EARLY in the New Year, violence against women is rearing its head again. In New Karshi, Nasarawa State, Timilehin Ajayi, 32, brutally murdered an NYSC member, Salome Adaidu, 24, for alleged ritual purposes. He was caught with Salome?s decapitated head. This is another case of blatant gender violence which is endangering Nigerian women.

It Is part of an evil trend. Officers of the Cross River State Police Command arrested a man, Mathias Amunde for allegedly murdering his mother in Obudu recently. After the bestial act, Mathias threw his mother?s corpse into a well!

Indeed, 2024 ended badly for Nigerian women. According to the 2024 femicide by an NGO, DOHS Cares Foundation, 133 women and girls were killed in gender-based violence between January and December. The number could be higher considering that most families do not report such incidents, preferring to bury their dead quietly. This should stop because silence emboldens perpetrators. Protecting women should be a national priority.

Five young perverts gang-raped a 12-year-old girl in Okpella, Etsako LGA of Edo State on Christmas Eve. Audaciously, they filmed the crime and posted it on social media.

Among the 133 victims were married women, young adults such as students, and babies. Gender-based violence consists of acts targeting victims because of their gender. It is estimated that one in three women will be sexually or physically attacked at least once in their lifetime.

The circumstances of the 133 deaths varied but each was as heart-wrenching as the other. Asiya, three, was among the 12 reported killed between January and March. Her body was found with parts of it missing in Bauchi State.

Aminat was 100 years old when her son reportedly killed her in a dispute over oil sale revenues. She was among nine women whose murder was reported in April.

Ifeoma Ajuluchukwu, 69, was ill when she was beaten until she passed away. She was one of the 23 women killed between May and June.

Sixteen killings were reported in July. One of the victims, Ifeoma Eze, a 100-level student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, was pushed from the third-floor window of her hostel.

A newly born child was one of eight females killed in August. So was nine-year-old Runaisa Sadiq who was raped to death in a Kano pharmacy where her father earlier took her for malaria treatment.

Seven women were reported killed in September. Among them was Oriyomi Gboyega, 13, whose body was found with her hand cut off from the wrist. The severed hand was later found in the possession of an Islamic cleric.

Also, Priscilla Ocheme was one of the 20 killed in October. She was found dead after visiting a male friend.

Disturbingly, only a handful of the suspects have been arrested. Most of the killers are probably still on the prowl. They must be found and brought to justice.

?Gender-based violence is a serious human rights violation and a life-threatening health and protection issue,? says UNHCR. Some survivors have lifelong physical and mental injuries.

Women need special protection against these attacks. Men have more muscle and bone mass than women. Reports say women?s muscle strength is between 40 and 75 per cent of men?s.

The punishment for rape is life imprisonment in many jurisdictions, yet it has hardly deterred rapists. In South Africa, rape cases are about six times the global average.

Unfortunately, Nigerian society runs on the notion that men are superior to women. Such a patriarchal disposition feeds gender inequality. It should be discarded.

Nigeria should have a reset and embrace gender equality as the law provides.

The police and the courts should be professional and not trivialise reported or filed cases of sexual attack or other violent acts against women. They should ensure that perpetrators are duly prosecuted and the guilty brought to book. (The PUNCH Editorial)

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