From Spesh's World

One may not be enthused by the spectacle of a fifty-four year old man wedding an 18 year old woman. One may even be appalled. But neither that distaste nor disapproval is sufficient to define the union of HRH MuhammaduSanusiII and Sa’adatu Barkindo-Musdafa as illegal. The bride is not a minor by any definition of the term. As such there is absolutely no need for some of the puerile name-calling andrather personal attacks that have attended this affair.

Beneath many (though not all) of the commentary on this issue is the depressingly familiar rasp of scorn, condescension and that specie of self-delusion that posits a Western-inflected Southern Nigerian sophistication ranged against the backwardness of the Northern Nigerian Muslim. It is a terrible thing. For these commentators, this has been an opportunity to rehash stale clichés and prejudicial stereotypes about Northern backwardness. Some of the remarks have been disgusting.

One wonders at the curious reluctance to attribute any agency to the princess. Could it be because she is a Northern Muslim woman? Does it stem from the idea that Northern Muslim women, however educated, are supposed to be by nature docile and subservient? Are 18 year old brides really a rarity elsewhere in Nigeria?

Much of this so-called child rights advocacy on parade recalls the ironic trait of those misanthropes who claim to love mankind and hate actual people. In this instance, it mirrors the absurdity of people who profess a concern for Northern children (“child brides”) which manages to express itself as a toxic contempt for Northerners and the North.

Read full article http://ww.speshsworld.com/the-princess-bride-and-other-non-stories-by-chris-ngwodo/

Stay there, when big men de book 10yr old girl there 4 marriage.