Don’t turn your wives into punching bags – Bishop, council boss counsel

Most men at the slightest provocation take delight in beating their spouses or even girl friends to a pulp without remorse or apology.  Husbands with average or very low income appear to be those associated with this kind of habit, according to the chairman of Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross River State, Mrs […]

Most men at the slightest provocation take delight in beating their spouses or even girl friends to a pulp without remorse or apology. 

Husbands with average or very low income appear to be those associated with this kind of habit, according to the chairman of Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross River State, Mrs Marjorie Eyo Asuquo, who described the attitude as uncivilised.

Bishop Tom Inyang-Akpan, a former international chairman of a marriage counseling group, Blessed Brothers and Sisters Fellowship, who shares the same notion, noted that laws should be enacted to deter habitual wife beaters in the country.

Both personalities expressed their displeasure when they officiated at the marriage ceremony of USA-based Bishop Victor Ekanem in Calabar, the state capital. 

Tom Inyang Akpan was the officiating priest during the white wedding while the council boss chaired the reception at Vanetian Mall in Calabar.

The council boss said such attitude may have been propelled by the current unfavourable economic situation causing such husbands to unconsciously vent their anger on their innocent wives.

She said wife battering was capable of engendering more social vices thereby bringing down the marriage institution, adding that “marriage can make Nigerian youths shun societal ills if they bring God into the union.”

Asuquo commended Bishop Victor Ekanem for returning to his roots to pick a wife.

 “I am particularly elated that our son has preferred to come home from America to marry our daughter instead of picking a white woman. Let me encourage the youths to emulate our young bishop by not being promiscuous,” she said.

Inyang Akpan also called on husbands to love their wives and children as a way of ensuring peace in the larger society.

He said that Bishop Ekanem’s marriage should encourage more young men to emulate his decision and venture into the oldest institution.

Bishop Ekanem, who said he decided to marry his heart throb, Annabel, as a way of encouraging his young friends and age grade to follow suit, added that marriage made men to be  moderate and be responsible, and urged unmarried men to marry the women they love.