Maryam Sanda: A Domestic Appendage of Accidental Discharge

By Ajogwu Jerry Ochada

It is a crime committed against humanity to kill what you cannot create. There is an exception to the hunt and killing of wild animals however the killing of fast extinct animals is also a crime committed against humanity. Adopting Africa as a case study, gruesome killings and maltreatments directed at fellow humans is assessed as inhumanity of man to man; the Trans Saharan and Transatlantic slave trade era is not vindicated of these heinous crimes.


Narrowed to the subject matter of this discourse, domestic violence is not a recent trend. It is worthy of note that the date of Sanda's legal conviction climaxed with a housewife residing in Katsina State stabbing her husband to death. This is an expository attestation buttressing obvious aberration that domestic violence is fast becoming an inimical way of life in Saharan Africa and beyond.


There is no justification accrued to the killing of fellow humans but it is advisory to assess traceable antecedents of Africans who lived in the early centuries cohabiting with numerous spouses and dependents in peace because they never died in pieces. It is also mind boggling to unravel mysteries surrounding the inimical tendencies of supposedly learned minds living in the 21st century slaughtering their spouses like nomadic animals in the slaughter slabs due to infidelity.


Sanda is not the first Nigerian to kill her spouse but stories concerning her over indulgence is morally irritating. The price of infidelity is not a jungle justice styled death sentence because nobody is righteous. Be that as it may, it is pertinent love birds understand the temperament of their spouses with specialized intent to reduce the growing spate of domestic violence. True love is not embedded in forceful marriages therefore it is better to walk away instead of returning to your ancestral home as a corpse.


Even though Maryam Sanda cannot be exonerated because she killed her husband and the fire brigade defence tactics orchestrated by members of her immediate family and bunch of sympathizers ended in futility, she is a victim of domestic accidental discharge triggered by unmatched anger. This is not a seek to hold brief for the convicted murderer but a crave of indulgence for humans to work on their temperaments. The aftermaths of actions taken during angry moments is full of regrets hence learn not to talk or react when angry.


The verdict is well deserved but the fate of the two children should also be considered. In no distant time, the reference of pundits, relatives and rumour mongers in classifying these kids as offsprings of parents who killed themselves will be a lifetime stigma that was never bargained.


For those still cohabiting with violent and abusive spouses, end the relationship or marriage NOW before it will be too late. It is better to suffer African hurled insults and poor oriented stigma of divorce than to spend a better part of your life incarcerated with daily reflections full of regrets.