REFORMING THE DEFENCE OF PROVOCATION ON ISSUES RELATING TO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The common law defense of provocation emanated from the ‘appreciation and understanding of the frailty of human nature’ which may make a man so taken up with resentment that his reasoning may be temporarily suspended. Unlike in common law where it provides a defense only to murder cases, the Nigerian criminal law makes it available to negate criminal liability in the offence of assault in addition to mitigating liability for murder. There have been calls for a reform of the criminal law on provocation in Nigeria from a gender viewpoint which the present author supports. These calls were made on the basis of the conditions for a successful plea of provocation which ignores the reality of women when they kill as a reaction to experiences of repeated and long-term violence or when they are killed. We argue that the state of the defenses of provocation at present in Nigeria still leaves a gap for violence against women to thrive. Drawing on graphic descriptions of the facts of reported cases, existing scholarly publications on the issue and media reports, this article contributes to this discourse on a gendered perspective of the defenses of provocation in Nigeria.