A group of Women Rights Activists has held a peaceful protest to oppose what it called an “unwholesome” widowhood ritual of forcing a widow to drink the water used in washing the deceased corpse at a community in Atani, Ọgbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State.
On Thursday, a significant number of women gathered before the Children, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Court in Awka, the state’s capital.
They were seen holding placards that read, among other things, “Stop violence against women and girls in the State, gbaru men and women, allow our widows some peace, and stop all obnoxious laws and harmful widowhood practices in the State.”
The group was reacting to a recent incident in community, where a widow, Patricia Eligbue, was rescued from her late husband’s relatives after forcing her to drink the water used in bathing the corpse of her late husband’s nephew.
During the protest, the Chairperson of Violence Against Persons Prohibition, in the State, Hope Okoye, said, “This peaceful demonstration is only a way to make the women’s voices heard, as well as, a clarion call on the Ọgbaru communities to review the existing obnoxious traditions and expunge all forms of harmful practices against women and widows in the areas.
All well-meaning indigenes of gbaru and indeed, the State, both at home and in the diaspora, should join in speaking out against all forms of ill treatment against women and widows, not only in gbaru communities, but also throughout the state.”
She urged the State Government, through the state’s Children, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Court, to protect women and widows in the state; and ensure that justice is served on perpetrators of unpalatable windowhood practices against women and widows, irrespective of their social status.
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