Nigerians blast Yerima, other
senators over ‘child marriage’ law
Massive protests have continued to trail the
Senate’s passage of a resolution to retain the
provision of Section 29 (4) (b) of the 1999
Constitution. Under the section, a married
underage girl is deemed to be an adult.
Prominent Nigerians and human right
organisations took to the social media to
protest what they described as legalisation of
sexual abuse of underage girls.
The protests were held in parts of the country
on Saturday such as Abuja and Lagos among
others. Also, petitions were signed to protest
the law.
The protesters might besiege all state Houses
of Assembly and the National Assembly on
Tuesday to call on the Senate to reverse itself.
Those who protested queried why underage
Nigerians could not exercise their franchise at
the poll but were being subjected to marriage
at tender age.
On Twitter, several petition handles were
created on Saturday, where users condemned
the Senate position.
Lagos-based pastor and motivational speaker,
Sam Adeyemi, twitted, “If Islam permits
something that the rest of the country and
many parts of the world feel is detestable, then
it’s a serious issue. We cannot take away from
a Muslim the right to practice his/her religion.”
Former Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nasir
El-Rufai, also twitted, “We need your support.
Please comment on #ChildNotBride. Criminals,
from time, use religion to cloak perversion.”
Two of the many tweets by a former Minister of
Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, read, “We kid
ourselves to think that we can catch up and
compete with the rest of the world, when the
#GirlChild is constrained.
“I got married at 24, after my first post-
graduate. Some think 24 is early but then, I
was ready to make sound decisions.”
Nigerian actress, Omoni Oboli, also twitted, “I
shudder to think I wouldn’t be who I am today,
if some perverts had convinced my parents to
marry me off before I turned 18.”
Nollywood actor, Nonso Diobi, stated, “If she
can’t vote, then she can’t marry. A female child
should be taken to the classroom, not labour
room.”
Broadcaster, Mo Abudu, expressed her
concerns, saying, “My heart is broken by the
news from the Senate on #ChildBrides. This is
not the Africa of 2013.”
Star reggae artiste, Majek Fashek, also said,
“How can a man of 40, 50 or over marry a girl
of 12, 13yrs? What kind of paedophilia is this?”
Eme Ewa of Change.org, an organisation
described as the world’s biggest petition
platform, has written an online petition to the
United Nations, titled, ‘United Nations: Stop
The Nigerian Senate From Making Under-Age
Marriage The Law!’

So Sad! I weep! How can pastor Sam Adeyimi say something like that . I quote 'We can not take away from a muslim the right to practice his/her religion' end of quote.