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| Africa Subsaharan |
| A Nigerian Senator's "private matter" |
| 2010-05-02 |
| In Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, a Senator of the Federal Republic and former Governor of Zamfara, Ahmed Sani Yerima has done something that should infuriate all right-thinking members of our society. He travels to Egypt to procure a 13-year old girl as bride for a sum of $100, 000 and he organises a public wedding at the Abuja National Mosque. The 13-year old girl is his fourth wife, a replacement for an earlier 15-year old who had to be divorced so the Egyptian child bride could take her place. This has attracted appropriate public outrage, but now Senator Yerima has spoken on BBC Hausa Service and he insists that he has not violated any law. The Child Rights Act does not exist in his home state of Zamfara and his marriage to the lady in question does not violate any Islamic law, he says. He has told us that his marriage is a private matter. And asked how old the girl-child now his wife is, Yerima says he has not done anything that the Koran, Islam and the Sharia do not approve of. What kind of man is this fellow? Clearly his conduct brings Nigerians to ridicule; outsiders may be tempted to believe that cradle-snatching is standard practice among our kind. He further raises questions about the quality of persons who get elected/appointed to high office in Nigeria. Will anyone please help tell Yerima that the Child Rights Act exists in the Federal Capital Territory where his marriage to the Egyptian girl-child was contracted, and so he has violated the law? And will the police proceed to arrest him and enforce the law, as there are other laws in the statute books which criminalise girl-child marriage, child abuse, child trafficking and peadophilia? As a member of the National Assembly of Nigeria, is Yerima making laws for the Sharia or for the good governance of Nigeria in line with the Constitution? It is the country's Constitution that is the grundnorm, not the Koran. He doesn't know this and yet he has been a Governor and now a Senator? Yerima insists that his marriage is a private matter, the same silly excuse that was initially given by the leadership of the Senate, whose members we would be right to believe were witnesses at the wedding, and who must have sent messages of congratulations to their colleague on his achievement. Well, let them be told that this matter is not private, for it goes right to the heart of the quality of our society's value system, the dignity of man, and the rights of children. This has been the bane of the development process in Nigeria: this reduction of everything to a private matter. When politicians commit an offence and they are indicted, the traditional rulers and the youth in their communities insist that their kinsman cannot be touched because whatever he may have done is a "private matter." When politicians behave badly and there is a clamour that they should be sanctioned, the political parties to which they belong hijack due process by proclaiming that it is "a family affair." When a lawmaker breaks the law with impunity by marrying an under-aged girl, he and his colleagues insist also that it is "a private matter." Rigged elections, stolen public funds, misgovernance have all been explained away as private matters in the last eleven years and see where that has left Nigeria. The leadership recruitment process has also been turned into a private affair, it is never about the common public interest, as Godfathers in different parts of the country and at different times select who gets into what elective position. The Godfather is of course not interested in public service or quality, or merit. He wants to exercise power and authority by proxy, and control the treasury from a distance. The choices he makes could range from the sick and incapacitated to an over-pampered son or daughter, a favourite wife or concubine or an idiotic protégé whose only relevance is that he must never forget that he got to office as another man's private representative in power. As for Ahmed Sani Yerima, he should not be allowed to get away lightly. Hopefully, one of these days, it would be possible to lay hands on a photograph of him and his child-wife, the publication of that would be a major public exposure of his guilt with all its attendant ridiculousness. And those friends of his who witnessed the wedding, who are they? What is their sense of morality? Surely, Ahmed Sani Yerima is not the only man involved in this private business of catching them young for bedroom services, and it is a shame that he is shameless about it. What does he expect us to do with that his arrogant response? Clap for him? His current exposure in the public arena is not in any way distinguished. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #4 'Sorry, all the boxes before I leave say I have to be over 18, stinking infidel internet. Not funny at all. |
| Posted by: Rhodesiafever 2010-05-02 22:08 |
| #3 We did however perfect it. America: we may not have invented it, but we definitely made it... better. ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-05-02 14:38 |
| #2 It happened everywhere mein heer. We did however perfect it. If the first fucking RINO hadn't been elected the US would haven't ended slavery until after Brazil. Yes, I know, experten blog-warriors will tell us differently, but I laugh at their weak sense of Volk. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2010-05-02 10:10 |
| #1 |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-05-02 08:10 |