Yerima faces jail term if found guilty
If found guilty of
marriage to a child, Ahmed Yerima, a senator and the former governor of
Zamfara state faces five years imprisonment, the director of legal
service, National Human Rights Commission, Olukayode Sebanjo have said.
Mr. Sebanjo made
the assertion in Abuja on Wednesday when he led a team of human right
officers to the national assembly to prove a case against Yerima before
the senate committee on Ethics and Petitions.
Mr Yerima is
accused of marrying a 13 years old daughter of his Egyptian driver and
the Human Rights Commission say it is a violation of Child Right Act
Federal Capital Territory where the marriage was contracted. The Child
Rights Act is fully domesticated in Abuja, the federal capital
territory.
Mr. Sebanjo argued
that if the marriage been contracted in Zamfara where the Act is not
domesticated, the Commission would not have bothered much about it
because the Child Rights Act which Yerima is accused of flouting is not
domesticated in Zamfara, where he was governor for eight years.
Although Yerima was
present at the plenary earlier in the day, he was absent at the hearing
and no mention was made of his appearance or reason for absence.
The National Human
Rights Commission delegation added that when proven, that Yerima
violated the Act the punishment would be five years in jail or N500,
000 or both.
“Section 21 of that
act stipulates that no person under the age of 18 years is capable of
contracting a valid marriage and accordingly a marriage contracted is
null and void and of no effect whatsoever and the punishment is
stipulated in section 23 of that same act, which says the person who
marry a child or whom a child is betrothed or who promotes the marriage
or who betroths a child commits an offence and he is liable of
conviction to a fine of N500,000 or imprisonment for a term of 5 years
or both such fine or imprisonment,” the Director said.
Not above the law
When asked by the
senators what the Commission wants the Senate to do about the Yerima’s
case, Mr. Sebanjo told the Committee on Ethics and Petition to
investigate the issue thoroughly and ascertain the age of the girl and
her mode of entry into the country.
The human rights delegation also countered Yerima’s arguments that the age of his bride is misrepresented.
“Whether she is 13
years or 14 years, under the law operational in Abuja which is the
Federal Capital Territory, she is regarded as a child under the Child
Right Act 2003. If a marriage truly took place between Senator Yerima
and the 13 years or 14 years old child, the laws are there as to what
the Act,” Mr. Sebanjo argued.
He also dispelled Mr Yerima’s argument that his actions were compliant with Islamic laws saying that under any law,
whether Christian, Islam, Ogun or atheism, the Child Right does not permit marriage under the age of 18 years.
Nigeria problem at this moment is more than an individual. I think we should talk of important thing than Yerima and his wife. You are talking of child right act here, how many children are on the street looking for what to eat, many are drop out of school, no access to quality education all this are not right of a child.
Abege make nua talk of better thing.