Nigeria Content Online

The International
Criminal Police Organization [INTERPOL] has asked the National Central
Bureau (NCB) in Lagos, for relevant information concerning the marriage
of Ahmed Yerima, the former Zamfara State governor to an Egyptian minor.

The spokesperson
of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Lambert Oparah, said
INTERPOL, in a letter addressed to the commission, confirmed that it is
taking over the case for further investigation. “The issue of Mr
Yerima’s alleged child marriage has been transmitted to competent
police directorate within the general secretariat of INTERPOL for
appropriate follow up,” he said.

Mr Yerima faces
investigation over his marriage to an under-aged girl from Egypt,
contrary to sections 21, 22 and 23 of the Child Rights Act 2003, and
this has led to his been quizzed by the National Agency for the
Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP). A preliminary
investigation report conducted by the agency also revealed that Mr
Yerima was guilty and should be prosecuted by the office of the
attorney general. The report, which was submitted to the office of the
Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Bello
Adoke, in June, detailed a number of steps taken by the controversial
former state governor in a bid to evade legal scrutiny over the
marriage.

Contempt of law

Mr Yerima,
according to NAPTIP, was fully aware that the Egyptian law prevents
union with minors as well as marriage between persons with more than 25
years age difference. Hence, he moved the venue of the marriage
ceremony to Nigeria, where the enforcement of child rights regulation
is seemingly lax. The father of the minor, Saleh Mohammed Eladly, who
was paid a $100,000 dowry given to him by the Nigerian senator, was
also accused of disguising his status to procure a visa into Nigeria
for the marriage. “The senator not only held our law with disdain, but
encouraged foreigners to break same,” the NAPTIP report says.

On March 15, 2010, Mr Elady bundled his 14-year-old daughter onto an
Egypt Air, Flight MS 877, en route Abuja. On board the flight were his
32 guests. Mr Yerima, according to NAPTIP, sponsored the flight. On the
17th of March, 2010, barely two months after her 14th birthday, Marim
was dressed up for the marriage. Her groom, the 49-year-old father of
26 children, later wedded her according to Islamic jurisprudence in the
Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. The marriage was conducted at
the Abuja Central Mosque by the Chief Imam of the mosque, in the
presence of Mr. Yerima’s guardian, Moktar Ahmed Anka, and the bride’s
guardian, Maged Saleh Mohammed.