THE Senate yes-terday said it never did anything new to the 1999
constitution, following its failure to expunge section 29(4)(b),
noting that the Senator Ike Ekweremadu-led Review Committee had
recommended it for deletion on the premise that it was discriminatory.
This came as the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, expressed
concern about the passage by the Senate.
Similarly, former U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, had last
year rebuked Senator Sani Yerima for "child slavery".
This is even as human rights activitsts, Mrs. Marian Uwais, said
Yerima's ideas were not in the Sharia, wondering where he got them
from.
Against the backdrop ofcriticisms that had continued to trail its
alleged support for underage marriage during last week's consideration
of the report, Chairman of the Committee and Deputy Senate President,
Ike Ekweremadu, however, appealed to the public not to crucify the
lawmakers, saying the public view was completely different from its
position on the matter.
Addressing journalists, Senator Ekweremadu noted that since
constitution review was continual, the controversial clause 29(4)(b)
in the extant law would be revisited, but remained silent on when it
will be done.
He added that the position of the Senate retaining that portion of the
constitution was not an endorsement of child marriage in the country
as theclause had been in the constitution.
The explanation of the upper legislative chamber came just as women
group, under the aegis of National Council for Women Society,
signified itsreadiness to storm the National Assembly today to protest
last Wednesday's action of the lawmakers.
"We have no bill to approve early marriage. We are not sponsoring any
bill against Islam. This particular provision has been in our
constitution since 1979. Ours was an attempt to remove that aspect so
that men and women would have equal footing regarding the issue of
renunciation of citizenship. And we will never support early
marriage."
However, the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, expressed concern
about the passage by the Senate, saying it amounted to legalisation of
sexual abuse of underage girls.
It also criticised Senator Ahmed Yerima from Zamfara State over his
comments, and noted that he was trying to cover up his case of
marrying an Egyptian minor.
President of CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, who was irked by Yerima's
statement, found his argument offensive as it presupposed that
Nigeria, a secular state, was populated only by Muslims.
Oritsejafor in a statement by his Special Assistant, Media and Public
Affairs, Kenny Ashaka, noted: "Yerima is again, advertently stirring
up another controversy about the supremacy of Islamic Law to the
Nigerian constitution after the one he raised, when he introduced
Sharia, the Islamic Legal code, in Zamfara State.
"I think the problem is that people like Senator Yerima are
approaching Qur'anic teachings from extremes and disturbing the
balance. It makes me wonder the source of their emotions and thoughts
that nurture them.
"As a senator whose case of marrying a 13-year-old Egyptian girl is
stillfresh in the memory of Nigerians, Yerima should only be seen and
not heard in matters of this nature. If now he is commenting on a case
in which he has interest, it can only mean the action of a man
frenziedly trying to get himself out of the hook through some
undeserved legislation."
Meanwhile, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, had last
year rebuked Senator Sani Yerima for "child slavery".
The US State Department's 2012 report on human rights also complained
that Nigerian authorities did nothing to prosecute Yerima, a foreign
news agency, has said.
In a public outcry at the time, activists demanded that prosecutors
investigate and Yerima be forced out of parliament.
The report said the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking
in Persons, NAPTIP, questioned Yerima but said it lacked evidence to
charge him. It said Yerima had paid $100,000 for the young bride, the
daughter of his Egyptian driver.
Also, lawyer and human rights activist, Mrs. Maryam Uwais, has
faulted Yerima on marital age for Muslim girls in Nigeria, saying his
ideas were not in the Sharia.
Uwais said there was no unanimity on social interaction within
Islamic jurists or the various schools of thought.
She said: "Surely where there is 'silence in the texts' (i.e primary
sources) or lack of unanimity as regards a particular practice, that
opening allows for a society to determine for itself what is in its
best interest (maslaha), in its own context.
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