by Kolapo Olapoju
Definitely, one person, a Senator of the All Progressives Congress, will be furious at the new cause Aisha Buhari, has chosen to champion.
It’s none other than Ahmed Yerima, the man who sparked the #ChildNotBride campaign, owing to his fetish for little girls.
The incoming First Lady of Nigeria, is pushing for a global legislation that will protect the girl child from early marriage.
But the former governor of Zamfara state, who was the first Nigerian Governor to implement Sharia law in his state- believes it’s his God-given right to marry female children, if he so pleases.
After coming under intense criticism for marrying a 13-year-old Egyptian girl, Yerima justified his actions by saying he was only following in the footsteps of Prophet Mohammed.
“I am only following Prophet Mohammed’s footsteps who married a nine-year-old girl, Aishatu. I do not work with such law that runs counter to my religion. For clarity, I do not have to obey the Child Rights Act so long as it contravenes my religious belief and I’m sick and tired of repeating myself all the time. I hope I can be left alone now.”
“As a Muslim, as I always say, I consider God’s law and that of his prophet above any other law. I consider all those complaining about this issue as detractors, because since 1999, many people have been waging different kind of wars against me. I don’t care about the issue of age since I have not violated any rule as far as Islam is concerned. History tells us that Prophet Muhammad did marry a young girl as well. Therefore I have not contravened any law.”
Who then is Mrs Buhari to try and deny him of his religious right, after all the contribution he made to the successful formation of the APC, which gave her husband the opportunity to be elected President. – Yerima must wonder.
The former governor, who once sponsored a bill in the Nigerian Senate that would recognise child brides as adults- must have an ax to grind Aisha Buhari, who he must believe, is an enemy of progress to his cause.
The ’cause’ being that- since he divorced the Egyptian girl, 3 years after marrying her, he may be cooking up plans to marry another girl-child.
And now, Mrs Buhari just had to antagonise a fellow party member who has done nothing wrong but marry underage girls.
Don’t be shocked one bit if Yerima rushes to get married to another girl-child before Aisha Buhari’s legislation gains traction
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