Opinion: The Child-Not-Bride campaign – A representation of our collective ignorance

by Habeeb Kolade

House of Reps members

The Child-Not-Bride campaign was uncalled for and insightfully a representation of our collective ignorance of the law binding the Nigerian society…

The hullabaloo created by the recent retention of a sub section of the Nigerian constitution was deafening. And once again, Nigerians expressed how much their sentiments have overridden their sense of objectivity and to larger extent, reasoning. Like many others, my Twitter and Facebook pages had been flooded with different posts with the #ChildNotBride tailing off most of the posts. Different reactions were immediately generated with more vexation targeted towards the former governor now Senator Ahmad SaniYerima who was said to have moved a motion in the Senate that enhanced paedophilic tendencies through marriage.

Just seconds afterwards, I received some broadcast messages requiring me as well as others to converge at certain points across the country to sign a petition pushing for the immediate reversal of the passed motion. Later on, it was made online for convenience. I was still held in awe with the turn of events which had suddenly caused uproar, mostly on the social networks, across the country. Majority of the campaigners were however “bandwagoners” who merely followed the moving train without asking questions; the follow-follow syndrome typical to Nigerians. A norm for Nigerians I’d say. Fela Anikulapo Kuti would call them Zombies!

Unfortunately again, the Islamic religion was at the receiving end of several knocks and ignorant accusative answer coated questions. I merely watched, though confused.

While I in no way support the marriage of minors, the relative distance Nigerians continue to draw between themselves and knowledge acquisition is quite alarming. However, that is a case to be discussed for some other day.

What was the bone of contention! Section 29: A provisional section for Section 26 that dealt with the position of the country’s law on citizenship renunciation. It states:

(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.

(2) The President shall cause the declaration made under subsection (1) of this section to be registered and upon such registration, the person who made the declaration shall cease to be a citizen of Nigeria.

(3) The President may withhold the registration of any declaration made under subsection (1) of this section if-

(a) the declaration is made during any war in which Nigeria is physically involved; or

(b) in his opinion, it is otherwise contrary to public policy.

(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.

And that was it. Section 29 (4b) was moved to be scrapped from the constitution by the constitution amendment committee who deemed it fit for deletion due to its suggestion towards being supportive of marriage of underage women (18 being the standard of maturity). Just then, Senator Yerima swayed in and pointed out that 18 was no bar set for marriage in his Islamic religion. Senator Yerima’s stance seemed however coated in narcissism especially due to recent ripples generated by his marriage to a certain Eqyptian girl who was just admitted into teenage hood.  Senator Yerima was in the end able to overturn through voting, the motion to delete the sub section from the constitution when the two-third majority required to sustain the deletion could not be met.

Hell was then let lose in the public as someone somewhere immediately generated from some part of his brain that the Senate had made provisions for marriage of underage girls- a category which the motion mover had also fallen into. All the person required do was type an emotional message and embed his newly cooked allegations and then inject it online. Of course, the social network activists took the opportunity to pretend to do something worthwhile in their life. They raged, fumed, cursed and hurled different insults directed at the Senate House (was surprised not to read anyone blaming Jonathan, I think Yerima took the whole attention). Questions were again begun to ask about Islam and its principles.  Tweets and retweets followed on twitter and shares lorded facebook. The list of the “satanic” senators that voted in support of the sustenance of the sub section were also found and published. The Ondo Senator Akinyelure Ayo, was the worst casualty as it took only seconds for me to know his entire political history; of how he tried to win an election with his cash and how he disgracefully lost despite his wealth along while ago. His fault was being the only non-northern legislator of the 35 senators that voted in support of Yerima’s motion. The ruckus was alarming but I was really beginning to think that for once, Nigerians were united on something. But still I refused to make my judgement on sentiments and sought immediately the section of the constitution that had sent the whole online nation agog (the whole buzz seemed to be only online though it graced the pages of some national dailies)

My research brought me to the conclusion that Yerima did not initiate any new bill but had instead called for the sustenance of the said subsection 29 (4b) due to the fact that there were citizens of the country, women in this case, who might have been married before clocking 18 (the universal standard for maturity and adulthood). It must be stated too that though overlooked at times, maturity varied along geographical lines which might have prompted the creators of the constitution to put a provision for women who have found themselves married, before this acknowledged age, the right to be considered adults and thus, enabled the right to renounce their citizenship if they so will. Yerima’s motion was however moved from the religious point of view that gave no particular age limitations to marriage as puberty varies along geographical lines. Thus he forbade that restrictions be made concerning the issue where it did not exist in his Islamic faith. The subsection did not in any way support paedophilia. So where did the Child Marriage Act generate from? A phobia generated for Yerima, his ideologies and creed, I suggest?!

While my little research also made me understand that the brouhaha might have started abroad, the way in which it was swallowed hook, line and sinker by Nigerians gave me very much to worry about as again I understood how easy it was to be colonized by Europeans now and again. Was I to expect anything less from a generation distanced from libraries and married to frivolities?

The Child Not Bride campaign was uncalled for and insightfully a representation of our collective ignorance of the law binding the Nigerian society and also our unwillingness to seek proper knowledge when approached with these kinds of situations especially when our sense of reasoning had been murdered by sentiments. It also showed in essence the distance of the youth, most especially, from the nitty-gritty of the country’s affairs, as little are aware of the cogent issues threatening the progress of this country being possibly mismanaged at the House of Senate- a gory sight of Nigeria’s future.

I must again clearly state that any matters concerning the infringement of rights of the minors must be handled with the utmost seriousness and thus though based on ignorance, appreciate the level of interest shown by Nigerians especially university colleagues who use social media in this case. However, I can only hope that our social media activism can be converted into a realistic and more physical approach! This I believe can only be undertaken by the courageous and would mean the best for this nation as anyone can sit anywhere and claim to want to die for Nigeria in tweets and posts.

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Habeeb Kolade is a Mechanical Engineering student of the University of Ibadan and tweets from @Habeed_x

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

Comments (33)

  1. Mr Peter, before you get all angry here I’d like you to read this article http://abusidiqu.com/?p=15775. I’m not in support of marriage below the age of maturity(although maturity has no age). I’m strongly against it. What people don’t just seem to see is that the problems people associate with child marriage are problems of marriage generally…problems of the society. Someone mentioned that it affects education. I’ll like to point out that many families give out their daughters in marriage beacuse of financial constraints. Whether the girl is married or not, how sure are we that she’s going to attend school and not suffer for it through child labour. We should be clamouring for laws that’ll enforce education on every child, married or unmarried and not spending countless hours arguing on an issue that has no perfect solution. Laws against child labour and abuse should also be enforced. Folashade, your friend suffered what she suffered because she was forced into it. Islamic law requires that the lady’s consent must be sought before a marriage can’t take place. It is also important to note that VVF is not caused by child marriage(check wikipedia or any source you have). If its so necessary that one must marry an underage girl, instead of child marriage, I suggest having her engaged to you while giving the girl the opportunity to either reject or continue with the marriage when she reaches full age.

    1. I forgot to add that consumation should not be allowed by the lady until she’s physically matured enough to have sex and give birth.

  2. Well, right from time, issues relating to Islamic religion has been addressed with sentiments and injustice. Lagos Hijab saga is another case. Nigerians are so ‘westoxicated’ that they prefer to marry at age 40 when the ‘achieve their goal in this life’. During this period of ‘Knowledge acquisition’ (western knowledge), they will engage have Carnal knowledge of themselves because they can not control their sexual emotions any longer. Nobody will detest this. Even Government Agencies assist them in this immoral act, giving them ‘enhancer’ and ‘preventor’ of the deadly virus. But when someone choose to marry early to avoid fornication, they yell!

    1. @ Tee Elf, I hope you know that the concept of marriage includes two consenting adults to the marriage and not that one 50-something year old man who picks a 13 year girl old to marry. How does that balance out? The man controls the child’s entire life and she is young enough to be his grand daughter. Shame on you Tee Elf. You said “to avoid fornication”, Yerima can not say that the 13 year old girl is his first wife, if he wanted to avoid fornication he would go back to his other wives and sleep with them not pluck a fresh meat from the block.
      Every law that lacks morality should not be upheld and every selfish individual that wants to hide under the guise of religion to promote his selfish means should be openly shamed. The constituion represents a majority say of the whole nation and if the majority protests to the unfairness of certain sections of the constitution, it is the responsibility of the law-makers to fix it. That’s what they get paid for. Those evil bastards! The stupid Yerima lacks shame. That is why he would have the gut to even speak out on this issue, even after the protest of his marriage to that child. It is up to us to save this nation from the cruel hands of those who hide under religion to promote selfish means.

  3. I'm not applauding the writer, oluwafemi is one of those who made a comment on the article, pls confirm

  4. Do you know what it means to bring a legislation to bare through the back door? It's simple logic. Once the constitution gives the right to be adults to all married girls, most girls in the North are married before 15 years, it therefore means a married 8 year old girl is an adult.

  5. What made a lot of people ignorant is because they really don’t know much about this, especially those on BBM they just re broadcast. Basically I feel its not ignorance fighting for what is right, that girl is just starting to put her dreams together, why destroy her organs? Way back in secondary school my friend Amina was made to marry a man,same age as her father, after the marriage Amina was caged, she wasn’t allowed to even go to the market, we couldn’t go visiting. Until Amina ran away from the house and wanted to commit sucide, now she’s divorced at a very young age. I believe if people can come out instead of tweeting and broadcasting all dis will be worth while and a quick one is patience jonathan alive?

  6. At first my approach to this was sentimental and never thoughtof ppl that were victim to this in reality •i think the problem we’ve got is the fact that most Nigerians don’t know the constitution and act rashly to public matters that they consider wrong

  7. Nice English but without insight. Cant this writer jst read in between the lines? Where is your sense of intuition? Dont you read the papers? Have you been in Nigeria all the while? This English should be spoken in the house not on media. Of all the issues that is at stake in Nigeria, all stupid Yerima could emphasize is a small part of the constitution that could justify his shameful acts. He is affirmed troubled with Peadophilia; a real anti-social disorder. He has only placed his foot at the door, if we allow him open the door fully, we’ll all be dazled by his terrible utterance.Look Mr. Writer, thank your stars this is on the net, if you had come to say this in any public scene, you would have been stoned to death.

  8. Nice English but without insight. Cant this writer jst read in between the lines? Where is your sense of intuition? Dont you read the papers? Have you been in Nigeria all the while? This English should be spoken in the house not on media. Of all the issues that is at stake in Nigeria, all stupid Yerima could emphasize is a small part of the constitution that could justify his shameful acts. He is affirmed troubled with Peadophilia; a real anti-social disorder. He has only placed his foot at the door, if we allow him open the door fully, we’ll all be dazled by his terrible utterance.Look Mr. Writer, thank your stars this is on the net, if you had come to say this in any public scene, you would have been stoned to death.

  9. Outragous….misinformed…correct, but…I was socked that Nigeria constitution inherently recognized that a pre-teen girl could be married out…for whatever reason. You are 'civilized', what is your position on that?

  10. Maybe we could not understand the constitution(and is that our fault?) But we all knew what senator yerima’s intention was and we had to fight back!! He was not talking of citizenship but age of marriage so call it whatever as far as I am concern the campaign was necessary and I still say #girlchildnotbride

  11. Ãήϑ u Mr Editor, you better tink before you u write ok? Am a mass communication student Ãήϑ in mass communication, your opinion as a Writter or journalists, is not important. It is irrelevant.

  12. Even with all if this I am still upset. Full age is no age then why are so careful in the present of kids under 18 Ãήϑ y is it Yerima that will quote the law in Islam? Were there no other senetors? This is because the is a waste of Birth. There is no age under Islamic Law for marriage but there is age to Vote.

  13. Like someone said here, there is still a loophole in the constitution which leaves room for paedophilia so I think its wrong to say people’s actions were unneccesary.

  14. Habeeb, When I read your write-up, I mentally agreed with you because I had always felt there was a lot of noise on Senator Yerima promoting a clause allowing under-age marriage in the Nigerian constitution without people understanding the ‘offensive clause or section’ or the argument that led to this issue; and your article also brilliantly supports my notions and explains that Senator Yerima had done no wrong..but a second review showing a flaw in this(and your reasoning), a reasoning that believes the context of the law should be interpreted in good faith and in accordance with the basic human moral principles…when other Senators moved a motion for expunging this section..it was because allowing the clause ” a woman who is married is of ripe age’ (this is mine ..to denounce the citizenship of her current country Nigeria) to remain in this section or apply only as it relates to that section is acceptable, but when pulled out (as it would be), it defines a whole new limit for marriage..it states that all married woman are of full age… but as there are no age limits defining when woman can married..it means when a 50 year old man marries a girl of 4 years..he has not committed a crime yet ( as our constitution allows that) and means as soon as they are married the man is covered by law as the girl at that point has attained the age of ‘ripeness) so any law that forbids an adult having carnal knowledge of kids (whether in or out of marriage) become ineffectual in that context,Let me explain its like there is no law saying that I can’t steal..so if I steal successfully and the stolen goods is in my hands, any law that prohibits me from walking away with my neighbors property or disrespecting his right to property holding is useless cos the law states if it is in my hands..it is mine… so we need to add clauses that state the limit for marriage for man and women (18 years seems proper in line with global reasoning), and a law that forbids marriage before this age (but might support betrothal – as long as both parties have a right to refusal when they come of age and there are no undue pressure, abnormal expectations on the little groom or bride before they are 18 -except as allowed by morality and this betrothal is not consummation by sex, what is the rush…why can’t you just allow the girl/guy grow up).. I will like to see the part of the Holy Quoran that states marriage can be at any age or allows that. The people that protested did not do it solely on ignorance, it was done unconsciously based on the knowledge that we need to tighten our constitution so as not to allow immoral beliefs creep into our social fabric….

  15. Well written piece. Although Yerima’s point was valid, it was insufficient considering the situation of indiscrimate childbirth, vvf, high illiteracy rate, poor healthcare service and other ills in the Nigerian society. Because a lady experiences her menarche at age 11 doesn’t make it appropriate for her to get married the year after. The #ChildNotBride campaignin itself is laudable but it came into being as a result of Yerima’s argument which I insist was logical but not the best. The religious dimension introduced to it however was very wrong and only goes to show how ignorant people are. Mr Habeeb, one thing you pointed out that I’ll like to commend is the blind adoption of ideas common among Nigerians. People are lazy and unwilling to think for themselves and it undermines our potential as humans and as a nation

  16. Don’t mind that stupid yerima!seeking justice 4 his sexual deviances.as old as he is,what he’s thinking of is how to disvirgin young naïve girls instead of moving d nation 4ward. As you can see,our leaders r not our shepherd.

  17. Much Hype over #ChildNotBride#
    Usually i am not an ardent follower of the News,but this child marriage issue really caught my attention.
    I wouldnt say i have the whole fact,as that wouldnt be possible because i have not seen the “proposed bill.
    However,people have repeatedly been hyping over Section 29(4)B of our wonderful constitution.
    Also i read 2 most read newspapers,and while 1 states that Yerima voted for S.29(4)B to be deleted/expunged,the other states that he voted that the section be left and not amended.
    Now my question is this:
    How many of us actually read the content of the provision
    How many of us who read the provision actually understood it.
    Section 29 as a whole,deals with “Renunciation of Citizenship”
    Subsection 4(a),states that a pesn of age 18 and above will be deemed to be of full age (thereby eligible to renunce citizenship).
    Sub4(B) which is in contention states that”Any WOMAN who is maRried is deemed to be of full age”
    Now lets work with ENGLISH:
    A woman,is a “female who is a fully grown adult”
    An ADULT is “a person who has attained majority
    The age for Majority in Our Dear Country is 18
    The section doesnt state”girl,female,lady,BUT WOMAN
    So for u to be a woman,u must be 18 and above,so my question is:Where. Lies the problem?
    Whether the section is expunged or retained,i see no correlation and i see no way it promotes child marriage.
    I beleive people looked beyond the billl and focused on who proposed same
    So its best we analyse issues bfo picking sides
    As for me,if d section stays or if it is deleted,it doesnt affect anybody.

  18. Whaoo, this is a wonderful piece and an eye opener, for a mind that knows is a mind that is free.

  19. Much Hype over #ChildNotBride#
    Usually i am not an ardent follower of the News,but this child marriage issue really caught my attention.
    I wouldnt say i have the whole fact,as that wouldnt be possible because i have not seen the “proposed bill.
    However,people have repeatedly been hyping over Section 29(4)B of our wonderful constitution.
    Also i read 2 most read newspapers,and while 1 states that Yerima voted for S.29(4)B to be deleted/expunged,the other states that he voted that the section be left and not amended.
    Now my question is this:
    How many of us actually read the content of the provision
    How many of us who read the provision actually understood it.
    Section 29 as a whole,deals with “Renunciation of Citizenship”
    Subsection 4(a),states that a pesn of age 18 and above will be deemed to be of full age (thereby eligible to renunce citizenship).
    Sub4(B) which is in contention states that”Any WOMAN who is maRried is deemed to be of full age”
    Now lets work with ENGLISH:
    A woman,is a “female who is a fully grown adult”
    An ADULT is “a person who has attained majority
    The age for Majority in Our Dear Country is 18
    The section doesnt state”girl,female,lady,BUT WOMAN
    So for u to be a woman,u must be 18 and above,so my question is:Where. Lies the problem?
    Whether the section is expunged or retained,i see no correlation and i see no way it promotes child marriage.
    I beleive people looked beyond the billl and focused on who proposed same
    So its best we analyse issues bfo picking sides
    As for me,if d section stays or if it is deleted,it doesnt affect anybody.
    Aliyyah Bolarinwa

    1. With due respect,I think you got it all wrong.The constitution did not consider a ‘woman’ to necessarily be of full age,being 18yrs.If it did,it wouldn’t have included the Sub. Sec.4(B) which said “(b) any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age.”.Meaning,someone who is considered a woman may be less than 18yrs.So,there actually is a need for a need for the uproar.

  20. most of us just delved into the #childnotbride rife without actually knowing the details, tnx for enlightening us.

  21. Well said but many of the people that protested did so not out of ignorance like u tried to suggest but out of the knowledge of how things work in Nigeria. I knew no new law/clause was added but i protested bcos that clause remains a loophole in our constitution and gives room to paedophiles to marry and have sex wt our underage girls bcos a religion permits it and its in our constitution that “any woman who is married is deemed to be of full age”. That clause gives room for illegality/abuse. Really, in your opinion, is a married 10,11,12 year old girl of FULL AGE? Yerima married a 13yrs old girl, was she of full age. That girl shd be in Jss 2 or 3. Our girls shd be in school not subjected to sexual abuse thru a sham marriage. Is a 13yrs old girl wise, intelligent & emotionally mature enough to make a marriage decision? U judge for urself. Yes I protested along with hundreds of right thinking Nigerians who saw a loophole in our constitution that gives ground for abuse of the girl child. Again I say #GirlChildnotBride.

    1. You are blessed for this.That subsection of the constitution is a huge loophole that actually gave the paedophile senator (Sen.Yerima) to marry an underage girl.We may have been ignorant of that loophole,but now we are not.

    2. God bless U. So long as any1 who tries to address this issue is a muslim, I don’t expect less bcause islam is in support of paedophilia. Either way, I still say Kudos 2 Habeeb for shedding more light on this issue.

  22. Impressed beyond words that we have wasted precious time on issues that need not be.

  23. Guys, I will not call the protest unnecessary! Yes, most Nigerians never knew in essence that there was really no law saying you had to be 18 before you married; but this has indirectly brought it out. I mean, Yerima had to do what he did because if that section was deleted, then any good lawyer can extrapolate it through a carefully laid out argument and arrive at a 18 years consent age. So, Kolade, yes you were right on the grounds of our collective ignorance…but now that we know, please, don't call the protest unnecessary!

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