He was said to have brought her from Egypt
Criticisms continued to trail the alleged marriage of former governor of Zamfara State, Senator Ahmed Sani to a
13-year old Egyptian girl.
The former governor reportedly paid $100,000 as bride price to the parents of the minor.
But in a statement made available to our correspondent in Lokoja on Monday,
the National Council of Women Societies condemned the action of the
senator, describing it as shameful.
Speaking through its National President, Hajia Ramatu Usman, the umbrella women’s
organisation said Sani’s action did not come to Nigerian women as a
surprise because, according to them, many northern governors had been
using religion as an excuse for not passing the Child Rights Act.
She further stated that the council had been mounting a campaign against
young girls being given out for marriage at ridiculously early ages of
12 or 13 years, adding that the action was against all reasoning.
According to Usman, “Vesico vaginal fistula has been attributed to under age
marriages due to the practice of early marriages in Nigeria, where young
girls are given out for marriage at ridiculously early ages as 12 or 13
years. They get pregnant and when they are ready to deliver, their
pelvises are so small for the babies to pass through.
“The baby gets stuck in the birth canal and in some cases dies. The baby‘s
head wears a hole between the birth canal and the bladder (VVF) or
rectum (RVF).
“So, when the dead baby is eventually delivered, the young mother is left with a dead child and she begins to
drain urine and/or stool continuously. She develops sores on her skin
and smells horribly from the constant drips of urine and stool on her
clothes.”
The body therefore advised parents to avoid giving out their under age daughters in marriage in order to check cases
of this health risk, which it said is particularly common in the
northern part of Nigeria.
The statement further said, “It is a shame that while we are seeking ways to view closely what pushes
parents into giving out their underage daughters into early marriages, a
former governor of a state is celebrating this act of child trafficking
and abuse.”
It also called on well-meaning Nigerians to mount pressure on northern governors to immediately commence work on the Child Rights Act.
