Daily Trust - the online edition

An official of the Voice of Widows, Divorcees and Orphans Association of Nigeria (VOWAN) yesterday visited a widow who was detained for two days at the Abacha Police Post, Mararaba over her son’s alleged crime.

The widow’s son, who is missing, was accused by his master of stealing N350,000 from his shop.

The chairperson of the association, Hajia Atine Abdullahi, who came from Kano after reading the story in Daily Trust, told the widow that the association is standing behind her in her ordeal and would seek redress over the matter.

"Why should your son’s boss accuse and threaten you for what he said your son did?," she asked.

She also condemned the action of the police in detaining the woman and wanted to take the woman to the inspector-general of police’s office to report the action of the police at Abacha Police Post, but the widow could not go because she was very sick.

Thanking the association’s boss for her visit, the widow, Chidibere Amaefulu, said she was surprised when the police decided to detain her and frame a charge of conspiring with her son to steal just because she visited the boy in his master’s shop two weeks before the boy disappeared.

"I have not seen my son since the day we met in the shop and the boy had been staying with his master for the past two months," she said.

She said what pained her most was that senior police officers in the station were calling her a criminal and saying that she planned with the boy to steal the money.

Our reporter learnt that the widow fell sick few days after she returned from the police station.

Hajia Atine Abdullahi has however promised to come to her aid by empowering her economically.

"I want to appeal to the minister of women affairs as well as the wife of President Yar’ adua to come to the aid of this woman so that she is not humiliated just because she is a poor widow with nobody to stand for her," Hajia Atine said.

She said there are many cases of injustice being visited on citizens in the country and appealed philanthropists to donate generously to widow’s associations in order to support them and also help them assert their fundamental human rights.

City News learnt that the chairperson started her humanitarian services in 2000 by donating to Islamic bodies as well as uplifting the lives of widows, orphans and divorcees that needed help.

	1. 07-08-2008 00:58
	A widow's plight: help for my sister pl Kindly help my sister by highlighting her plight in your widely read journal. She lost her husband, following surgery for cancer 6weeks ago. Her in-laws have accused her of killing her husband and to prove her innocence, she is required to under go traditional rites and rituals, including drinking an undefined concuction from a ritual cup. Her husband who died in Lagos 6weeks ago is still lying in the mortuary as his family insist that unless my sister returns to the vilage to under take these rituals the corpse will not be buried. The couple have 3 young children age between 5 to 13 years. They have lost their dad (who is still not committed to mother earth 6 weeks later) and now they watch their mother being tormented emotionally and psychologically by their parternal uncles and aunts. The whole situation is extremely distressing and I fear for the life of my sister. Kindly advise us of any voluntary organisations that can come in to assist / support my sister. Please help!!!    Sincerely    E Kalu Guest

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	2. 02-05-2008 15:25
	Dont mind the police people they like detaining innocent citizens especially women.that was how my mum a widow too was detain over a crime they claimed the son committed.something has to be done fast Guest

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