By Princewill Ekwujuru

BENIN—Edo State House of Assembly Speaker, Mrs. Elizabeth Ativie, yesterday in Lagos condemned the debasing and barbaric culture where widows are deprived of their rights, saying  that governments at all level should provide mechanisms to protect them and enforce their rights.

Speaking at the first edition of the Felix King Charity Foundation in commemoration of the international widows day replicated in Nigeria: tagged #WidowsRight, Ativie condemned some widowhood practices  in parts of Nigeria, noting that  the suppression of   widows was deeply rooted in culture and tradition stemming from the alleged second-rate status of women.

“Based on these, women are made to suffer double jeopardy of losing their husbands, sometimes even at the early period of their marriages, and going through some excruciating cultural rites of proving their innocence in the death of their husbands,” she noted.

“These practices are debasing, shameful, barbaric, abhorrent, and grossly wicked. The death of a woman’s husband heralds momentous suffering, hurt and violation of her human rights by cultural agents of the community, including her spouse’s family,” she continued.