Loss of ‘African identity,’ infidelity, women-friendly legal system in the United States (US) and fear of losing life-time investments to their wives among others are identifiable reasons for the increasing spate of killing of Nigerian women in the US by their intimate partners, especially husbands, CHIJIOKE IREMEKA writes
The killing of Nigerian women, many of them nurses, in the United States (US) by their Nigerian partners, especially husbands in form of spousal abuse is growing by geometric progression while efforts to stem it are on arithmetical progression.
At least, 10 Nigerian women – eight of them nurses – have been bumped off in the US by their partners between 2006 and 2016. They were either shot, stabbed or bludgeoned to death, according to US-based reports.
The case of Antonia Iheme, a nurse, who was shot severally by her husband, spurred a number of interventionist strokes to stem its frequency. Her husband after killing her called the police and reported himself.
Mrs. Iheme had barely left her workplace at a nursing home in Hennepin County, Minnesota, and got into her car and just as she was trying to pull out of the car park, she was shot twice.
Her vehicle lurched forward and clipped the side of a parked van before going over a pavement, down a small hill and striking a chain-link fence bordering the nursing facility.
Her husband followed the vehicles as it was crashing and approached the driver’s window, then fired several more shots to ensure that Antonia had no chance of making it alive.
Astoundingly, after snuffing the life out of the woman, he then called 911and reported himself, saying: “I have killed the woman that messed my life up … a woman that destroyed me.”
This is just one of the numerous cases of killing of Nigerian women by their husbands or intimate partners in the US, while the United Nations says killing of women by their intimate partners is a global phenomenon.
According to the UN report, 38 per cent of murders of women worldwide are committed by their male partners, and partner violence is the most common type of violence against women, affecting 30 per cent of women globally.
Again, the National Network to End Domestic Violence reports that three women are killed every day in the US by their partners even as the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) stated that black women in the US have historically experienced intimate partner violence at rates higher than white women.
These numbers, however, fail to account for the plurality of experiences within the African-American community. More so, The BJS’ National Crime Victimisation Survey did not track domestic-related murders and murder-suicides by perpetrators with an immigrant status until July 2016.
Sequel to the spate of killings, the National Association of Nigerian Nurses in North America (NANNNA), an umbrella body for all registered Nigerians nurses, now tries to determine the specific factors driving violence in the Nigerian Diaspora.
Sunday Telegraph learnt that women empowerment, cultural values, loss of ‘African identity’ by African women in the US, infidelity, desire not to lose their property to their wives, women-friendly legislation in US and lack of respect for their husbands as African woman would back home among others, are responsible for the crimes.
In 2011, the body conducted an informal investigation into the murder of Nigerian nurses, gathered anecdotal data by reviewing comments on Nigerian news sites and blogs, hosted focus groups and used knowledge gleaned from the hotline.
Their findings revealed a recurring subject for Nigerian women in the US. Nigerian nurses earned more than their partners and worked long hours, which kept them from what their partners perceived to be their domestic duties and led to suspicions of infidelity.
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It also revealed a clash between a particular strain of patriarchy – as embodied by the Nigerian man accustomed to the norms of his male-dominated homeland and feminism, as represented by the acculturated Nigerian woman.
The women were also accused of ‘losing their identity’ in the US and being corrupted by its ‘women-friendly’ legal system, which left their counterpart with nothing once court entertains their divorce disposition.
Recall that in a case of spousal abuse in US and the wife reaches out to the police, the fate of the husband is bleak, which in most cases would lead to his deportation and allowing the woman to enjoy the man’s wealth alone. Or in a case of divorce entertained by the local courts, the man leaves the house for the woman, virtually empty-handed.
These are found to be part of the provocative legal system that goads the men to kill instead of sitting and watching their wives take over their life achievements. They risk prison as after successful serving of jail terms, they will be in control of their wealth again.
Responding to the cases of fatal domestic violence involving Nigerian men and women in the US, a psychiatrist, Theddeus Iheanacho estimated that about three to four Nigerian nurses were killed by their intimate partners every year in the past decade.
“In Nigeria, the balance of power, most of the time, is in the man’s hands, so he has less recourse to violence. Domestic violence is acceptable in Nigeria as there is no real enforcement of spousal battery law and going by its cultural factors,” he said.
Nearly a third of all women in Nigeria, 28 per cent, have experienced physical violence, he noted, saying that Nigeria has disparate pieces of legislation; a few states have passed legislation on domestic violence, but others permit husbands to physically ‘correct’ their wives.
Sunday Telegraph noticed that Nigeria signed the Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act into law only in 2015, after a decade-long legislative process. The bill finally tagged spousal battery as ‘an offence,’ yet this law does not take into consideration, other aspects of spousal abuse, which doesn’t deal with battery.
Iheanacho added that sometimes, the abuse can escalate to extreme violence because women often stay in abusive relationships and refuse to take advantage of the different sources of aid available to them in the US.
“They believe that as Nigerian women, you have to be married to gain the respect of the community,” he quipped.
Worried about the killing of nurses, a nurse and the Executive Director of NANNNA, Grace Ogiehor-Enoma, tries to understand and tackle domestic violence among Nigerians in the US, wondering why there is such a high level of violence against nurses and launched an investigation.
A Maryland-based Nigerian IT expert, Goodluck Abumchukwu said one major reason nurses are targeted is because it is a common profession for Nigerian women in the US, saying there are other professions but nurses are everywhere.
According to him, based on data from the Migration Policy Institute as of 2015, Nigeria was the third source country for foreign-born registered nurses in the US.
He noted that the field is relatively easy to get into, saying that one can become a certified nursing assistant, picking up extra shifts and working for $12.78 an hour, in a matter of weeks.
“Nigerian nurses also marry Nigerian-American men as Passports tickets to higher incomes and better quality of life. Some Nigerian-American men often return to Nigeria to marry nurses or women they later convince to adopt the profession.
“After bringing their female partners to the US and funding their nursing education, some of the men feel entitled to their partners’ salaries and insist on controlling their income. Once the women start to work, the men expect a return on their investment, but they often find it harder than anticipated in the US. And this is a source of friction which you can’t determine its end,” he added.
Humphrey Adejumo shared a similar view with Goodluck. He said women have turned divorce into a goldmine and their men counterparts see them as criminals who should be treated immorally.
