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Fathers Abandon Their Wives, Children in Gombe Due To Hardship, Poverty — NHRC
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) says it recorded 339 alleged human rights violation cases in Gombe State in 2024.
NHRC spokesman, Mr Ali Alola-Alfinti, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe.
Alola-Alfinti said that majority of the cases were on parental neglect where fathers abandon their children and wives, citing economic hardship and poverty as reasons for their actions.
He said the cases were on the increase due to sustained enlightenment campaigns on human rights violations in the state.
According to him, the commission engages civil society organisations, media, religious and community leaders to educate the people and encourage them to speak out against the menace.
“We are now getting more victims coming to report. This is good for the campaign against rights violations,” he stated.
“Silence remains a major challenge in the fight against rights violations as protection of rights will not be possible if cases are not reported.
“The commission recorded 339 cases, and we believe it is as a result of the support from other relevant stakeholders
“The highest in terms of cases is parental neglect with about 50 percent of the complaints, including family abandonment without food, clothing and shelter unlike before when we had fundamental human rights, especially right to life, dignity, inhuman or degrading treatments.”
He said the commission had scaled up outreach to address issues of parental neglect and sensitised husbands to the need to fend for their families.
“Denying them of their rights is a punishable offence under the law,” he said, adding that rights protection was critical to conflict prevention and peaceful society.
“When we respect each other’s rights
According to him, such financial mishandling not only disrupts critical public services and projects but also results in major losses to the nation’s purse—resources that could have been channelled into crucial services and developmental efforts, as laid out in Section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution.
Speaker Abbas, thereafter setup a Special Committee to be chaired by Rep. Chinedu Martins to immediately launch a probe into the “Utilisation of take-off grants, bailout funds, and interventions allocated to MDAs, government institutions, and GOEs from 2015 to present.”
The FCT Minister, Mr. Nyesom Wike, expressed satisfaction with the progress on the Abuja light rail project, reaffirming its May 29 delivery as sacrosanct.
He made these assurances after inspecting the ongoing construction of access roads to the train stations on Wednesday, from Metro Train Station in the Central Area to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Reassuring journalists accompanying him, the minister reiterated that President Bola Tinubu would commission the rail project on May 29 to mark his second year in office.
The visited stations were Wupa station near Idu and Bassanjiwa station near the airport.
“This is part of our routine inspection of ongoing projects to see the contractors’ progress,” Wike explained.
“We are working day and night to fulfill our promise to President Tinubu and FCT residents. By May, Mr. President will ride on the Metro line.”
Gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen are currently invading some communities in the Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State.
According to sources, the herdsmen armed with AK-47 rifles stormed the community around 04:15pm on Thursday.
“Our lives are in danger this evening, armed Fulani herdsmen, about 600 in numbers have taken over our communities this evening,” a resident told SaharaReporters.
“They’re currently moving around towns in Ukum Local Government Area of Benue state. No security personnel at all, Governor Alia didn’t send security, they said operation will start soon once they (herders) have observed the place.”
The insecurity situation in Benue has been alarming in recent weeks with attacks from gunmen suspected to be herdsmen.
The media had reported that suspected herdsmen again unleashed terror in Benue State, attacking three communities in Otukpo Local Government Area (LGA) on Wednesday, just a day after 11 people were killed in a deadly raid on Otobi community.
The latest victims of the escalating violence were Emichi, Odudaje, and Okpamaju, communities that had previously suffered an attack in February, which left five people dead.
However, the renewed attack has created fear and mass displacement among residents, with women and children fleeing to safety.
Local sources say the death toll from the fresh attack remains unclear, but several casualties are feared.
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