Doctor batters wife over refusal to circumcise daughter

A wife of a medical doctor, Na’omi Jolly, has alleged manhandling by her husband following her refusal to allow their daughter to be circumcised. 

She told Niger Delta Trust that her husband almost killed her when he insisted on their daughter being circumcised and she refused.

According to her, the matter, which has degenerated to regular manhandling is currently being investigated  by the Cross River State Police Command.

She said the problem, which is now a nightmare to her, started in 2015 when she had her first child.

She said all attempts by a team of mediators from Cross River State Ministry of Justice, to resolve the issue further elicited more battery.

She said her refusal to allow her daughter to go through circumcision stems from her own experience when she was barely 12-years old.

Madam Na’omi said she almost bled to death after her own circumcision years ago.

“It all started in December 2015, when I gave birth to my daughter, Amanda. After delivery, my husband asked me what I know about female circumcision and I told him I don’t like it at all. I narrated my own experience to him. That was when I was 12 years. My parents did it and I bled to the point of death. So I said to him that I will not want anyone to have such an experience.

“He said that’s why he wanted our daughter to have it done immediately after birth, according to him, to avoid unnecessary bleeding when she’s grown up.

“I begged him not to allow our daughter to go through such harrowing experience but he refused so I screamed and cried, telling him that I was a victim. I pleaded with him but he said my opinion does not count.

He said it’s a tradition in his family to circumcise any girl-child born into their family.

“Right from that moment, the marriage became a turbulent one with a lot of battering, humiliation and threats to life. Just to be safe from his ill-mannered treatment, I made a promise to him that when I have another child I may allow her to do it just to save my life.

“Not being able to bear the constant beating, in July 2019,  we went to the Ministry of Justice, Calabar where we both signed a memorandum of understanding yet the problem was not solved.

“I ran out of the state to Akwa Ibom State.  He still came after me to take away my daughter.  I left there to Abuja he still came after me. I ran to Lagos, his brothers discovered where I was.  They came and I made problem with them. After sometime they came back with my husband and he beat me up to coma just to get the girl,” he said.

In his reaction, Dr Jolly insisted that circumcision is a must for all female children in their family and he cannot afford to see his own daughters not being circumcised.

He denied threatening the wife or beating her up.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Ajala Benjamin, Admin-Officer, to the Commissioner of Police, Cross River State, who confirmed the matter said the case is presently being investigated at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID).