Author(s): Edward Ohwofasa Okumagba, Ulisan Mogbitse Ogisi
The traditional view is that crimes are committed by male, and that males are generally more violent than females. The rise in cases of domestic violence by female against male in spousal relationship is a contributory factor to murder of men in Nigeria in recent time. More worrisome is that penalty provision for spousal battery has not deterred offenders in this regard. The paper adopts the doctrinal research method by utilizing source materials in contextualizing in particular the upsurge in domestic and gender based violence in spousal relationship against men in Nigeria. Apart from revealing that there is an upsurge in the death of men in spousal relationship, the lack of uniformity in the application gender based violence legislation in Nigeria may have exacerbated the rise in female criminality in spousal relationship. It advocates for the uniform application of the Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015 in Nigeria, as well as an amendment of section 19 dealing with spousal battery to include life imprisonment as the punishment where the offence relates to murder of a spouse.