The Registered Trustees of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria, on Tuesday, succeeded in joining the National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP) as defendants in a suit it instituted against the heads of the two chambers of the National Assembly and the National Human Right Commission (NHRC) over the marriage of Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima to a 13-year-old Egyptian girl.

The Sharia council had brought before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, two applications, one seeking to join the agency and the other seeking the leave of the court to amend its processes earlier filed in its bid to ensure the fundamental Human Rights of the former governor of Zamfara State.

Counsel representing the Sharia Council, Mohammed Ndanusa Katu said the essence of joining the agency was for it to make its position known to the world, pointing out that Yerima had the right to marry up to four wives under the Islamic law and that the National Assembly had no right to interfere with such marriages.

The former Zamfara governor had sued the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the Senate President, the Speaker, House of Representative and NAPTIP for opposing his marriage to a minor without considering the provisions of Islamic laws.

He claimed that he had rights as a Muslim to marry four wives and that age restriction being but put as a hurdle before him by defendants had no basis in Islamic law under which his marriage was conducted.
The Sharia Council is praying the court to declare that the actions of the Senate President David Mark, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole and the NHRC in probing Yerima’s marriage to the Egyptian minor amounted to an infringement and invasion of the Senator’s right to his family privacy and his right to practice, propagate and manifest the doctrine of his religion as enshrined in section 37 and 38 of the Nigerian Constitution.

The council also want the defendants to show whether by virtue of section 37 of the 1999 Constitution, every Nigerian citizen was not entitled to enjoy and protect his private and family life without any hindrance or interference from any person.

The Sharia Supreme Council also wants the Court to order a perpetual injunction restraining defendants, their agents or privies howsoever from taking any further step or action in relation to the subject matter, until the determination of the case.

http://www.tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/8535-marriage-to-minor-yerima-drags-naptip-david-mark-others-to-court

or

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/5596758-147/sharia_council_joins_naptip_in_yerima.csp

@poster, so whats your angle on this one?