197 Nigerian women and girls k!lled in gender-related violence in 2025 — Report

197 Nigerian women and girls k!lled in gender-related violence in 2025 — Report

More than 197 Nigerian women and girls lost their lives due to gender-related violence between January 1 and December 31, 2025, according to DOHS Cares Foundation’s fem!cide report. 

Details of the findings were published on the foundation’s tracker dashboard, which collates data on suspected femicide cases across the country. 

The figure for 2025 shows a sharp increase from 2024, when 133 Nigerian women and girls lost their lives to gender-based violence. 

According to the UN Women, fem!cide is defined as “the intentional k!lling of women and girls because of their gender,’ distinguishing it from hom!cide, where the motive may not be gender-related. 

The report by DOHS Cares Foundation documented 172 suspected fem!cide cases nationwide, which resulted in 197 de@ths during the period under review. 

“With 172 cases of fem!cide and 197 d£aths in 2025—and still counting—it’s safe to say fem!cide in Nigeria is a pandemic, a crisis that continues to escalate without decisive action,” the report stated. 

The reported de@ths exceeded the reported cases because some cases included multiple de@ths, the foundation explained. 

Several cases highlighted in the report illustrated the brutality of the violence. 

In November, for instance, 19-year-old Loveth Uloma was allegedly k!lled in Enugu State by her 51-year-old uncle, Emmanuel Nwangwu, following years of alleged s£xual abuse. 

In December, a 35-year-old woman, Rifkatu Yohanna, was found de@d in her marital bedroom in Borno State, with deep cuts on her neck and body. 

She was reportedly k!lled by her 17-year-old neighbour, Aliyas Amir, who claimed he attacked her while attempting to steal her phone and power bank. 

In Kwara State, Opeyemi Bello, a receptionist at Femdak Hotel, was allegedly strangled to d£ath at her workplace. The suspect, Yusuf Ibrahim, 26, an ex-staff member of the hotel, was said to have been seen scaling the hotel fence as Bello screamed for help. 

Another case cited was the d£ath of Edwolo, who was found stabbed to d£ath in a hotel room in Delta State in October.
The hotel owner, Isaiah Eyone, told the police that he had left the premises the previous night and returned the next morning to find her in a pool of blood. 

In Lagos State, Temitope Odu was allegedly strangled to de@th by her husband, Christopher Odu, following what the report described as a long history of domestic violence. Their son reportedly testified that his father had physically abused his mother for more than two decades. 

Reacting to the findings, Ajayi said, “Fem!cide in Nigeria is a national emergency, not isolated violence. 

“Data from our Femicide Observatory shows that dozens of women and girls are k!lled once every 49 hours across the country, simply because they are female — mostly by people they know and trust. 

“These are preventable de@ths, enabled by weak accountability, silence, and systemic failure. Nigeria urgently needs clear legal recognition of femicide, a national tracking system, and decisive action to protect women’s lives.” 

A United Women report published in November 2025 described gender-related k!llings as “the most brutal and extreme manifestation of violence against women and girls.” 

Similarly, a joint report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and UN Women, released on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, warned that fem!cide “shows no signs of slowing down.” 

Although Nigeria currently has no law that specifically criminalises fem!cide, public outrage over the k!llings has continued to grow, alongside renewed calls for legal reforms and concrete measures to prevent violence against women and girls.