Nigerians from all walks of life, more especially the female folks have reacted angrily after the founder of Due Process Advocates (DPA) and Harvard trained attorney, Emeka Ugwuonye narrated how a lady who approached the human rights organization for help recounted how her abusive husband will always ask her to pay him before he could have sex with her.
The human rights lawyer who shared a screenshot of a conversation he had with the lady on the official Facebook forum of Due Process Advocates, vowed to render help to the young woman who appears to be an orphan.
See screenshot of conversation below:
Attorney Ugwuonye in a follow up statement titled, “NO NIGERIAN CHURCH WILL HELP YOU IF YOU FACE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE” said that, the lady for several years complained to the priests of her Church but they refused to help her because her husband was friendly with them.
He said, “I’m interviewing a lady right now and she narrated her experience. In her own words, she said: “No church will help you!” She explained how she complained for so many years to her priests (Catholic church) and they failed to help her because her husband was friendly with them. Indeed, she believe the priests were so biased against her. After she finally went to a human rights organization, the organization warned her husband never to beat his wife again, and that they would deal with him if he tried that again. That was when he stopped beating her. He then called the same priest to come and settle him and his wife. It was when he found himself in a weakened position that the priest tried to settle them.
“The woman told the priest she was no longer interested in him settling them. The priest then told her that she had to leave the house. But the lady told him that she was the one paying the rent. (The priest had forgotten that the woman had been the breadwinner, not the his friend, the husband).
“I listened to the lady in silence. I knew she was right. I have heard the same experience narrated by many victims of domestic violence. The churches and the Pastors don’t care. The Pastors beat their own wives. The culture of most churches encourage domestic violence. Once you accept that women are inferior and subordinate and once you insist that women (without men) should be virtuous and submissive: once you buy such backwards ideas, you will subscribe to two things. First, you will oppose divorce, and second, you will be violent in your home.
“I know that each time I point out the shortcomings of Pastors, some of you that pretend to be deputy Jesus will come out to attack and insult me. Please say goodbye to this forum before you try that today. There will be no warning.”