Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Senator representing Ondo State Central at the National Assembly, Senator Ayo Akinyelure yesterday made a U-turn and begged the people of the state to forgive him for his decision to support the controversial underage marriage proposal.
The Senator, who was weeping like a baby and also prostrating at a stakeholders meeting held at Adegbemile Cultural Centre in Akure, where he was summoned by his constituents, said he voted in error.
The Senator, popularly known as Allover, urged the people to count it as part of human errors which could have been committed by anyone.
It would be recalled that the Ondo State Senator was listed in a DailyPost report as one of the senators who voted for underage marriage.
This popular report also showed that the Senator was the only lawmaker from South West who supported the proposed law.
This particular stand of the lawmaker had aroused anger among his people who believe that he had betrayed them.
In order to dissociate themselves from his action, the people had earlier converged at the same venue on Saturday to show their grievances over the senator’s action by signing a protest register.
But, Akinyelure, while defending himself on the issue, claimed that he mistakenly press “NO” instead of “YES” when the lawmakers embarked on voting, since the voting style was electronic.
According to him, “nobody is above human error. What happened has made me to become wiser, because nobody is perfect, except God. I will like to make the following clarifications on the subject matter to correct the wrong allegations of voting in favour of underage marriage as widely reported in the national dailies.
“Before this issue occurred, what the Senate considered for determination under the review of Nigerian constitution was renunciation of citizenship under the constitution contained under section 29 (4b) which provides that all married women shall be of age”. It is worthy of note that full age has been defined under section 29 (4a) to mean “the age of 18 years and above”.
The question before the Senate for determination therefore, was whether the clause which provides that “a married woman is deemed to be of full age to renounce her citizenship of Federal Republic of Nigeria should be retained or be deleted? Section 29 (1) of the constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria provides that “Any Citizen of Nigeria of full age who wishes to renounce his citizenship shall make a declaration in the prescribed manner for the renunciation.
“The question before the senate for which I voted in favour was that whether a married woman is deemed to be of full age to renounce her Nigerian Citizenship and not whether a woman can marry before attaining the age of 18 years. This is quite different from voting in favour of underage marriage as widely reported in the media to blackmail senators of Federal Republic of Nigeria, that believe in the peaceful co-existence of Nigeria as a nation and to avoid possible religious crises and security challenges that may likely result from deleting this clause in question from the constitution, hence, I voted for the clause to remain.
“This implies that renunciation of Nigeria Citizenship is quite different from age of marriage of Nigeria Citizens under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I submit this clarification to the whole Nigeria and the world at large that I, my people in Ondo Central and the Government of Ondo State did not support underage marriage in all ramifications.
“Therefore, my voting “No” was in clear error of misinterpretation and I had no opportunity to correct what is deemed to be my error now, because I would have been able to correct my error before the voting was concluded by the Senate. We make use of electronic vote and you can’t make correction ones you make an error.
“However, the position of the senate would have remained the same if I had voted YES to section 29 (4b) to be removed from the constitution, because for the clause to be passed by the senate, it requires 73 votes, representing two/third majority votes. Therefore, my voting YES would have brought the result to 61 YES and 34 NO, hence, not meeting the requirements for passage. I therefore, use this medium to apologise to my constituency members and the good people of Ondo State, for voting in error as a result of my wrong interpretation without any ample opportunity to make correction before voting was concluded”.
Despite all these explanations given by the senator, the people who were majorly woman and members of the ruling Labour Party, LP, were not satisfied, and remained adamant.
Some of them who spoke at the meeting said the senator had taken a decision which had put the people of the state to shame.
The Idanre Local government women leader, Mrs. Abike Tiamiyu who is from the same local government as the senator, said what the senator had done does not call for total condemnation. However, she was booed by the people for supporting the senator.
Akinyelure was particularly asked by Ifedore local government LP women leader, Mrs. Iyabo Ojo if the he took a bribe before supporting underage marriage.
The state coordinator of the National Council for Women Society, Mrs. Kikelomo Adeniyi said any of the senators who believe he or she is a good parent will never support early marriage for a girl child.
She noted that if women are allowed to marry at any age, when would they be able to contribute their quotas to the development of the nation?
“Legalising underage marriage is more or less preventing woman from occupying great positions in the country. We have several females in the National Assembly. If their parents had supported early marriage, would they have been able to get that position?” She asked.
Meanwhile, before the arrival of the senator and his entourage, including some government officials, the House of Assembly members and leaders of LP, hundreds of residents of his senatorial district had besieged the venue of the event protesting over the lawmaker’s action.
Following this action, some of his loyalists were forced to disperse the protesters with stones.
Some of the placards displayed by the aggrieved protesters had the inscriptions, “Ayo Akinyelure sold our daughters pride for money” “Allover failed to protect Yoruba Culture” “Child murder is not Yoruba Culture” Akinyelure be warned’ Yoruba Culture not for sale” among others.
It took the intervention of the Police before order was restored at the venue.
The senator who denied that he sent anyone to disperse the protesters, however appealed for forgiveness.
No to child marriage
According to Tunde Aremu of Gender and Constitution Reform Network, GECORN, most senators who voted did not properly understand the provisions of section 29 sub sections 4a and 4b. “The section is talking about citizenship and not just child marriage alone.
The section contradicts previous sections as it is ambiguous that it was subject to misinterpretation and mischief that it can be misunderstood even in the courts”.
“The issue is that the section contradicts the one that stipulates that adulthood starts from 18years. The section which seeks to redefine a woman who marries at 18yrs is unnecessary.
“Section ‘b’ does not add value rather it promotes discrimination against the female child. The 18 years adult mark given by previous sections is not restricted to gender. It covers the male and female gender”.
As for the International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA, Senate’s resolution to retain child marriage under the provisions of section 29 (4) (b) of the 1999 Constitution is disheartening.
FIDA registered its dissatisfaction on the resolution by the Red House under the Section, which states that a married underage girl is deemed to be an adult.
In a statement issued Friday in Abuja by FIDA and signed by its national president, Hauwa Shekarau, said the constitutional provision contravenes the general views of Nigerians as expressed during the recent Constituencies Consultations conducted as part of the on-going Constitutional Review process.
FIDA states that by allowing Section 29 (4) (b) in the nation’s constitution amounted to “a clear negation of Nigeria’s commitment to different international and regional treaties’’.
It also states that such treaties as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and AU Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa among others prohibits child marriages.
The statement said, “FIDA Nigeria reiterates that the generality of Nigerians have spoken during the constituencies consultations that section 29 (4) (b) does not deserve to be in the constitution and therefore should be deleted.
“It therefore behoves the Senate to grant Nigerians their desired wish, rather than allow itself to be deterred by the views of an individual borne out of purely selfish considerations”.
“It is generally accepted that the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
“We therefore call on the Senate to hearken to the voice of the people by reviewing and reconsidering the resolution and by so doing etch their names in gold and history.”
FIDA also called on the House of Representatives to rise to the occasion and stand with the generality of Nigerians by ensuring that the voice of the people was heard and upheld.
Also, Mrs. Amy Oyekunle, the executive director, Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND) said it would be an injustice against Nigerian women and girls if section 29 (4)(b) is kept.
According to her, the section creates loopholes within which Nigeria could continue to discriminate against half of the population.
“The senate should adjust the resolution and not cause confusion among Nigerians“, she said.
In the same vein, Mrs. Deola Abioge, a lawyer, called for the deletion of the section which deemed a girl under the age of 18 ripe for marriage.
“If a girl can get married under the age of 18,what the Senate is saying is that she also has a right to vote,“ she said.
….. Yerima fights back, rallies Ulamas
Ahmed Sani, Yerima Bakura, Senator from Zamfara State is believed to have begun rallying Islamic scholars and politicians mainly from the North to support the passing into law, what is now generally seen as child marriage bill, says Ahmed Garshash, a former national patron of Islamic schools, popularly known as Tsangaya in Hausa.