The customs of seizing properties belonging to deceased married menand subjecting their widows to several practices such as shaving of the head and making them drink the water used to clean the deceased husbands, among others, have now become illegal and an offence against the state in Akwa Ibom State, South-South Nigeria.

The state government, in a bill passed by the House of Assembly and signed yesterday by Governor Godswill Akpabio, outlawed customs which maltreat widows, declaring such as inhuman and unlawful.

In his Democracy Day speech today in Uyo, the state capital, Governor Akpabio declared that it had become unlawful for widows to be maltreated in Akwa Ibom. He said defaulters of the new law would risk a penalty ranging from fines to three years imprisonment.

While reacting on the new law, the governor’s wife, Chief (Mrs.) Unoma Ekaette Akpabio, commended the House of Assembly and the governor for the pro-women law, describing its passage as a breakthrough for womenfolk in the state.

“I appreciate the state House of Assembly and the state governor for standing with the womenfolk through this law. Akwa Ibom State has, in the last five years, shown itself as pro-masses and pro-women government,” she said.

•Photo shows Gov Akpabio acknowledging cheers from women during the Interdenominational Thanksgiving Service for Nigeria’s Democracy Day at Ibom Hall . . . today in Uyo.