Funke Busari, Lagos
Widows living in Lagos State can now have a shoulder to cry on, it is the shoulder of the State government.
Speaking through Public Affairs Officer, Omisore Babatunde, the Lagos State Administrator General and Public Trustee, Mrs. Omotola Rotimi said the state is ready to fight against abuse directed at widows in the state.
Warning perpetrators of violence against widows, Mrs. Omotola Rotimi said that the era when family members push widows out of their husband’s property and subject them to all forms of debasing cultural practices is over in Lagos State.
Recently, she disclosed the government stance during a Traffic Radio programme: “Your Side Mirror” with Victor Oteri where Mrs Rotimi decried the prevalence of domestic and economic abuse against widows such as forceful eviction from their late husbands estate, and cutting them off from family businesses.
She further frowned at the rising spate of abuse against widows in the country. Mrs. Rotimi disclosed that the cause is not only for widows (who are statutorily married) entitled to 1/3 of their late husbands estate but that even female children have as much right to inheritance as their male counterpart. And as such, disinheriting these ones is unlawful.
Rotimi called on widows to know their rights and seek redress when those rights are infringed upon by coming to the Office of the Administrator General and Public Trustee in the Ministry of Justice, Alausa Secretariat.
She further warned the perpetrators of violence against widows to desist or be ready to face the full wrath of the law, adding that the idea of some people hiding under the guise of culture to maltreat widows is against the law and will no longer be tolerated.
“Perhaps, you are there and you are saying ‘my husband died without making a will and his family wants me and the children out of the house, what can I do?’ You can contact the office of the Administrator General and Public Trustee who will intervene to ensure that the right beneficiaries have quick access to their inheritance, ” the Administrator General said.
