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The law enforcement crises that
has followed the marriage between Ahmed Yerima, a 49-year-old senator,
to a 13-year-old Egyptian girl, has bolstered the cases of paedophilia
in Nigeria, child rights activists have said.

The activists, who gathered at
Abuja during the week for a support dinner for the Global Association
of Women Attorneys (GAFA), identified the inability of the attorney
general of the federation and the inspector general of police to
prosecute Mr Yerima for breaking a child rights law, as an
encouragement for gender-based violence.

“Though there is little statistics
to document the trend, there is no gainsaying that both at the home
front and in the workplace, the female gender has had her psych
adversely affected by this assault,” Chinelo Irele, President of the
GAFA said.

“Law enforcement in this regard
has been less than satisfactory, owing in part to factors of tradition,
religion, and economic disempowerment.”

The GAFA had led a group of other
women organizations to the National Assembly to protest Mr Yerima’s
marriage to his Egyptian driver’s 13-year-old child, at the wake of the
marriage which was contracted in the national mosque early this year.

Chidi Odinkalu, the director of
Africa Program Open Society Justice Initiative, who was a guest speaker
at the dinner, described the pattern as fallout of the law enforcement
crises the senator’s marriage caused; juxtaposing Mr Yerima’s position
as a lawmaker with the lack of will on the part of the law enforcement
agencies to prosecute him.

“Increasingly, a lot of us now see cases of paedophilia on the pages of our newspapers every day,” Mr Odinkalu said.

He countered Mr Yerima’s logic
that his religion permits such marriages, saying it is not tenable in a
civilized society like Nigeria’s. He argued that Mr Yerima’s marriage
to the child was not destined by faith, but a choice he made. “When a
man makes such a choice, society should be able to say, ‘that man is
unfit to make laws for us. That man is unfit to answer distinguished,
and unsafe for any civilised society.’”

Law enforcement crises

Emmanuel Ojukwu, the national
public relations officer of the Nigeria police, who also spoke at the
event, blamed the increasing incidences of girl child abuse on the
economy, and “politics and the lack of will to implement all decisions
made at every strata of government.” He also argued that the Nigerian
society and culture covers crime to save the face of the families
involved.

He narrated a case in which a man
above 50 years raped his about-four-year-old niece, and the mother of
the child tried to hide it, saying it is a family matter.

“These issues continue because we
all compromise,” Mr Ojukwu said. “Those who are supposed to speak keep
silent. When evil persists, we keep quiet; after all, it is our
culture, it is our religion, we don’t want our family to be exposed and
then we keep encouraging evil to continue and look for people to blame.

“What have you done when it
happens next to you? This gathering is a clarion call to all of us to
wake up to our responsibilities. We’ve kept quiet for too long. Now is
time to act.”

He advised the public to act by
supporting organisations like the GAFA that take it upon themselves to
dig out the vices in the society and sensitise the nation.

Other speakers at the event took
turns to condemn gender-based violence and marriages to children who
are mostly coerced into the contract. They argued that such sexual
relationships are rape and should be handled as strictly so by the law
enforcement agencies, notwithstanding the office of the individual
involved.

Ishak Bello, a justice of the
Federal Capital Territory Appeal Court, who also identified the
narrow-mindedness of the Nigerian society and family with regards to
handling issues of girl child abuse, argued differently, saying sexual
intercourse with children is defilement, and not rape.

“Of course she is not in the
position to give consent, in law,” the judge said. “It is not even
love-making; you are just having sex with her.”

Besides the condemnations, the
dinner was good and donations rolled out generously in support of the
GAFA who have also asked to be joined in the suit the Islamic community
have filed against the federal government and the senate over the
matter.