Women’s rights activist and Executive Director of DOHS Care Foundation, Ololade Ajayi, has said only a few femicide cases in Nigeria have resulted in swift justice, despite the growing number of gender-related killings.
Speaking to The Punch, Ajayi said her organisation tracks femicide through a Femicide Observatory, which gathers reports from online sources, social media, mainstream media and local communities.
She disclosed that the observatory recorded 42 femicide cases between January and April 2026, with 12 more cases in May, bringing the total to 54. According to her, the organisation documented 197 gender-related femicide cases in 2023 and 133 cases involving the deaths of 150 women and girls in 2024.
Ajayi said only two of the 2024 cases received swift justice: those of Hauwa Alli and Salome Adaidu.
“Very few. Out of the cases we tracked in 2024, the only two I can say received swift justice were those of Hauwa Alli and Salome Adaidu. Hauwa Alli was killed by Adamu Mohammed, a sergeant in the Nigerian Army in Borno State, and the perpetrator was sentenced to death,” she said.
She added that Salome Adaidu’s killer, Timileyin Ajayi, was also sentenced to death in Nasarawa State, but noted that justice remains slow and emotionally taxing for the families of most victims.
