I expressed my concerns about the issue of paedophilia and child
brides in Nigeria quite extensively in an essay that I wrote last week
titled ‘’A Nation Of Perverts And Paedophiles’’ which was widely
published and which attracted a lot of rejoinders and commentries from
other writers and commentators from both sides of the divide. I do not
intend to cover the same ground or repeat the same arguements here but
kindly permit me to make a final contribution to the debate in this
piece.
The good news is that no matter what anyone thinks or says and
regardless of whichever side of the divide one is on, when it comes to
this issue, at least the Nigerian people are now talking about a subject
which, hitherto, had been regarded as being ‘’off limits’’ and taboo
and which had been essentially swept under the carpet. I commend the
Nigerian press, the website magazines, the bloggers and the electronic
media for standing firm, rising up to the occassion and bringing the
matter alive and one can only hope and pray that they will keep the fire
burning by continuing to reflect the heated discussions and various
opinions on this issue.
I was particularly impressed with and encouraged by the editorials of
some of our leading newspapers on this issue including ‘Thisday On
Sunday’, ‘The Nation On Sunday’, ‘Leadership On Sunday’ and ‘The Sunday
Vanguard’ which were all published on Sunday 28th July and which were
titled “In Support Of The Girl Child’’, ‘’No Cover For Paedophiles’’.
‘’Much Ado About Child Marriage’’ and ‘’Building Nigeria On Deceit’’
respectively. With contributions like that from very serious and
credible mediums like those there is still hope for the girl-child in
Nigeria. I urge all those that have not read these contributions to
please find them and do so.
Yet despite the outrage expressed by the overwhelming majority of
Nigerians and indeed the wider world about the plight of the girl-child
in our country, on Sunday 28th July, a deeply defiant and unrepentant
Senator Ahmed Sani Yarima, who was the individual that sparked off the
whole controversy in the first place by insisiting that Section 29 of
the Constitution must not be removed, told the Sunday Trust Newspaper
that ‘’if the vote on the child marriage issue came up in the Senate
again’’ he and his supporters ‘’would win a million times over’’. Sadly,
given the nonchalant attitude that has been displayed by a large number
of our Senators to the plight of the girl-child, paedophilia and infant
marriages in Nigeria and their obvious reluctance to step on Yerima’s
big toes and thereby upset his religious sensitivities he may well be
right. If not how does one explain the fact that two female Senators,
Aisha Jummai Alhassan from Taraba State and Zainab Kure from Niger
State, both of whom I gather have daughters, actually abstained when
that historical vote took place. To drive home the point, the Senate
President himself, Senator David Mark, only last week admitted that he
and the entire Senate had succumbed to Yarima’s ‘’blackmail’’ on the
issue of the right of the child-bride to renounce Nigerian citizenship
and his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, accepted the fact that the
matter “needed to be revisited’’ in view of the outrage expressed by the
majority of the Nigerian people.
Yet many of us do not expect anything to change in the near future
simply because it is clear that the Nigerian Senate and indeed the
Nigerian political class generally simply do not have the sensitivity,
the courage, the wherewithal or the political will to do the right thing
and to not only delete the controversial Section 29 but to also revamp
and amend the constitution in it’s entirety and insert a clause that
specifically, clearly and categorically outlaws and bans any marriages
that involve anyone under the age of 18 in Nigeria.
Mrs. Roz Ben-Okagbue, in her article titled, ‘’Is The Removal Of
Section 29 The Answer To Eliminating Child Marriage?’’ has made this
point more eloquently than anyone else. I consider Roz’s piece to be
probably the most insightful contrbution so far in this debate simply
because she made all the relevant points and consistently hit the nail
on the head. It is the inability of the Senate and other political
stakeholders to introduce a new clause into our constitution and ban
child marriages and their penchant for continously pampering and seeking
to accomodate the strange fantasies and perversions of those that enjoy
marrying and having sex with 6, 9, 12 and 14 year olds that informed
Pastor Tunde Bakare to proclaim, in a characteristically powerful and
explosive sermon, that ‘’Nigeria is suffering from the rulership of
‘PINPS’ “(by which he meant ‘’Paedophiles in Power’’) and that the issue
of child marriage has divided our country more than any other issue
before it in our entire history. No-one could have put it better.
Yet the debate continues to rage and only last week the respected
islamic scholar Professor Ishaq Akintola added his voice by saying
‘’there is no age restriction in islamic marriage’’. Most muslims would
disagree with this because child-marriage is specifically banned by the
laws and constitutions of 90 per cent of muslim countries in the world
today but I respect the right of Professor Akintiola to hold his opinion
about the tenets of his faith. And regardless of his views and fervency
I honestly believe that islam, like christianity, is a humane and
compassionate faith which seeks to protect the weak and guide its
adherents on the path of righteousness and light.
I must however point out that Nigeria is not a muslim state. And
neither is she a christian state. She is a secular state and she is
governed by secular laws. Religious laws have no place in our land or
constitution.Our constitution is a secular document which specifically
says that the state shall not adopt any religion. This must remain so if
we do not want a divided country and if we do not want continued
controversy, strife and possibly even a fully blown religious
conflagration and conflict. We should all keep our religious
sensitivities out of certain matters if we want continued peace.
Paedophilia, child sex, child slavery, child rape and child marriage
cannot be justified under any circumstances in any civilised country. It
is not a matter of religion. It is a matter of human rights, civil
liberties and basic morality. There is nothing more repugnant to the
natural mind and wholesome soul than the prospect of a fully grown man
mounting, defiling and having carnal knowledge of a child that is
between the ages of 6 and 18.
Every child, whether she be a christian, a muslim, a pagan, an
atheist or an agnostic has the right to be fully protected by the state
and by the laws of our land from sexual predators, sexual deviants,
statutory rapists, unrepentant perverts and child molestors. That much
we ought to be able to achieve and we ought to insist on. We are meant
to protect our children and not bed them.
Like I said earlier on elsewhere in this debate, even animals don’t
sleep with their own infants. Some may hate me for these words today but
I speak nothing but the truth and tomorrow the people will thank me for
it. In the heat of this debate my dear wife, Pastor Regina Fani-Kayode,
made a pertinent assertion. She said ‘’knowledge comes to those who
seek it’’. This is wisdom and I would suggest that our muslim brothers
and sisters that share Yarima’s views on child marriage and that seek to
defend those views on religious grounds like my respected sister Dr.
Zainab Shinkafi-Bagudu, whose article titled ‘’Early Marriage?’’ I read
with great interest, learn a little from this deep truism. Perhaps they
could also learn one or two things from the following press report in a
newspaper just last week which reflects the views of one of the most
respected leaders and islamic scholars in Saudi Arabia. The report reads
as follows-
‘’A member of Saudi Arabia’s highest religious body has said that
Prophet Mohammed’s (PBUH) marriage to a nine-year-old girl does not
justify marrying minor children today because circumstances have changed
in the intervening 14 centuries. The comments by Sheikh Abdullah al
Manie, who sits on the Council of Senior Ulema, follows other recent
public criticisms of child marriage, suggesting the government may be
preparing public opinion for legislation setting a minimum marriage age.
“They want to prepare the public to understand that the old days are
not like today,” said Mekhlef al Shammary, a human rights advocate in
Dammam. “It’s a crime to give a 12-year-old to be a mother and wife.
“This is ridiculous. Even in Islam it’s not acceptable because the girl
is not mature enough. She’s a child – she’s not ready for sexual
relations.” The marriage of young girls, often to much older men, has
been at the forefront of public debate in Saudi Arabia for a couple of
years. It escalated early last year after it was reported that a man had
contracted to give his eight-year-old daughter in marriage to a
47-year-old man in order to pay a financial debt. The contract was
annulled after a public outcry.
Sheikh al Manie is believed to be the most senior cleric to
unequivocally denounce the practice of child marriage. Prophet
Mohammed’s marriage to young Aisha “cannot be equated with child
marriages today because the conditions and circumstances are not the
same”, he said in remarks published in the Saudi Gazette and Okaz
newspapers on Thursday. “It is a grave error to burden a child with
responsibilities beyond her years,” the sheikh said. “Marriage should be
put off until the wife is of a mentally and physically mature age and
can care for both herself and her family.”
Senator Ahmed Sani Yarima, Professor Ishaq Akintola and all those
that continuosly give the impression that child marriage is acceptable
in Islam and who erroneously believe that the honest criticism of such
an abominable practice is an attack on their faith surely have much to
learn from the contribution of this erudite Saudi Arabian leader and
scholar. As a matter of fact we all do and it is contributions like that
that make the rest of us appreciate what a beautiful religion islam
really is when its tenets are properly understood and applied.
According to our Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development,
Mrs. Zainab Maina, Nigeria has 800,000 cases of VVF today and we are
adding 20,000 cases each year. All these cases are situated in the
northern part of the country. Such diseases, such suffering, such
illiteracy and such high levels of poverty of the mind and soul should
have no place in any part of our great nation in this day and age. Our
people, whether they be from the north or the south, Christian or
Muslim, young or old and men or women, surely deserve better than that.
After all we are living in the 21st century and not the 6th. Yet sadly
these vices are more rampant in Yarima’s own northern region and
constituency than anywhere else in the country and instead of attempting
to improve on the lot, the education and quality of lives of the good
people of the north all he thinks about is marrying little girls and
bedding them. What a man and what a country. Outside of this
contribution I have nothing more to say on this vexed and contentious
issue of the horrendous plight of the girl-child and child marriage in
Nigeria
