Nigeria, according to GirlsNotBrides, ranks 14th among the 20 countries with the highest rates of Child marriage.
I’d like to tell you a story but first, I’d like for us to fully comprehend this cringe-worthy term, ‘child marriage’.
Child marriage, siting Wikipedia, is a formal marriage or informal union entered into by an individual before reaching a certain age specified by some global organizations as high as the age of 18.


Now that that’s out of the way, let us explore the degrees of declivity accompanying this menace. And in this case, we’re looking at the terrifying dilemma suffered by victims of this horrible form of abuse; DEATH ROW.
From time immemorial, stories have begun with the clichè intro ‘Once upon a time’ and mine won’t be any different. Once upon a time, there was a 14-year-old girl from the northern region of Nigeria, called Wasila Tasi’u. She was a princess albeit sans blue blood flowing through her veins. The crown anatomy placed on her head by making her female was all she needed to be royalty in her own skin.


Quite unlike those fairytales we were told as kids; of how the princess found her Prince charming and lived happily ever after, Wasila was not that fortunate. Her happily ever after would unfortunately end with her being on death row.
Before I continue Wasila’s story, I’d like for you to take a trip down the foggy lanes of memory and remember what it was like to be 14. Do you feel a smile forming? Good for you but Wasila and other girls like her will never get to smile whenever they do same.
A 14 year old girl should be in SS1 or 8th grade according to some Western standards. A 14-year-old girl should have an ocean full of dreams and hopes. She should be watching high school drama and crushing on the blonde-haired, blue-eyed teenage boy band leader who all the girls swoon over whilst being oblivious of the fact that he’ll probably end up mopping floors at Starbucks. (No offence to Starbucks janitors)


The only affiliation a 14-year-old should have with the proverbial ‘Birds and the Bees’ should be as inconsequential as receiving cheesy love letters full of grammatical blunders from a boy in her class and MAYBE a few stolen kisses FROM BOYS HER AGE. Cringe at this and raise your brows as much as you want but what were you doing at 14? After all, I issued a disclaimer the moment I said ‘MAYBE’.

TOPSHOT – A young actress plays the role of Giorgia, 10, forced to marry Paolo, 47, during a happening organised by Amnesty International to denounce child marriage, on October 27, 2016 in Rome. / AFP / GABRIEL BOUYS (Photo credit should read GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)
Unfortunately, this was not the case for my teenage subject Wasila. Her destiny was altered and her life sent to help the moment her parents decided to hand her over to 35-year-old cradle-robber, Umar Sani.
This child was enburdened with responsibilities even a 30-year-old might seem incapable to handle. We’ve seen gazillions of divorce cases in our society being undertaken by people twice or even thrice the age of little Wasila and some ‘genius’ decided that a 14-year-old should be allowed to shoulder the grueling task of being a wife.
Guessing the outcome of this foolery is not rocket science. Wasila bowed to Newton’s action-reaction law and she made a motion. Wasila killed her ‘husband’. How did she do it? She laced Umar’s food with rat poison and he breathed his last after choking the little child in a forced marriage.
Fate is quite a tricky mister as he unfortunately ensured three other ‘innocent’ men bit the dust with Umar. Why is the term innocent quoted? Because these men watched a minor being abused and did nothing to save her, so how innocent are they really?
It turns out the three ‘innocent’ men accompanied the Grim Reaper to pay Umar a visit and joined him in feasting on the poisoned meal. Collateral damage? Or simply the universe trying to send off a warning to supporters and enablers of child abuse and pedophilia, who sit quietly and watch innocence being robbed off poor minors.
Subsequently, Wasila was arrested and a High Court Judge rejected defence applications for the case to be transferred to a juvenile court and justice which was denied to the minor before she was shipped off to be mentally, emotionally and physically abused under the guise of marriage, deemed it fit to try her as an adult.


If found guilty, Wasila could face capital punishment-death row. The fact that this case even went this far is testament to the disgraceful justice system. They chose to ignore the glaring primary problem- the fact that A CHILD HAD BEEN ABUSED!!! Well, after months of investigations, trials and intervention from Human Rights Groups worldwide, the charges were dropped and Wasila was set free.
Not your typical tale by moonlight. Some may even argue that Wasila actually had a happy ending but I disagree. Yes, her exoneration was a good thing but still, her innocence, her dignity, her peace of mind had been snatched away from her in the cruelest of ways. The society that was supposed to protect her left her vulnerable to be abused and worse, in a legal institution called marriage. They took a victim and dragged her through further turmoil by branding her a ‘killer’ all around the world. Now they absolved her of her ‘crime’ and she’s supposed to be grateful?
This is more than Wasila, more than child brides in Northern Nigeria. This is about us. You and I. Every time we keep mum about a union between an adult and a minor, we constitute part of the problem.