Sanusi: Beating Women Not Excusable Even If Culture Permits It

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has condemned domestic violence against women in Nigerian society, noting it was wrong for a man to beat a woman because his culture allowed it.

The Emir blamed state governments in the north for failing to provide adequate education in their states.

The monarch said men take advantage of their power to oppress, noting that women were also humans entitled to protection.

“Violence happens in all societies. It’s not about an African culture. It’s about power relations where you have men having power, and women are not protected; men will take advantage of that power and oppress them.

“And in our society, the weak and the vulnerable are victims. You have women who are victims of violence. You have young children, you have the poor, you have the disabled.

“Okay, they’re all victims. If you go to hospital, you find crippled women, blind women, who are victims. You have pediatric sexual abuse.

“So we need to first of all say that as a country, we have citizens and human beings, and they have rights. Those rights are inviolable. You cannot violate them in the name of a culture.

“You cannot beat a woman because your culture says you can beat her. She’s a Nigerian citizen entitled to protection. It doesn’t matter what you think because these are the values that we live by in this time,” Sanusi said on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief yesterday.

Sanusi attributed the persistence of child marriage in parts of northern Nigeria on the failure of government to provide adequate schools and structured opportunities for young girls after primary education.

“We’re talking about child marriage, but you go to some parts of the north, there’s a primary school and that’s it. Between 11 and 18, what arrangements have you made for her?

“The poor man basically finds that she’s 12 or 13; he’s afraid that she can get pregnant on the road, and the next young man that comes, he marries her off. Sometimes, these cultures basically reflect poverty.”

The emir criticised urban perspectives that ignored rural realities, pointing out that roads were often unsafe, schools were distant or non-existent, and local government services were lacking.

“It’s easy to blame culture. It’s easy to blame a victim. But the government has not provided the schools,” he said.