₦airaland Forum

OAM4J: Who are these people you are asking to fight for themselves? You forgot the victims here are kids. How do you expect them to fight for themselves? Form an association of underage wives or start kicking against their aggressive randy husbands' blokos? Or do you expect their men who are the benefactors of the crime to fight for them?

No, those of us who have not been corrupted by that way of life have to stand up for them. They are Nigerians and citizens of the world. We must defend and protect them at all cost. There are many ways we can fight for them and whether you know it or not, the fight has already began with many people speaking out against it. I know the fight will not be won overnight, but if we continue the fight, naming and shaming those involve, without some voices like yours who also disapprove the practice but want these people to be left alone and continue their ways of life, soon and very soon it will stop or be reduced to barest minimum, especially when many who are currently sitting on the fence join the fight.

I know a lot of the senators did not vote, cos 35 is definitely not the majority number in the senate. Hopefully in the nearest future many of them will move against it and it will become illegal to marry underage and then we will also strive to enforce that law.

seunfly: Shym-x, u should knw that:
1) Most of those laws have clauses that restrict d age of marriage couples i.e the husband and wife must atleast be of equal or almost equal in age, say 15y 4d girl and 17y or 20y 4 male. Any wide margin in age is not acceptable because we all know d obvious exploitation that will take place in d life of d younger partner.
2) Laws are promogated as a solution to existing problems arising from d ways of lives of a man at a particular moment/period of time. This is limited to d knowledge and expiriences he has at dt particular time, which means dt as he aquires more wisdon, knowledge and expiriences the laws are bound to change and be amended to reflect those expiriences and knowledge aquired over time. Therefore it is not normal to hold onto old laws in d name of anything despite d knowledge and expiriences of flaws seen in such laws.
3 If not for selfish reason, with d informations on ground about d resultant effect of child pregnancy ( physicaly, mentaly and medicaly) in d world today, nobody should be formulating d laws dt will encourage such act today. No cultural or religious laws should be encouraged to put those children at risk.
4 In all we do, let us put sentiment from any angle( religion and culture) apart and face d reality of today in other to set rules for our selves. Many people in support of this child molestation called marriage to an adult old enough to be her grandpa can't even allow their own children do such thing because of the true reality he or she knows, why then old to such laws in d name of anything.

koruji: I hope you were conscious when you wrote the below? Are you suggesting that allowing people "freedom to their way-of-life" include allowing them to deny a young kind her own god-given freedom to live free and make their own decisions in life? Are you in the fullness of your mind considering a girl of 6, 9 or 13 forced (forced because she is incapable of consenting) as being allowed her "freedom to her own way of life"?

Most of the evils that have been perpetrated on planet earth were actually the way of life of some people - that did not make them permissible or something that should be practiced in the 21st century.

No God, no matter what his name, made your third-leg the authority over another's life - it is as simple as that.

OAM4J: This is not about North Vs South or Muslims Vs Christians. This is about what we should accept as Nigerians. If recent knowledge prove to us that what we consider as a way of life is wrong, then it calls for a change and not allow few us to sentimentally hold on to it as a way of life. Change is the only constant thing in life and sometimes we have to fight for that change. For instance slavery was a way of life supported by many cultures and religion in the past but many fought against it in the light of its evil. The world is better for it today.



If we are honest to ourselves, what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong. We have to look at every issue objectively, consider its merit and demerit, and then hold on to what we know is true and fair to all. Fact is we are not being fair to these kids if we allow these few pedophiles to keep mortgaging their future. They are young, weak, helpless and powerless. Those of us that know the truth should fight for them and free them.



YES! Marriage is not for everyone. Anyone who knows he/she cannot handle it should be discouraged from going into it. And if he or she decides to go into it then it becomes his/her choice or cup of tea, cos we expect him/her to know what is good for him/her as an adult




Again like I said earlier, the fight is not about North Vs South or Muslims Vs Christians. It is a fight for Nigerian young girls that are helpless, voiceless, weak and incapable of making the right choices you talk about. We need to defend them and fight for them. Child marriage must be stopped everywhere, in every religion and culture cos it is bad.

OAM4J: You dont seem to get it.

It doesn't matter if any religion, culture, document/law approves it. The question is knowing what we know about motherhood and family today, is it right? Will you approve your under age sister and daughter to get married?

Can a 13/14 year old child adequately handle the pressure of pregnancy, motherhood and marriage?

If we believe these children are not even capable of deciding a good leader for the nation during elections, why do we think they are capable of making a serious decision such as marriage for themselves.

We should be fighting to remove such abuse from every religion, culture and law books and not justify or approve the abuse with them.

yemi2plus2: Breaking News
repogirl banned

0lumide: And to arrest Yerima because even if the law has been passed, he broke the law by marrying the girl in the first place. Any crime due should be given. We hear news everyday as to how some people are arrested over child molestation. If we allow this horrible crime of child marriage, we allow pedophilia.


But Nigerians what about protesting for other issues? Like sacking Okonjo Iweala and Madueke, Oruebebe, Maku and all other non performing ministers.

How about protesting to stop the salaries of the reps and Senators?

Katsumoto: Your comments are quite disappointing. You don't always have to defend certain actions just because they are actions of your Northern brothers. Attempting to compare the law in the US with the law in Nigeria is naive at best and disingenuous at worst. First, laws are better enforced in the US. Second, poverty doesn't force parents to sell their children to paedophiles. Whilst many US states permit parents to give consent, it is usually for those over the age of 16 and with someone who is equally under the age of consent, otherwise, it may result in statutory rape. What is the age of consent in Nigeria and was Yerima, (apply to other Nigerian paedophiles) under that age of consent when he married his pre-teen wife?

16 - 18 year old girls may be physically ready to have children but are usually psychologically not ready for childbirth. Girls under 15 are unready both physically and psychologically for childbirth. That is why VVF is common in the Northern part of Nigeria. What kind of life is it for a gal to have had 2/3 children and divorced/separated before the age of 18?

Onyegecha: I agree with you. Nigerian women need to wake up but in this circumstance, we cannot cry more than the bereaved. The northern women must lead the war before others join them. If they are enjoying their religious bondage, we cannot do anything about it.

nora544: please Nigerian let the hole world know what happen in your country because this is against human rights.

please start a campain with www.avaaz.org

Please start there the world will know and the president will have much problems because this law is against girls the next law that they want is that they say every muslim woman must be circumsized.

That is the only way that this law gets known all over the world.

http://www.avaaz.org

please don't wait start it