Table 1 Case reports of IPV during the COVID-19 lockdown

Case 1

Mrs A is in her thirties and works in a hospital. She and Mr A had experienced disagreements before the lockdown, but it never involved physical violence, their disagreements were usually settled by family members or religious leaders

Two weeks into the lockdown, the disagreements became more serious and involved physical violence. Mr A also threatened to take the children away from Mrs A. At a point, Mrs A was banished from their bedroom to the living room, a place she stayed for few days

When the threats to take the children away became intense, Mrs A moved her children to her mother’s place. The movement of the children aggravated her experience of physical violence. Mrs A was forced to rent a small place to save her life and consequently take her children back, but the landlord did not allow her to move in after learning that she is a health worker and feared contracting the COVID-19. Mrs A had no choice but to continue to endure the abuse

Case 2

Miss B was restricted by the “stay at home” order, which required her to remain in her boyfriend’s house. One morning, the couple had an argument over food shortage in the house, and the boyfriend’s drinking habit. After the argument, Miss B’s boyfriend locked her up in the house and went out till evening. Miss B’s boyfriend returned home drunk, and physically attacked Miss B. The physical violence resulted in a cut in her lips, black eyes, bruises and swelling all over her body. Her aunt had to take her to the health facility for treatment

With the support of her aunt, Miss B reported the incident to the police, but they were told to go home and resolve her differences with her boyfriend, especially since the courts were closed and so there is no way to pursue the case legally. Miss B’s aunt was not happy that the boyfriend was let off so lightly and so linked Miss B with an NGO which reported the case again to the Police

Case 3

Mrs C got married in 2019 and is currently pregnant. Before the lockdown, their young marriage was filled with happiness and love, they both had busy work schedules. The two saw the announcement of the lockdown as an opportunity to have the honeymoon they could not have because of the high demand of her husband’s work. However, Mrs C started to experience physical abuse when she would not accede to her husband’s excessive sexual demands. During one of such events, Mrs C’s head was hit on the floor and then on the wall. Her cries attracted neighbours attention, who then came out and saw her trying to jump to safety from the balcony of their one storey apartment. Mrs C stated that she wanted to go back to her ‘father’s house’. Mrs C also reported that her husband has stopped her from calling her parents or siblings. On one of the following nights, Mr C locked her out (till midnight) of the house for phoning her mother. He had warned her never to call her mother again if she “liked herself”

Case 4:

This was a sensational story reported on the television and all social media platforms in the country. After a few weeks of the lockdown, Mrs D was seen in a video clip running from her house onto the street dressed with just a cloth wrapped around her body. She was followed by Mr D, who was wearing a pair of shorts and singlet and was trying to coax her back inside their house. Mrs D was seen complaining out loud that she did not want to have sex again. She said that she was engaged in sex with her husband throughout the night, yet her husband insisted on her having sex again. She asked him if he wanted to snuff the life out of her. The neighbourhood was nearly deserted as everyone was lockdown in their homes and it was early in the morning. The few people on the street just looked on

Case 5

Late in the month of April, the story of Mrs E, a woman in her forties, was reported in the media. Mrs E has four children. She stated that the IPV began after she asked Mr E for money to buy foodstuff to stock up for the lockdown. Mr E refused to give her any money claiming he had bills to settle. Mrs E persisted on her request for money to feed the family. Mr E left the house, on his return he came back with a cutlass and threatened to kill Mrs E He beat Mrs E up so badly and tried to strangle her, but she escaped miraculously. Her friend informed a NGO about her situation who reported the incident to the Police. The Police arrested the Mr E and investigations are on-going

Case 6

Mrs F has been married for about 5 years and is a mother of four children. Mrs F’s experiences of IPV became aggravated by the lockdown because she could not leave the house and thereby avoid Mr F like she used to do before the lockdown. One day in the last week of April, Mr F threw Mrs F out of the house in the middle of the night but Mrs F refused to leave because there was a curfew in the state and no movement was allowed after 7 pm. Her failure to leave the house resulted in physical abuse by Mr F. Thus, she sustained injuries to her face and arms. Fortunately, the neighbour’s intervened and stopped the beating thereby reducing the injuries she sustained. In the morning, Mrs F moved to her aunt’s house for safety, but the children remained with Mr F. The following day, Mr F locked up Mrs F’s shop that he opened for her. He told the neighbours she was not to manage the shop anymore and asked them to inform him if Mrs F was seen in the shop. Mr F was notified a few days later when Mrs F tried to open the shop for business. Mr F beat Mrs F up again and broke her leg. Mrs F had to be rushed to the hospital. Mr F also demanded that she should come and take ‘her’ children away

* It is common for perpetrators of IPV to use children as part of the ways in which they inflict abuse and attempt to make female partners feel degraded, in fear, or otherwise powerless

Case 7

Mrs G is a school teacher and mother who has been married for many years. In addition to teaching, Mrs G runs a small business to augment her teaching income. As a result of her hard work, she was the main contributor to the family income. Mrs G's husband also works in the education sector. The closure of schools and the business as a result of the lockdown reduced family income and thereby created a financial stress and food insufficiency in the house. Mrs G requested for financial help from a friend outside the country who sent her N30,000 (50 lb) by electronic money transfer. Mrs G asked her husband to collect the money from the bank on her behalf because she did not have an identification card needed to receive the transfer. After Mr G collected it, Mrs G requested for the money from her husband but he refused to give her claiming there was groceries at home and that he needed the money. The husband resorted to verbal abuse in front of their children and neighbours when Mrs G insisted on collecting the money. So she decided to leave the house with her children and stayed with a relative for a few days for safety