Constitutional Approval of Child Marriage in Nigeria: Rolling Back Common-sense

Just last month we celebrated the Day of the African Child, and it was with a heavy heart that I delivered a talk titled "Forensic Perspectives on Harmful Social & Cultural Practices affecting Children in Africa" in an event organized at the University College Hospital, Ibadan to mark the day. Why the heavy heart? I referenced the infamy of a serving Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who literally bought a child for a "wife" against an existing federal law, the Child Rights Act 2003. And to underscore the impunity, this "marriage' ceremony held at the Federal Capital territory, Abuja. Nothing happened to Mr Ahmed Yerima despite a great hue and cry raised by the civil society and human rights advocates. He was never arrested nor charged to court for contravening the law of the country which stipulated 18 years as age of marriage for a female. Yerima's travesty is just a tip of the iceberg. Many female children, in their early teens or once they start menstruating, especially in the Northern part of the country are usually given out in marriage to men old enough to be their grand fathers, all in the name of religion or culture. These girls are soon abandoned for another child "bride" when they develop complications of child birth especially vesico-vaginal fistuala (VVF) in a child giving birth to a child, and resultant mental health issues due to the loss of their childhood to the crave of primitive men who seek to "revitalize" themselves by violating "young virgins" under the cloak of "religion" and "culture" . Many local and international medical missions have been undertaken to give some life to these abandoned children who become destitutes as their perverted husbands have soon found them too "smelly" and an embarrassment to live with. They also face rejection from their families and are often ostracize by the community.
This same "Senator" Yerima has now become the arrowhead of  "Senators" in the National Assembly seeking to legalize marriage to girl child.
“The senator is in the habit of marrying minors and has gained notoriety in enticing girls to marry him, having contracted one in 2006 with a 15-year-old (Hauwa’u) whom Mr. Yerima allegedly caused to drop out of school at JSS 3, as his fourth wife,” the petition read.
Hauwa’u, who has one child with Mr. Yerima, will turn 17 today (from the date the news was first published). However, the senator recently severed the marriage to make room for the 13-year-old Egyptian girl.
According to the women groups, Mr. Yerima’s request to marry the minor was turned down in Egypt because marriage to children is prohibited there. They accused the senator of luring the girl’s family with money, paying them a bride price of N15 million and sponsoring about 30 members of the child-bride’s family to attend the wedding ceremony."

Nigeria is about to roll back every gain and impact made by the Child Rights Act and the conventions the country entered into on the rights of the child and other human rights issues. The "democracy" this country is practicing appears to be a reign of impunity by a minority of "elected" persons who subvert popular will of the people. The show of shame at the Nigerian senate is a clear signal that common sense is desperately needed at the legislative arm of government. This is the height of gender based violence perpetrated by a group of inordinate men who take females for objects of possession and sex toys. With their new found "status" and over-bloated sense of entitlement, and largely unaccountable access to the national treasury, these perverts can now take on many girls as "wives" and concubines without any restrictions whatsoever imposed by any law. This is the sorry state of "democracy" practiced in Nigeria and a good number of African countries which some hapless citizens have described as "government of the politicians, by the politicians for the politicians and their cronies".

On this particular ignoble role by these reckless "law makers", Nigerians will have to take their destiny into their own hands and protect our children, the future of the nation, by immediately mobilizing to occupy every city and pass a clear message to the law breakers that Child Marriage is the Rape of a Child! The action of a few men should not define the ethos of a nation like Nigeria. And check out these characters, none of them will ever give out their girl child in "marriage" as most of their children are schooling in the best private schools in Nigeria or in elite schools abroad. They quite well know the value of education, and the opportunity therein, when it concerns their own families. It is simply preying on the weak and an exercise of power and control over the vulnerable. Nigerians and the international community should come out strongly and condemn this perversion by the National Assembly. The right of the girl child, and women in general, to liberty, dignity and self actualization has been compromised in Nigeria, and in many African countries. We cannot allow this situation to subsist if there is ever any chance for a sustainable society on this continent.