₦airaland Forum

deols: A child with hypospadias chordee is believed to have been circumcised by an angel.

luvmijeje: Who is this fool? Pls don't quote me ever again.

Peterwins: Really!!!! And it states : any woman who is married

Section 29 subsection 4b infers otherwise.

naptu2: The 1979 constitution did not contain provisions for renunciation of citizenship. During constitutional review debates in 1979 Aminu Kano (the leader of the PRP) felt that the age of 18 years used in subsection 4a was an arbitrary western concept of maturity. The legislators in 1979 at the time agreed with the PRP argument and subsection 4b was included.

Some also argued at the time that a nigerian woman, who is married to a foreigner should be able to renounce her citizenship.

The senate constitutional amendment committee decided to delete all clauses that discriminate between the sexes and so decided to delete 4(b), because they felt that the rules should be the same for both men and women.

Now note: subsection 4b refers to a woman that is already married. The act of marrying anybody under the age of 18 is illegal according to the Child Rights Act (2003). The action will be illegal at the point at which the marriage is contracted.

luvmijeje: Naptu, pls get down from your high horse! At least we put our Senators on their toes.

Peterwins: The bill is a double-edged sword that simply gives a cover (excuse) for child marriage as expressly stated in the controversial section 29 subsection 4b.

Kindly read the subsection dispassionately.

luvmijeje: We never created a false claim- admittedly we jump the gun. The under-age marriage and education of the girl child is a real issue that we will continue to fight for.

luvmijeje: Naptu, thanks 4 that information but you have to agree with me that despite child right act the literacy levels of the girl child is absymally low and the high under-age marriages contributed majorly to it esp in the North.
We needed a trigger that will bring the world and the Nation attention to it and we got it, admittedly we milked it and we are still milking it.
I learnt Islam is against it which many of the perpetrators are hiding under- asiri won ti tu. We also heard voices coming from the North! Shockingly. This is a win going forward for us who cares about the girl child.

dayokanu: Same thing happened with Andrew Uwe, Samson Siasia and Dahiru Sadi

Their age falsifications scandal earned Nigeria a FIFA in the early 90's

lofty900: dis thin na old technology na. besides dis pix was not taken in naija neither was it invented. it was imported. go back to ur english teacher

obailala: The media certainly deceived us in this matter. I actually thought the senate outrightly passed a bill approving marriage to minors but now the picture is clearer. Unfortunately, Nigerians are hell bent on stubbornly swallowing the original misleading story passed on to us through the media instead of taking out time to ask the VITAL QUESTIONS.

From my little understanding of this whole saga:
1) The constitution says a person who is of full age must have attained 18 years of age
2) Now they want to allow an exception to this law which considers married women under 18 as being of 'full age' for the sake of 'renouncing citizenship' ONLY

Two vital questions I have are:
1) What is the actual age of consent in Nigeria according to our constitution - Nobody seems to have asked this question
2) Are we sure the proposed exception would not be extended beyond 'renouncing citizenship' only to other areas such as voting rights?

naptu2: This brings me to another issue. People always say "the news is boring", "politics is boring", etc and I think that attitude is one of the reasons why controversies like this arise.

The constitution amendment committee sat in every senatorial district in this country, how many of the people that are complaining attended the sitting in their locality? How many have taken the time to study the constitution so that they'll know what it says? How many went to the committee's sittings with a proposal for the amendment of the constitution? How many have actually read these sections in order to know what they actually say?

naptu2: Note: full age as defined there only refers to the ability to renounce citizenship. It does not refer to voting, marriage, etc.

Note the explanation before the definition.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section.


It is only for the purposes of subsection (1) of that section (which deals with renunciation of citizenship).

naptu2: The 1979 constitution did not contain provisions for renunciation of citizenship. During constitutional review debates in 1979 Aminu Kano (the leader of the PRP) felt that the age of 18 years used in subsection 4a was an arbitrary western concept of maturity. The legislators in 1979 at the time agreed with the PRP argument and subsection 4b was included.

That section has been in the constitution since then. It reads thus (I've also included subsection 4):

29. (1) Any citizen of Nigeria of full age who wishes to renounce his Nigerian citizenship shall make a declaration in the prescribed manner for the renunciation.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section.

(a) "full age" means the age of eighteen years and above;

(b) any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age.


The constitution is currently being amended and rights groups have called for the deletion of subsection 4b.

You need 2/3rds majority of votes in the senate, house of representatives and 2/3rds of all the state houses of assembly in order to amend the constitution.

2/3rds of the senators present at that time = 73 votes. The senate voted and more than 73 senators voted that 4b should be deleted. The senate moved on to other clauses.

A while later, Senator Yerima raised a point of order that subsection 4b cannot be deleted because deleting it is against islamic law. He stated that in islam, a woman is deemed to be of full age once she has gotten married. The Senate President, David Mark, reminded Yerima that the Senate has a tradition that it does not re-visit a clause once it has been voted on, but Senator Yerima continued to protest.

Eventually the Senate President agreed to hold a second vote. This time 60 senators voted that the subsection should be removed, while 35 voted that it should not be removed. They couldn't get 2/3rds majority.

Section 4b stands.


I wonder why Mark agreed to hold a second vote.


Some have said that the ambiguity in section 4b could lead to the legalisation of marriages of people under the age of 18. However, others argue that it won't because, according to the Child Rights Act, it is illegal to marry anyone below the age of 18. The marriage would be illegal at the time it is being contracted, while section 4b deals with a woman that is already married. But note that the Child Rights Act has only been domesticated in 24 states.

Ogbeche77: hmmm.. Oga naptu, Nairaland resident encyclopedia.. Can you please refresh our knowledge on the named..
I know Amiesimaka is one of NFF antagonist, I ll like to learn

Yemike: u're getting it wrong the woman sells smoked fish.

naptu2: 1) It's quite possible (depends on interpretation).

2) The police might have had good reason to take her into custody.

funshint: This is the pix; but it looks like a lobster. Really ignorance is a disease! www.tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en#gkHeader

Yemike: this is true i'm even at the place yesterday

[img]http://img1.nairaland.com/attachments/1215363_Iyemoja_jpg2a011af1511569c3c16ef98b553278a2[/img]

Gunzilla: Okay,so I decided to weigh in on this “Child Marriage” debate going on in Nigeria right now.I know it’s largely a waste of time,because the average intelligence of most Nairalanders is that of a gnat and most of you have made up your narrow minds without verifying any fact.Yes I’m talking about people like Delors,Kamsy10,Julieeccentric(smh)Fitzy4real that just read the headlines on newspapers and just run with it.
For the avoidance of any doubt, I’m a Yoruba guy from a strong Christian background and I abhor old men marrying kids as much as the next guy.But can you people please show where and how the current amendment of S.29 leads to the marriage of under age kids ?
As Naptu has taken great pains to explain what the Section of the Constitution says is:
29. (1) Any citizen of Nigeria of full age who wishes to renounce his Nigerian citizenship shall make a declaration in the prescribed manner for the renunciation.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section.

(a) "full age" means the age of eighteen years and above;

(b) any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age.

The amendment is seeking to delete (b) above and that’s what Yerima objected against and argued that its against Islamic Law. Now for the sake of argument, lets assume that the sub-section is deleted. THE FACT STILL REMAINS THAT S.29 IS TALKING ABOUT RENUNCIATION OF CITIZENSHIP AND NOT MARRIAGE. How hard is that to understand? So “FULL AGE” here is talking about age to renounce.Thats what this sub-section is talking about..the CAPACITY to renounce citizenship.

Now talking about AGE TO MARRY, the fact remains that whether we like it or not, for states that have adopted Sharia Law, this is the Law that applies. We may not like it(I certainly do not), but that’s the law as prescribed by this same 1999 Constitution. As long as Sharia Law allows underage marriage, it’s going to continue. That’s what S.277 and S.278 of the Constitution has guaranteed.
277. (1) The Sharia Court of Appeal of a State shall, in addition to such other jurisdiction as may be conferred upon it by the law of the State, exercise such appellate and supervisory jurisdiction in civil proceedings involving questions of Islamic personal Law which the court is competent to decide in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2) of this section.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section, the Sharia Court of Appeal shall be competent to decide -
(a) any question of Islamic personal Law regarding a marriage concluded in accordance with that Law, including a question relating to the validity or dissolution of such a marriage or a question that depends on such a marriage and relating to family relationship or the guardianship of an infant;
This is the Constitution. It supersedes any other law of the land including the Child Rights Act of 2003 makes it unlawful for anyone under 18 to marry. SO,JUST SO YOU KNOW,THE CONSTITUTION OF NIGERIA AS IT STANDS TODAY ALLOWS CHILD MARRIAGE UNDER SHARIA LAW.
So if you want to outlaw child marriages, start writing to your Senators and HOR members to amend S.277 and to make sure that the Sharia Courts of Appeal of a State are precluded from having jurisdiction over the validity of marriages, removing the matter from Sharia Law and placing the issue of age and capacity to marry firmly under the Child Rights Act 2003 ,instead of jumping on the bandwagon of people without common sense like Stella Damascus or whatever her name is that stated that she read extensively on the issue. Begs that question that what exactly did she read ?? Go on youtube and make a video,go on twitter and retweet frequently.But make sure that you are actually talking about the relevant issue and not about a person’s age and capacity to renounce citizenship.

Horus: A 15 year old Nigerian with the right knowlege can build a similar robot. There is a lot of young Nigerian genius but the medias are not
talking enough about them.

Horus: [img]http://beegeagle.files./2012/09/amebo-in-flight.jpg[/img]

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[img]http://beegeagle.files./2012/09/amebo-iii.jpg?w=640[/img]
[img]http://beegeagle.files./2012/09/amebo-gcs.jpg?w=960[/img]
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