Julie Enoma: A Widow's Agony
By Reuben Abati

Julie Enoma is the widow of the former Commissioner of Information in Edo state, Calus Enoma, who died recently under mysterious circumstances in a hotel in Benin City. He was buried two days ago amidst controversy: controversy relating to the status of his widow and the relationship between her and her husband's relations. Mrs Julie Enoma's plight as disclosed publicly by the Edo state Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Omoniyi Omonuwa, (SAN) draws fresh attention to the plight of widows in many of our communities, the human rights of women and the continuing crisis of gender inequality and inequity, in the face of which women are treated generally as "beasts of burden", and as "second class citizens."

At the lying-in-state ceremony for the deceased, Omonuwa (SAN), was said to have accused the Enoma family of maltreating Mrs Julie Enoma. In reports by The Guardian, The Nation and The Punch newspapers, yesterday, we were informed that Omonuwa complained about how the Enomas had driven away Julie Enoma and taken immediate possession of the properties of the deceased.

"It's a shame to us in this state", Omonuwa declared, as he went on to accuse the family of grabbing all the property of the late commissioner and forced the widow out of their home. "That's the only wife he had. The family members have taken his Mercedes Benz and the Sport Utility Van (Jeep) and they are driving them all over the place. Why can't we gather his property and build his home for him?" The reports further stated that the father of the late Commissioner was also not too happy that his son had refused to take a new wife; instead he insisted on staying with Julie, who had no child for him, the only daughter now surviving him was born out of wedlock before he married Julie.

Thus Julie Enoma, the widow, is being treated as a victim by her husband's family for four reasons, one, they do not think that she is entitled to inherit her husband's estate, two, they are angry with her because she had no child for the deceased, and "would not allow him to take a new wife"; three, there is something about discrimination against women and the girl-child here, although the deceased had a daughter, family relations did not spare a thought for her welfare and rights, and four, "The Guardian learnt that by the tradition of Enoma's community, a woman who did not have any a child particularly a male child is not entitled to the inheritance of her husband."

What was the response of family members to Omonuwa's protest? The Guardian reports: "Omonuwa's outbursts were greeted by deep murmurs from members of the family who were seated among the crowd." When contacted, a family member simply said: "This is a family affair and not for the public. That's all I can tell you."

On the contrary, this is a matter of great public interest. Nigerian women have made great strides since the days of Emotan, Efunsetan Aniwura, Queen Amina, and their more contemporary successors from Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, to the present generation who have shown that ability is not gender-determined, heroism is not a function of sex, and that Nigerian women are not mere statistics on the population chart (49% ?) but invaluable human resources that can contribute meaningfully to the development process at home and abroad. But in spite of this, discrimination against women continues in both physical and structural forms. Women empowerment is still treated with suspicion by the Nigerian male, as well as the social system, and no matter how highly placed or successful a woman may be, men are more likely to relate to her as someone's daughter, or wife, or girlfriend or mistress, in other words as chattel belonging to a man. Women themselves, regardless of their level of education, promote and affirm existing biases against women. However, whatever successes that may have been achieved can be easily found in the areas of education, economic power, and the relatively increased representation of women in public life. But this success is gravely circumscribed, rendered almost ineffectual, by the resilience of traditions and customs that are entirely patriarchal in orientation, obnoxious, and chauvinistic in application. Widows have been remarkable victims. Julie Enoma's story is not peculiar; it is the latest that we know in a long catalogue of agonies and widows.

In many of our traditional communities, a widow is treated as a non-person. Traditions and customs have no respect for her level of education, or economic status; if she should as much as resist the husband's relations who would suddenly begin to treat her as a stranger, she would be accused of witchcraft and definitely of having had a hand in the death of their brother. The scope and nature of widowhood practices vary from one community to the other, but for the most part, a widow is held in great suspicion, particularly if her husband died young. Calus Enoma was 42. Among the Edo, and other groups across Nigeria, it is not unusual for the widow to be asked to swear an oath that she did not cause her husband's death.

She will be required to attest that she has not been unfaithful, that she is not a member of a flesh-eating witchcraft society, and that she did not poison her husband. Mere oath-taking is not enough though, she may be forced to drink a cupful of the water used to wash the corpse. Other humiliating widowhood practices include asking the woman to sleep on the floor for some days; in some communities, she will be required to eat only with her left hand and it must remain unwashed, wear dark clothes, stay indoors for as long as three months or one year, shave her hair. The underlying belief is that men do not die naturally; there must be a reason for their death, and the wife must demonstrate her innocence by submitting herself to all kinds of rituals, and by demonstrating grief. Usually, the widow has no voice, and nearly no choice in the matter. Nowhere in the various newspaper reports was Julie Enoma quoted. Her husband's relations would not expect her to talk to the press. Only God knows what they have subjected her to, in the name of tradition.

Widowhood can be a dreadful experience for women, and Julie Enoma's story surely provides graphic illustration. Her in-laws had to bring up the point that she did not have a child for their relation. Among Africans generally, child bearing is the sole purpose of marriage. A woman without a child is treated by the in-laws as if she had just been wasting the time of the family and her husband's money. The Enomas responded typically by insisting that the late Calus Enoma should take a "new wife". He refused and even in death they are still angry with him. Traditionally, a wife does not belong to her husband but to the family; her main assignment is to help extend the family line. That is why at all weddings around here, there is a fixation with the next nine months, when there will be "a bouncing baby boy" to justify all the wedding ceremonies.

Relations don't even allow couples to settle down. Within three months, they would all start looking at the newly married lady's tummy with undiplomatic curiousity. Family members are not interested in any such fiction called love. What they want is "the fruit of the womb": one of the most popular phrases in Nigerian families. The womb is a plant, it must bear fruits; if any woman's womb fails in this regard, her husband will be advised to take a "new wife" and abandon the barren pawpaw. If the man refuses as Calus Enoma did, it will be said that his wife "had given him something to eat." Nobody bothers to find out if the man had low sperm count, or any other medical condition. Women's reproductive health rights and women in family contexts are major issues in gender relations in Nigeria. Reproductive healthcare decisions are not left to couples alone, the extended family intervenes and could even determine the number of children that a woman is expected to have. Relations are always asking for twins, triplets, or a football team, even if not one of them will be kind enough to help pick up the bills.

Widowhood inheritance is another area of contention. The Married Women's Property Act empowers a married woman to acquire property before or during marriage, but it does not grant her entitlements to property belonging to her husband even if she contributed to the acquisition. (cf. Section 69 of the Matrimonial Causes Act, and Statutes of Distribution, 1985)).

But the more difficult issue is that in traditional communities, married women, under customary law, are regarded as property to be inherited by the family, or to be sent away upon the demise of the husband. It is for this reason that relations of a deceased man often take over his property even while his corpse is still in the morgue. In many families, the in-laws in situations such as this behave as if they are armed robbers without a conscience. The Enomas we are told, have taken Calus Enoma's cars and are driving them all over town. Were they waiting for him to die? In some other families, everything will be carted away including cutlery, furniture and bed sheets..

Then there will be a meeting to determine who among the male relations of the deceased would inherit the widow. This system of leviration is dying off in some communities on account of Christianity and may be education, but in many places, the tradition is as strong as ever. Julie Enoma must be a mild-mannered and quiet woman otherwise she could have taken on her in-laws and do serious battle with them. Some other women would fight and go to court. And in some instances, the customary laws and the Married Women's Property Act (1882) have been challenged by courageous widows.

Relevant cases include Nezianya and Anor vs Okagbue & ors., Godfrey Nwaribe vs President & Registrar of Omuma District Court of Orlu, Nwanya vs. Nwanya and Augustine Mojekwu vs. Caroline Mojekwu. These cases as reported offer a broad and rich picture of the circumstances of widows and their children in relation to inheritance. Women empowerment groups, as well as human rights organizations should take a keen interest in the Julie Enoma case. She may need the support of the broader community to prove to the Enomas that the attempt to dehumanize a person is not necessarily a family affair and that questions can be raised. Justice Niki Tobi in the Mojekwu case had made the point that certain customs and traditions are "repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience".

An interesting twist to the Julie Enoma story was revealed at the graveside, when one of her sisters-in-law, apparently it is not all the Enomas who have been grabbing cars and robbing the dead, disclosed that Mrs Enoma had taken in before her husband's death. So, she would not be childless afterall, and in a few months, she would justify her marriage to the late Calus Enoma. But will the family be satisfied? In matters of this nature, there can never be an end to the twists in the tale. It all depends. The relations can ask for a DNA test if they really want to be nasty. And the child had better be a boy. In many communities, only a boy is good enough. If the widow makes "the mistake" of giving birth to a girl-child, her husband's relations may in fact refuse to accept the child and if they do, they could point to a tradition that forbids daughters from inheriting property (Nezianya vs Okagbue). Calus Enuma had a daughter, but the young lady's uncles and aunties are not thinking of her right to inherit to her own father's estate.

When women pre-decease their husbands and do so intestate, their husbands are not subjected to any form of indignity. The husband inherits everything belonging to the wife. When a man dies, intestate, or not, in-laws turn against the widow, they collect everything that her husband owned and where there are children involved, the poor woman is left to cater for the children all alone without any support whatsoever. And should the in-laws see her with any other man, even after the death of their relation, they would murmur and call her a prostitute. Some families are nastier than others.

A few years ago, Professor Pat Utomi and others seeing the unfortunate situation of widows in Nigeria had to set up a machinery for defending their rights. Such civil society groups can make a lot of difference. Calus Enoma's widow looks like she needs help right now. We must stand by her to stand up to her in-laws and insist on the inviolability of the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which Nigeria ratified in 1985, and Sections 33 to 44 of the 1999 Constitution. But she herself must be willing to assert herself. All too often, women in difficult circumstances are too willing to acquiesce, and play the victim; ironically the chief promoters of obnoxious traditional practices are women.

Robot  # 1 | 22.09.2008 09:41

Julie Enoma: A Widow's Agony By Reuben Abati Julie Enoma is the widow...Read the full article.