Child Marriage: I’ve Not Broken Any Law, Says Yarima
From Imam Imam in Kaduna, 04.30.2010

For the first time since the news broke about his marriage to a 13-yeard-old Egyptian, Senator Ahmad Sani Yarima has defended his action, saying he is not bound by the provisions of the Child Rights Act

According to the Senate Minority Whip, his home state of Zamfara did not domesticate the law and as such, he cannot be accused of violating its provisions.

But Abuja where the wedding ceremony was held is under federal laws, being the capital city.
The issue has generated controversy across the country with women groups condemning his action. The Senate has ordered an investigation into the case following a petition sent by rights groups.

Also, the Egyptian Embassy said on Wednesday that its hands were tied since the matter had not been officially reported to it.
However, in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service monitored in Kaduna yesterday, the former governor of Zamfara State said the marriage is his private affair and should not be the concern of others.

While not denying that he married her, he stated that the claim that she is 13 years is not true.

“It is true that I got married but it is not true that I married a 13 year old girl. But what I want to say on this issue is, when I was governor, I said on several occasions that Allah (SWT) has made me to take life like any other Muslim. All the things that Allah said we should do and all the things that the Prophet (SAW) said we should do, I have tried to do them.

“I have not done anything that violates Sharia, so I am not bothered about anything if anybody accuses me and I don’t think I have committed any offence," he argued.

When asked to specifically state the age of the girl, Yarima declined. Instead, he argued that “there are laws laid down by Allah (SWT) regarding marriage. In my position as a Muslim, I followed all the procedures for marriage in Islam. If I had violated any provision of the law in Islam, I would have been disturbed, the issue of age does not arise.”

He blamed his political opponents for his current travail and acknowledged that the girl in question is an Egyptian.

“Yes (she is Egyptian). There are women that Allah (SWT) prohibits us from marrying, there are those he permits us to marry. I married the one Allah permits us (Muslims) to marry. The entire controversy in this marriage, it is the hand work of my political opponents and those against Sharia. (Remember that) I introduced Sharia in Zamfara in 1999.”

When asked why he married the girl when he knows that it would generate this controversy, Yarima said: “Anything I want to do, I always ask myself whether Allah prohibits it.”

Yarima was the first governor in Nigeria to introduce the Sharia legal system after which a host of other states in the North followed suit. He reportedly married a 15-year-old girl in 2006 and later divorced her to make way for the Egyptian. This would be his fourth wife.

Nigeria adopted the Child Rights Act to domesticate the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 2003. But the law is only effective in states where the Houses of Assemblies have enacted it.

Since then, campaign has been on for states to adopt it in order to protect children. So far, 16 states have adopted it.



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