That Attack on NYSC Member and Vigilantes’ Excess
By Egiganya Jo-Madugu
How long will Nigerian women remain treated as punching bags, degraded and disregarded under the guise of “the weaker sex”? For a gender that ought to be protected, women continue to face oppression and suppression in a system rigged against them—most brutally, through violence.
The Punch editorial of August 22, 2025, “NYSC attacks: Vigilantes’ excess must be curbed,” highlighted a disturbing episode in Idemili South, Anambra State, where armed men in mufti, allegedly members of the state vigilante group Agunechemba, stormed a corps members’ lodge. They not only assaulted corps members but meted their worst brutality on women—stripping female corps members naked and leaving them exposed, bloodied, and traumatized. This followed closely on the heels of another viral video in which a female airline passenger was stripped and dragged from an aircraft. These are not just acts of violence; they are acts of sexual violation.
This reign of physical and sexual brutality on women is not incidental—it is systemic. It raises urgent questions about whether feminism, as a social creed advocating equality, has meaningfully penetrated African societies, where patriarchy still dominates and women remain disproportionately vulnerable to violence.
Feminism is not a foreign ideology; it is a global movement that has helped produce iconic women leaders and trailblazers. In Africa, its most visible achievements include advocacy against Female Genital Mutilation, child marriage, and discriminatory practices. Yet, the persistence of violence shows that empowerment is still partial and uneven. According to global estimates, over 700 million women have suffered physical or sexual violence from partners, while in Nigeria, at least 27,698 cases of sexual and gender-based violence were recorded in just five states and the FCT between 2020 and 2023. These are only the reported cases; countless others remain unspoken.
Patriarchy—the entrenched system where men dominate positions of authority and privilege—remains the greatest obstacle. Many men, emboldened by this imbalance, commit acts of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse to inflate their fragile egos. While some offenders are prosecuted, the sheer scale of violence reveals the inadequacy of enforcement.
The Nigerian government has made commendable strides in creating laws and policies to protect women. But policies without implementation remain hollow. With one in three Nigerian women experiencing some form of violence, far greater investment is needed in enforcement, education, and prevention to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals on gender equality and human rights.
It is also important to dispel a dangerous misconception: feminism does not seek to usurp men’s power but to empower women to have control over their own lives. As Mary Wollstonecraft famously put it, the aim is not for women to have power over men, but over themselves.
The roots of feminism lie in fundamental human rights. Women are not a “gender aspect” of the population; they are citizens whose dignity and safety must be protected. James Brown may have sung that “this is a man’s world,” but he also admitted that it would be nothing without women.
Violence against women is not just a gender issue—it is a national shame, a democratic failure, and a human rights crisis. Nigerian society and its leaders must move beyond rhetoric to decisive action. Protecting women is not charity; it is justice. It is constitutional duty. And it is long overdue.
Egiganya Jo-Madugu is a Mass Communication student at Nile University and an intern at PRNigeria. She can be reached via [email protected]