Nigeria: Facebook group against child marriages and paedophilia
Source:
Facebook & HUHUADMIN On 17 April a Facebook group was created in response to the case of Nigerian Senator Yerima who married a 13-year old Egyptian girl: "Shameful cases of rape of children and babies are on the increase....added to this is the equally shameful practice of Child marriages in some parts of our country...we have to speak against this and protect our children....welcome to this group, let us hope that this small effort will make a big difference in the lives of our children..."
Sen. Yerima weds a 13-year old...pays $100k in bride price
When his name entered into the hall of fame as the first Governor in Nigeriawho first adopted the practice of Sharia law, the entire Muslim community gave him a nod for that effort, little do they know that he is a worst infidel hiding under Islamic tenets for his own selfish reasons. Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima’s penchant for underage virgin girls in recent times has now taken a dramatic and shameful dimension. The nymphomania ex Zamfara Governor was recently cited in a wedding Fatiha at the Abuja National Mosque to an Egyptian teenager, the bride is said to be 13 years old.
Huhuonline.com gathered that prior to the weeding, the former Governor of Zamfara Statehad divorced his second wife since he already had four other wives and he had to abide by the Islamic injunction that provides for a maximum of four. The wedding Fathia, according to our Abuja source who elected anonymity, had to take place in Nigeria instead of the bride’s home country, Egypt, because her country laws forbid marriage at such a tender age, especially to a man believed to be in his late fifties or early sixties. Based on this,huhuonline.com gathered that the Senator representing Zamfara in the Senate had to move about thirty members of the family of the bride from Egypt to Abuja in order for them to witness the wedding Fatiha as well as formally hand over the bride to the groom’s family as the occasion demanded.
The Egyptian team was said to have been hosted at the Protea Hotel in Asokor, Abuja. At the wedding Fatiha was Deputy Governor of Zamfara state, Mukhtar Hanka who paid the bride price on behalf of the groom’s family. The bride price was put at $100,000, which is about N15,000,000, which some of the clerics who were around found quite offensive. According to one of them Islam preaches moderation, but the former Governor seemed to have flouted this. Other birds of a feather who attended the shameful wedding Fatiha were Senator Kabiru Gaya, former Governor of Kano State who is a serving Senator, Senator Maina Maaji as well as the Emir of Bakura who was persuaded to come after telling him lies.
It is sad that Senator Yerima, a lawmaker would choose with impunity not to adhere to the 18 years legal minimum age before engaging an innocent girl of 13 years in marriage. Away from legal grounds, medical facts have it that there are many consequences of child marriage on young girls’ sexual and reproductive health, and many of the meaningful life experiences of adolescence are lost forever. The decision for a young girl to marry is most often made by her parents or the community apparently against the girl’s (victim) wish. Social and gender norms, cultural beliefs and economic situations all contribute to the pressure put on girls to marry at a young age. Some parents believe that, by marrying their daughter at an early age, they are helping her to fulfil her main societal function – that of wife and mother. They may also believe that they are providing her with protection by limiting sexual relations to only one partner (and therefore reducing the risk of STIs and HIV), and by ensuring some kind of financial stability for both the daughter and the family. No matter how good their intentions may be, the reality is that an early marriage generally offers no protection at all – in fact, the opposite is generally true – and it strips many young girls of their childhood, their dreams, their basic human rights and their health.
Although laws forbidding early marriage exist in most countries, much effort is still needed to ensure enforcement of such laws. Our sex mania Senator should know that child marriage is a violation of a girl’s sexual and reproductive rights, which include the rights to: The highest attainable standard of sexual health, be free from coercion, discrimination, violence and abuse, Consensual sexual relations, Pursue a satisfying, safe and pleasurable sexual life, a choice of partner and consensual marriage, seek, receive, and impact information and education related to sexual health, including information on how to protect against unwanted pregnancy, STIs, and HIV/AIDS, decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing, and timing of her children, and to have the information and the means to do so,access sexual and reproductive health services (Married girls seeking sexual and reproductive health services are often turned away from health facilities because they require a husband's consent before care is provided).
Huhuonline.com checks however, through painstaking efforts widely gave an insight to what Senator Yerima represents and what he stands for in the Nigeria’s political scene. Without missing out facts, Nigeria is indeed a funny nation, a nation of unbelievable comedies. Those who choose to avoid all the anger and heartache associated with the paradox, double standards, hypocrisies, injustice, sectionalism, brutality, and general inefficiencies associated with the Nigerian system, will probably live a long and healthy life full of laugh’s as they contemplate the Nigerian cinema playing out before their eyes on a daily basis. Senator Yerima is a good example of religious zealot that typifies all that is wrong with our nascent nation. A man that identifies more with Saudi Arabia than his huddled suffering Nigerian masses in the North and South. Ahmed Sani Yerima, the former Governor of Zamfara, who against the dictates of our secular constitution and against all odds introduced Sharia laws in his state in 2000, sparking off massive riots that consumed the lives and properties of thousands of innocent Nigerians. Sharia laws prescribe stoning, amputation, and flogging amongst others as punishment for crime.
The introduction of sharia laws pioneered by Yerima, spread like wildfire in the North, grievously threatening once again the fragile foundation of the state. The very idea of sharia challenged like never before in post-war Nigeria, the raison d’etre of Nigeria. It brought to the fore the many contradictions inherent in our forced union. Apart from being a religious zealot, the man is also a known segregationist, and architect of several discriminatory policies in public schools and general administration in Zamfara state. His government introduced mandatory levies for non-indigenes and followed up with a total ban on non-indigenes in public schools in the state.
Moreover, there has also been a stronger emphasis on segregation, with non-indigenes increasingly relegated to the infamous “sabon gari” strangers quarters. Admittedly segregation and discrimination is nothing new in the North. The sabon gari segregationist phenomenon has been a way of life in all Northern cities, and such discriminatory policies in public schools, employment and general administration is a common feature in almost all Northern states, but yet this are the same people that shout “one Nigeria” the loudest.
HUHUADMIN
