Judge urges religious leaders to preach more against wife battering

The President of the Ijede Customary Court in Ikorodu, Mrs Omolara Abiola, on Friday urged religious leaders to intensify prayer, against wife battering and other forms of maltreatment against women.

Abiola told our correspondent that her advice became necessary wives battery and other human rights abuses against women were still prevalent in the society.

“Our religious leaders need to do more preaching against maltreatment and emotional traumatising of the female gender.

‘’The religious leaders have to condemn it, the condemnation of such anti-social acts must be backed up with the leaders projecting model on how women should be treated in the society.

“Victory against maltreatment of women generally will only be assured if our leaders across all sectors, especially the religious sub sector, represent the model of the ideal,’’ she said.

Abiola called on religious leaders who she noted poached other people’s wives through falsehood and emotionally assaulting their own wives to drop the negative act.

He, however, expressed concern over ”many gullible women in our society who have caved-in to pressures of fake and bad clergymen who exploit their weaknesses for self-enjoyment.’’

The judge stressed the need to review inheritance laws that marginalised female children.

She noted that women had emerged as a potential force of development in Nigeria and so needed not to be treated as second class entitlement holders during inheritance rights.