are being prosecuted at the High Court.“All the cases that are sexual assaults that do not include penetration are currently being prosecuted at the Magistrates’ Court.”

“For sexual violence, that is clear cut, because all the cases are being prosecuted.“Domestic violence, however is not so clear cut because not all survivors want prosecution,  they want the abuse to stop,” Vivour-Adeniyi said.