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A
senator and former governor of Zamfara State, Ahmed Sani Yerima was
yesterday questioned by officials of the National Agency for
Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other Related Matters (NAPTIP) at
their head quarters in Abuja over his marriage to an Egyptian minor.

Mr. Yerima, who
recently got married to a 14-year girl in Abuja, had been invited by
the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria and NAPTIP, but refused
to respond to the issues.

He was however
granted bail on self recognition hours after his questioning on Tuesday
and was asked to report back to the Agency on the 15 June,2010. While
outside the court, Mr. Yerima told journalists that he was not bound by
the laws of this nation but by Islamic laws, which he claimed he has
not breached.

Mr Yerima, prior
to contracting his marriage to the Egyptian child, had divorced a
teenage wife whom he married when she was fifteen and is now seventeen.

Arinze Orakwe,
head of communication and media of NAPTIP, confirmed the senator’s
presence in the agency’s headquarters, and revealed that Mr. Yerima was
released after more than two hours of questioning and was told to be
available for further questioning on June 15.

“He told the panel
that he has not contravened any law and he tendered his marriage
certificate to the girl in a Shari’a Court,” he said. “NAPTIP made it
clear to him that the agency had invited him to clear the air over the
allegation of his marriage to a minor which contradicts the laws under
the Child Rights Act.”

The National Human Rights Commission, in a statement, commended NAPTIP for its intervention.

“This singular act
has demonstrated that impunity has no place under the current
democratic dispensation and sends a loud and clear warning that nobody
is above or beneath the law in this country,” stated the commission,
while announcing its preparedness to collaborate actively with the
agency in addressing the human rights issues raised by Mr. Yerima’s
actions.

Lawbreaker

Meanwhile,
Alliances for Africa, a non-governmental group, in a statement
delivered to the 47th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on
Human and Peoples Rights in Banjul, The Gambia, says it “is greatly
concerned about the continuing incidents of early marriages in Africa.
The cases of early marriage or child marriage were evident among some
of the masses but are becoming a practice condoned by government
officials.”

The group cited the instance of Mr. Yerima’s marriage to the Egyptian as evidence of this.

“Although, in the
best interest of the child, it is not advisable to disclose the name of
the child, investigations reveal that the child is the daughter of
(Mr.) Yerima’s driver in Cairo, Egypt. Investigations also show that
Senator Yerima, prior to contracting a marriage to the Egyptian child,
divorced a teenage wife whom he married when she was fifteen and is now
seventeen and has a son for the Senator.

The seventeen year
old’s education was stopped during the time of the marriage and like
the Egyptian child, is the daughter of a former driver to the Senator.”

Alliance for
Africa said Mr. Yerima’s marriage “is a clear violation of Section 21
of the Child’s Rights Act of Nigeria 2003, which forbids the marriage
of persons below 18 years and imposes a punishment of N500,000, or
5-year jail term, or both.

It also violates
Article 21(2) of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the
Child which prohibits child marriage and betrothal, as well as Article
6(b), African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of
Women in Africa that provides that the minimum age of marriage for
women is 18 years. Egyptian Law also limits the minimum age of marriage
to 18 years.”

The group also
decried the health implications of child brides which, it says, are
quite grave in Nigeria with an attendant high incidence of VVF
(Vesico-Vaginal Fistula) in Northern Nigeria.

“The annals of African medicine journals in a recent study stated
that 73% of VVF victims in Northern Nigeria are between the ages of 10
and 20. Most of the VVF victims were 15 years or less when they married
and majority were illiterate,” the group said.