National Assembly, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, wept before members of his
constituency in Akure on Monday as he apologised to them that he voted
in error to support the senate resolution backing marriage of underage
girls.
Akinyelure was summoned by his constituents to explain his role in the
controversial passage of a resolution to retain the provision of
Section 29 (4) (b) of the 1999 Constitution, which states that a
married underagegirl is deemed to be an adult.
Politicians, women groups and students had besieged the Adegbemile
Hall, venue of the meeting, with placards to protest against what they
described as the legalisation of sexual abuse of young girls, which
their representative had supported.
But Akinyelure burst into tears as he laboured to convince the
obviously enraged crowd at the tension-soaked session that he
mistakenly pressedthe wrong button during the electronic voting
exercise thinking that he was voting against child marriage.
The Senator said he had aligned his thought with that of other
senators,who supported the resolution that the provision should be
expunged from the constitution.
He added that the resolution was paraphrased again in a way that
confused him to mean that pressing the 'No' button would mean voting
against the resolution that the resolution should be retained in the
constitution.
He said, "I am very sorry for this costly mistake. I actually voted in
error. I pressed the 'No' button during the electronic voting session,
thinking that I was kicking against the early marriage. I can never
support such barbaric and wicked bill.
No comments:
Post a Comment