Damilola Odunukan
Members of a nongovernmental Organisation, Rights Enforcement and Public Law Centre, REPLACE, visited the Ajah Market in Lagos State on Thursday, December 19th, 2024.
There, traders, both women and men, were taught the importance of the Administration of the Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) regarding Nigerian women.
The Executive Director of REPLACE, Felicitas Aigbogun-Brai, who led her team to the market, explained that her organisation empowers women with literacy about knowing their rights and the knowledge of the criminal justice of Nigeria, as well as providing free legal services at the Police Station.
She said: “Although a few men have challenged our messages, because they have told us that the law in Nigeria says you must pay for bail, the law says that they will beat you if you go to the Police Station, so, we have to engage some of the young men in more discussions.”
She also added that a few men in the Ajah community complained about incessant Police harassment within the community.
Aigbogun-Brai said that the community sensitisation campaign hopes to see more women know their rights and the steps to take should they encounter law enforcement agents.
Ms Ayoola Gandonu of Child Protection Network said the outreach means that most women now know they can stand sureties for bailable offences.
The Secretary of International Market, Ajah, Paul Ogunyemi, commended the efforts of the REPLACE team for not only bringing the sensitisation campaign to the women in the market but also for pledging to assist with free legal services.
He added: “Police cannot just come to arrest anyone who didn’t commit any offence. We will post the contact of the foundation in some places in the market so that people can contact them if they need to.”
A trader in the market, Mrs Uche Emmanuel, told the group about her friend, whose son was arrested. She was perturbed about the police demanding money before they could release the boy.
Another trader, Mercy Attah, a trader at the market sought the help of the foundation to intervene in the conflict between her sister, Happiness Attah and her husband, Benjamin Onojie.
Mercy said that her sister, Happiness, who has been married for 10 years and has three children with Benjamin, has been suffering domestic violence.
She complained that Benjamin, not only beats Happiness but also hardly provides money for feeding the three children.
She added that the family reported the case to the Ajuwe Police Station, but the case was dismissed.
Mercy said: “From January to December, he has not dropped money for his wife nor children’s upkeep, yet he beats my sister, who is pregnant.”
This case was also that of Blessing Godwin, who was sent out of her matrimonial home by her husband after he started dating another woman.
Blessing explained that she had to sleep under the Ajah Bridge for a few days now.
Blessing narrated: “He brought home a woman, whom he called his sister, and since then he has been acting strangely. He does not want the baby, so he sent me out of the house, and I don’t have where to go.”
She also added that she spoke with one Pastor, whose name she refused to disclose for personal reasons, and the pastor told her husband to carry the baby for paternity testing for certainty.
The women commended the foundation for bringing the sensitisation to them as they now comprehend what the law says about their rights and how to utilise it.
