Christopher Oji

Karifest Onyekaah  is legal practitioner and rights activist. She also sits at the helm of affairs at Karifest Group of Companies and Karifest Foundation and has channeled her legal services in defense of the have-nots and widows.

Onyekaah  tells Daily Sun  in this interview , at her office in Agbor , Delta State ,that if a woman is in an abusive marriage, she has the options to take legal action and seek divorce or just walk out of the marriage to save her life

For her, marriage is not a do or die affair. But advised that wives should respect their husbands and be submissive.

You fight for the less privileged. What do you think philanthropists and the government can do to help their cause? 

The government and well-meaning Nigerians should support child education. We should not wait for philanthropists. All hands must be on the deck to assist at least one child to be useful in our environment. We have many intelligent people wasting away because they are under-privileged.

There are children who are  intelligent and talented and because there is no money to send them to school, they fall off the ladder and waste away. Children are our future leaders and any government that jokes with child education is irresponsible.

Philanthropists should do something about saving our underprivileged children from wasting away. Government should have education trust funds for the less privileged, while well-to-do people should set up foundations to assist in the education of children, assist widows and the sick.

How do you assist widows?

In Nigeria and Africa in general, I hear of widows being oppressed. I feel sad when I see families torturing a woman whose husband has died.  Some would start fighting over the man’s property and they would deny the woman and the children the man’s property. This is the kind of battle that I fight. We use legal means to get justice for such a woman and her children.

A woman loses her husband and she is mourning, in serious pains and frustration, and the man’s family comes to add to her problems. It is wrong. They should console and support the woman. Society should condemn such barbaric acts.

What informed your choice of advocacy instead of normal law practice?

The primary duty of a legal practitioner is to defend the people and ensure justice to the people. Whether we like it or not, the judge who administers justice is a lawyer. We are trained to give hope to the common man but many people do not get justice because they have no money to hire a lawyer to defend them in court.

There are people suffering in silence, especially the weak, poor and the defenseless. There are people facing oppression, especially in the villages, and they do not know what to do or where to go for help. So, I decided that I must contribute my quota and help the downtrodden, the oppressed, especially girls and widows.

I started seeing how the poor are being oppressed from a tender age.

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I remember that my parents were surprised when I confronted and challenged a neighbour who encroached on our land and dared him to encroach again. I won the battle. I threw away all the work tools that the labourers brought to fence us out of our land. After that singular act, I told my God that I would fight for the oppressed.

What are some of the cases you have handled?

I have handled many cases. The most recent was the one of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s aide, Friday, who, stripped a woman nude and got her beaten up a woman in public. I have a platform for Anioma people and somebody posted the video of the incident.

My attention was called to it. The video got me angry. I wondered how a woman would be humiliated and debased like that. I took it up and started an advocacy against it.  I went to the woman’s place in Owa, Delta state and interviewed her. I heard her side. I am proud and glad to say that the man who humiliated her has been remanded in prison. You don’t just treat a woman like that and expect to walk away free. Justice must be done. People should learn from the man’s case. It is wrong to feel that nobody would fight for an oppressed person. God will use people to fight for the oppressed.

Are you not afraid of your life ?

I am not afraid of anybody.  God is the owner  of my life ,but no one will harm me because  I am doing good to the people .. Whether I fight for the oppressed or not, one day, I will die. It is better to fight and make impact than to live in fear and die without touching lives.

I believe that God has a way of fighting for people who do His work. God loves anyone that brings succour to the oppressed or the needy. Again, I don’t step on peoples toes. I say it the way it is. I don’t cook up stories against people.  I fight genuinely. Even when a case is reported to me and you are at fault, I would approach you to see if you are remorseful before I will take my war to the public. If you are remorseful, we can settle amicably. Once your hands are clean, you don’t need to fear. I don’t blackmail people, so, God fights my battle for me.

How do you cope in a male-dominated environment?

Gone are the days when women would sit at home and men would go to work. Today, women work hard as the men do. When we were in the school, did they have separate classrooms and subjects for the women? We are equal in knowledge.

If God has endowed a woman with wonderful talents, she must not waste it. She should use her talents for the service of humanity. Women are good managers of homes. We take care of the babies, support men’s businesses and pray for our husbands. We are like pillars to the men. So, we should be appreciated. We have rights to work, just like the men.

Give me your thoughts on marriage?

Marriage is not a do-or-die affair. Marriage is good because it is an institution that was established by God, but when a woman is oppressed in marriage, she should speak out.

She should not keep quiet because she wants to remain married or because of what people will say. If, as an oppressed wife, you die, the next moment, the man is married to another woman. If you are in an abusive marriage, you have the options to take legal action and seek divorce or you walk out of the marriage before you die.

I won’t support any woman who insults her husband because she is richer than him. I will not support a woman who provokes her husband. Don’t provoke your husband. If you provoke your husband to make him beat you, shame on you. You should honour your husband.

On the other hand, if you are being oppressed and you are not appreciated by your husband or he physically abuses you, you should quit. As a wife, you have no right talking down on your husband; he is your crown, you should be submissive and respect him. You should pray for him and understand that he is an imperfect being, just as you are. If you are not perfect, why should you expect your husband to be perfect? But men who hit their wives are beasts. Men who beat their wives are cowards. Your wife is part of you but should be submissive to their husbands.