VAPP Act Section 9: Know Your Rights Short Story – Deinyafa’s Tale
The Violence Against Persons Prohibition, VAPP Act Section 9 provides protection for people ejected from their homes. This is a short story.
**********************************
Within the quiet corners of Yenagoa lives a couple with three children, – a boy and two girls. They had their children in this neigbourhood and know by a handful of neigbhour for many nights of deep cry that comes from their makeshift abode.
The family is known for mourning and agony especially the woman of the house.
Deinyefa, a black beauty as many will describe her. She had a pointed nose with the traditional birth mark on her cheek as a woman from the creeks.
But her husband is the beast. Their relationship can be described as your typical story of the beauty and beast.
It was a meeting of coincidence, but the feeling of intimacy erupted overshadowing their reason for caution. The drive to stay together became strong each rising sun. So, against all odds they moved in together but a different story emerged.
Today is different.
As the sun sets, casting its golden hue over the earth, hiding its brightness within the dark cloud Pearl and her children are wandering on the lonely street.
In the last three weeks, the residents of the neighbourhood had lived in fear; the fear of terror by heartless young men.
Each moment, she turned back to see who is following them. The memories of their activities are on her mind.
She carries the youngest child, a girl on her back while holding the other two on each hand.
‘Madam Pearl, where are you going, its dark already?’, a lady in her prime asked, ‘Why didn’t you embark on your journey early morning’, the lady enquired.
They call her Pearl for her beauty.
Pearl looking sober and agonizing said ‘Where am I travelling to? Just looking for a place to laid our heads before these boys come out’.
‘What happened to your house?’ the lady probed.
‘Do I have a home’, Pearl hissed ‘the father of my children asked me to leave the house with them’, tears dropped from her eyes as she adjusts the little girl on back.
‘He has been threatening me. Today, he finally carried out his threats’, she said looking at the lady.
The lady looking at the children; she carries the one at the back of Pearl as she appears tired and wore out.
‘So, you just decided to let him be’, the lady queried her.
‘What do I do’, Pearl replies looking restless and disappointed.
The lady looked at her but ignored her.
‘Let’s go to the police station’, the lady said while Pearl wondered.
‘For what?’, after a long pause, Pearl asked.
‘It is a criminal offence, for a man to eject his wife and children from their home without making provision for them’, the lady educated.
