Baby wife: Yerima quizzed, granted bail
From FRANCIS AWOWOLE-BROWNE, Abuja
Wednesday, May 19, 2010


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Embattled Senator Sani Ahmed Yerima may be arraigned in court anytime from now over his alleged marriage to an Egyptian minor as the National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP) moved against him.

The former governor of Zamfara State was grilled for three hours yesterday by operatives of the agency after Senator Yerima honoured a summons served on him to answer the allegation of his solemnization of matrimony to an underaged.
He was granted bail after writing a statement with a promise to report back to the agency on June 17, 2010.
Senator Yerima, it was gathered, refused bluntly to disclose the age of his new Egyptian spouse to the investigators who impressed it on him the implication of being found to have married a minor as widely reported.

Senator Yerima surfaced at the Wuse Zone 5 headquarters of the NAPTIP at about 9:45am in a black Toyota saloon car, Aurion Grande, decked in heavily embroidered white Babamriga with a red cap to match, accompanied by some aides.
Daily Sun gathered that Senator Yerima was confronted with the allegation of a marriage to a minor contrary to the provisions of the Child Right Act signed into law by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on July 31, 2003. The Act stipulates five years imprisonment for a convict or N500, 000 fine or both.

He was said to have replied that in Islam, age is immaterial as it is not one of the considerations for a marriage under the Islamic law. He also said that the Child Acts Right was not adopted by Zamfara State and many other northern states when the it was referred to them because it is against the religion of the people.
But when told that he contracted the marriage in Abuja where the law operates, he said the constitution guarantees the freedom of religion and that his religion permits him to do so.

Yerima, who flaunted his marriage certificate given to him by an Abuja Sharia Court of Appeal, told the detectives that issues such as dowry, witnesses and availability of people who would give the girl’s hand in marriage were the ones clearly provided for in Sharia law, all of which, he claimed, to have observed.
When pressed further on the real age of the girl or whether he saw the international travel passport of the girl to ascertain her age, Senator Yerima was said to have insisted that he would not disclose the age of the girl and that he did not see the passport.

On why he did not contract the marriage in Egypt , Senator Yerima said it was for the convenience of his family members and his friends that he did the marriage in Nigeria not because he was trying to beat the Egyptian law which frowns against marriage to a minor.

It was at that point he was asked to write a statement and granted bail afterwards on personal recognition.
Speaking to newsmen later, Senator Yerima said he was not worried at the turn of events after his marriage to his wife because he has not broken any known law in Islam. Besides, he said the constitution of Nigeria in Section 38 guaranteed freedom of religion to all Nigerians.
He said he would not be surprised if charged to court, but that he was not bothered about because he fulfilled all the conditions set out in the Islamic law on marriage.
He lamented that the dust raised by his marriage was political and religious, which were very serious issues the government must wade into.
“The Child Right Act they are talking about was brought to me in Zamfara as a governor, my people rejected it so also other states in the North it was rejected by the state assembly because it is against their religion,” he stated.

Executive Secretary of the Agency, Simon Chuzi Egede said his agency invited Senator Yerima following series of petitions from various bodies, NGOs and concerned citizens against his alleged marriage to a 13-year-old girl.
He disclosed that his agency was on top of the investigation and that it had established it that Egyptian law forbade marriage to an underaged. He said investigations into the matter were neither politically motivated nor influenced by religion. “It is purely within our mandate having received petitions from so many interest groups.

“We are in touch with Egyptian authorities. We know it is illegal in Egypt and we do not need to get to Egypt before we get the age of the girl, within the federal capital there is a law against marriage to a minor and the law is no respecter of any person,” he said, adding that the agency would soon conclude its investigations on the matter and the whole Nigerians would know what really the issues were.
On why the Senator was not detained the Executive Secretary said it was because he willingly turned himself in to the agency and on personal recognition, he was granted bail.



http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/may/19/national-19-05-2010-004.htm

why is he a legislator if he's only subject to Islam, arrest the bloody paedophile