Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has threatened to depose any traditional title holder found to be a wife-beater. He equally advocated an urgent review of Section 55 of the Penal Code Law that permits husbands to correct their wives on gross abuse of the provision in the northern part of the country.

The section allows a husband to ?correct? his wife if it is within the bounds of lawful customs, and does not cause ?grievous hurt.? The monarch made the submission yesterday at Bayero University, Kano (BUK), during the opening of the 2024 National Dialogue on the role of Islamic Opinion Leaders in the prevention of Gender-based Violence in Northern Nigeria.

The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), while citing a study conducted across nine Shari?a courts in Kano, revealed 45 per cent of gender-based violence (GBV) out of the total cases being handled at the courts.

He stressed that the research also indicated several instances where wives, as a result of violent abuses, suffered broken teeth and jaws, while several were left thoroughly beaten by their husbands.

Sanusi mentioned several provisions of Islamic jurisprudence that prohibited violence against women, insisting that the government must criminalise any act of maltreatment against women in a marriage.

Director, Centre for Islamic Civilisation and Interfaith Dialogue, BUK, Dr. Taofeek Abubakar Hussein, said the centre was committed to promoting understanding of the role of Islamic scholars against gender violence.

Director, Partnership and Strategic Communications, development Research and Projects Centre, (dRPC), Dr Hassan Karofi, explained that the event was part of this year?s 16-day activism exercise to end GBV in Northern Nigeria.

With the theme, ?Islamic Teachings and Community Collaboration for End of Gender Based Violence?, the programme, according to Karofi, was to strengthen the voice of Islamic opinion leaders, against GBV in the region (The Guardian)

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