Armed with their umbrellas, Nigerians – in their numbers – defiled the heavy rain in parts of the country, most notably Abuja and Lagos, on Saturday July 20, 2013. They gathered to sign protest registers signaling their angst at the echelon of the federal legislature.
The convergence of the signatories at the popular Unity Fountain Park, Abuja, and on major streets of Lagos respectively was premised on the outcome of attempts to amend the 1999 Constitution in the Red Chamber of the National Assembly on Tuesday, July 16, 2013.
After a marathon session which lasted about 5 hours, the Senators appear to have created more confusion among themselves with their less-than-enviable conclusions. Many Nigerians were dejected and equally disappointed that some legislators could not reason beyond cheap sentimental contemplations in agreeing to a definite status on the collective destinies of our society’s most vulnerable individuals, perhaps for years to come.
As expected, of the 31 clauses identified and recommended for possible altercation(s) by the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, under the leadership of its Deputy-President, Ike Ikeremadu, opinions were hotly diverged on a range of issues including the much-talked about autonomy for local government administration, 6-year-single tenure for the Executives arm, immunity clause etc.
However, the most polarising submission arose from debate on Section 29 (4b) of the constitution. Ordinarily, that part of the law-book spells out conditions under which an individual can renounce Nigerian citizenship. Among others, it stipulates that such a fellow must have attained ‘full age’ to embark on such action. The recommendation to remove an ambiguous part of the sub-section led to chaos which almost degenerated into full-blown fisticuffs among some of the lawmakers.
In what is a clear contradiction of sub-section 4a which says that ‘full age’ means 18 years and above, sub-section 4b submits that “any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age.”
All appear to be going smoothly until a notorious Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima (ANPP Zamfara West) ‘sensed’ the need to prevent the excerpt from been outlawed; this he did by hiding under religious pretence. He argued that the Senate was about to trespass by tinkering with Islamic tenets regarding the subject matter. According to him, “The constitution says the National Assembly shall legislate on marriage except those under Islamic rites.”
He added: “Islam says once a woman is married, she is of age.”
In apparent contrary to norms at the hallowed chamber, Senate President, David Mark, had to allow second round of voting on the controversial debate – as a result of its “sensitivity.”
Although, more Senators supported the removal of the sub-section of the constitution; notwithstanding, their majority of 65 against 35 couldn’t count for more than just a record. Statistically, they failed to garner the needed 2/3 majority of the 109-member house, i.e. 73. Thus legalizing marriage of under-age girls in Nigeria, at least as things stand, pending the outcome of similar debate in the House of Representatives, and, if need be, State Houses of Assembly.
By implication, the retention of Section 29 (4b) of the Constitution means Senator Yerima, who is infamous for introducing the Sharia legal system in Zamfara state during his tenure as governor, would keep hold of his teenage Egyptian wife, whom he married as a 13-year-old in 2010. This is in conspicuous contradiction of the Child Rights Act which was passed into Law by the National Assembly 10 years ago during the reign of President Olusegun Obasanjo. The law was seen as imperative in order to curb the high rate of abuses being meted-out to young children in the society. One of the conditions prescribed by the law to guarantee these rights includes prevention of early marriage of girl-child.
As a matter of fact, the Act states that custodian(s) of a girl-child under-18 cannot offer such a toddler’s hands in marriage while it is also criminal for anyone to consummate such a girl in marriage. An offense which attracts N500, 000 fine or five years imprisonment, or both, upon conviction.
But rather unfortunate, and typical of many social developments in Nigeria, the Act has greatly suffered from lack of acceptability by many of those saddled with the responsibility of protecting our common interests. Instead, they are ever ready to denunciate any position that runs counter to their egoistic and gluttonous considerations as a mere ‘ anti-religion.’ This explains why some states have refused to enliven the Act by domesticating it within their jurisdictions. As many as 13 states are yet to pass the Act into law; Yerima’s Zamfara being one of them.
Since that fateful day, Yerima and co have enjoyed barrage of opprobrium from angry Nigerians and the international community. Firebrand lawyer and former minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, labeled him a “self-confessed pedophile,” who “not only thrives on under-age sex and child rape but boast about it and seeks to justify it with his Islamic faith.”
Two leading Nigerian actresses, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde and Stella Damasus, also berated the shame at the National Assembly. While addressing the gathering at the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria beauty pageant grand finale in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state, on Saturday, July 20, 2013, Omotola lampooned the Senators by querying: “Must we wait for another Malala Yousafzai before we do what is right for the future of our children?”
In a video posted online by Damasus, she furiously referred to the lawmakers who supported Yerima as “shameless Senators”, severally. She tagged them a group of “mad men.”
A frontline journalist who is now a legislator in the lower chamber, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, was not to be left-out of the drama. She took to blogosphere in asking, “Why would we (legislators) make a law that will destroy our girls rather them build and educate them?”
All said and done, it has severally been argued that the recipes of such an unpalatable menu which Senator Yerima and comrades are feeding Nigerians with had their roots in societal woes like high poverty, low school enrolment, and religious chauvinism which are far too glaring features of our common identity as a people.
There is no doubt that religious sentiments remain potent tools which some politicians continually exploit to foster their divide-and-rule template on naïve election; a practice that has reign – unchecked – for generations. That is why a 51-year-old Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria could afford to shed unnecessary sweat in defending his decision to call a 15-year-old novice, a wife, while the numbers of Almajiris within his immediate domain grow steadily and unabated. No wonder Nigeria record 12, 000 new cases of dread Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF) yearly (highest in the world) and also proud to account for over 10 million out-of-school children.
Yet, somebody will try to defend the sustainability of these anomalies – indirectly – by coaxing the unsuspecting public with religious sentiments. The same untenable alibi a certain Mohammed Bello Masaba presented for housing record-breaking 86 wives in Bida, Niger state; even as he boasts to “marry more.”
As Nigerians await, eagerly, the resolution of the House of Representatives on the possibility of harmonizing the contradictory positions of the Constitution and Child Rights Act, it is expected that objectivity and logic would prevail over emotional prejudice and astigmatism by subscribing to popular opinion. This will not only safe the Senate of continuous public obloquy, but also savage whatever pride is left of the nation’s federal legislature.
By: Funmilola Ajala
No comments:
Post a Comment