Violence against women is not a marginal “social issue”; it is the foundational fracture upon which many of our national failures rest. This systemic dehumanisation of half our population is the single greatest impediment to Nigeria’s development, security, and moral legitimacy.
For too long, too many men have stood on the sidelines—some indifferent, some complicit, some afraid to speak because “it is a women’s issue.” Today, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, I, Jokpeme Joseph Omode, the founder and editor in chief of Alexa News (Alexa.ng) declare loudly and without apology: the fight to end violence against women is my fight. It is every man’s fight. And I will not rest until every street, every home, every school, and every community in Nigeria is safe for our mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters.I am not just writing this piece as a journalist or the founder of Alexa News Nigeria; I am writing it as a Nigerian man, a brother, a son, and a father-to-be who has chosen, deliberately and irrevocably, to dedicate part of my life and platform to the total elimination of violence against women and girls.
I have seen too much. I have sat with a 16-year-old girl in Benue State whose own father sold her for marriage to a 60-year-old man. I have watched a brilliant female journalist in Abuja lose her job because she refused the sexual demands of a senior editor. I have received midnight calls from women locked outside their homes in the rain by abusive husbands while neighbours pretended not to hear the cries. These are not statistics to me. They are scars on the soul of our nation. In human capital terms, every girl forced into early marriage or withdrawn from school because of sexual harassment represents a permanent subtraction from the nation’s cognitive reservoir.
Yet the crisis is not merely economic; it is ontological. Patriarchal hegemony, reinforced by selective interpretations of culture and religion, continues to frame women’s bodies as sites of control rather than sovereignty. The persistence of practices such as widowhood rites that strip women of dignity, the justification of domestic violence under the guise of “discipline,” and the criminal silence around incest all point to a deeper ideological pathology that no amount of legislation can cure in isolation.
As a man, I refuse to inherit a Nigeria where my future daughter will have to learn how to “avoid being raped” instead of her male peers learning never to rape. I refuse to accept a society that teaches girls to shrink while boys are taught to dominate. That is why, through Alexa News Nigeria and every platform available to me, I, Jokpeme Joseph Omode, commit the following:
I will use my voice, my pen, and my platform to name perpetrators, challenge toxic masculinity, and amplify survivors without sensationalism or victim-blaming.
I will continue to train and mentor young male journalists to report gender-based violence with empathy, accuracy, and courage.
I will personally support the establishment and funding of at least one functional shelter and counselling centre in the Niger Delta region by 2027, in partnership with credible women-led organisations.
I will keep pressing state governments—starting with my home state of Bayelsa—to fully domesticate and implement the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act without further delay.
I will hold every elected official accountable. Any governor, senator, or rep who fails to prioritise the safety of women will find my byline and my platform consistently exposing that failure.
Men, listen to me: real power is not in raising your hand against a woman. Real power is in raising your voice for her when no one else will. Real honour is not in controlling a woman’s body or choices; it is in defending her right to live free from fear.
To every traditional ruler marrying off underage girls: I, Jokpeme Joseph Omode, will call you out by name.
To every pastor or imam preaching that a woman must endure beating: your theology is violence, and I reject it.
To every policeman who mocks a rape survivor: your uniform does not shield you from accountability.
To every father teaching his son that women are property: you are raising a future abuser, and I stand against you.
And to every woman and girl reading this: I see you. I believe you. I am sorry for every time a man failed you. I, Jokpeme Joseph Omode, promise to keep fighting until the day you walk any road in Nigeria—day or night—without looking over your shoulder.
This is not charity. This is justice. This is patriotism. This is humanity.
On this day, 25 November 2025, I join millions across the world wearing orange, but I wear it not as a fashion statement; I wear it as battle colours.
Until the last woman is free from violence, none of us are free.
I am Jokpeme Joseph Omode, and I will never stop advocating, shouting, writing, pushing, and fighting for the total elimination of violence against women in Nigeria and beyond.The elimination of violence against women is not charity. It is the precondition for any credible claim to civilisation.
Enough is enough.
