marriage (16)

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images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQJW9ffGbKF3L4_bZUMa0sKuywOpYTKfmZcxGYpvo9jiQAhgLEuPortuguese air stewardess Vera Silva was caught off guard when her boyfriend proposed during a flight from Lisbon to Barcelona, after booking himself a seat on the plane...

Joao Vieira told his girlfriend he was taking a business trip and planned the romantic gesture with the help of the crew, but it was a pleasant surprise for the passengers who cheered on the happy couple...

 

Thank God it was not on Aero Contractors or Arik !

 

 

 

 

 

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Portuguese air stewardess Vera Silva was caught off guard when her boyfriend proposed during a flight from Lisbon to Barcelona, after booking himself a seat on the plane...

Joao Vieira told his girlfriend he was taking a business trip and planned the romantic gesture with the help of the crew, but it was a pleasant surprise for the passengers who cheered on the happy couple.

 

Thank God it was not on Aero Contractors or Arik !

 

 

 

 

 

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Although economic issues seem to be the highest priority for most people as we lead up to the midterm elections, the debate over gay marriage is nonetheless hitting a turning point. Two recent polls were the first to find majority support for same-sex couples having marriage rights.

Gay marriage is legal in five states (Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire) and in Washington, D.C. But each of those states allowed the practice only after courts or legislatures stepped in. A popular vote on gay marriage has never resulted in legalizing the unions.

The battle for what pro-gay marriage activists call "marriage equality" has also made significant strides in court recently. In July, a judge in Massachusetts declared the Defense of Marriage Act, which Congress passed in 1996, unconstitutional. The act denies federal benefits to gay and lesbian couples that get married. Then in August, a federal judge in California ruled that a voter initiative called Proposition 8, which barred gay marriage in the state, also violated the Constitution..photolaff:George & Tony Bush now divorced

Both judges put a "stay" on their rulings, which is like putting them on hold. This means that gay married couples in Massachusetts don't receive legal benefits, and gay couples in California can't get married.

But marriage isn't the only area of gay rights where the courts have ruled in favor of gay activists lately. The debate over ending the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which forbids gays and lesbians from serving openly, has come to the fore in a few venues and even gotten the attention of pop star Lady Gaga.

Last month, a federal judge in California declared the military's policy unconstitutional and may order the military to stop enforcing it any day now. A few weeks later, a judge in Washington ruled that a lesbian who had been discharged from the Air Force Reserve must be reinstated because her dismissal violated her constitutional rights.

Any one of those court cases could wind up at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sandwiched between the two "don't ask, don't tell" rulings was a Senate vote on repealing the policy. It was voted down, but not before singer Lady Gaga appeared at a rally in Maine, home to two moderate GOP senators whose votes Democrats were courting. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he plans to bring the repeal vote again after the Nov. 2 elections. and a report on the effects of ending the policy is due to Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Dec. 1.

Amid all this activity, Ask America has been collecting people's thoughts on the issue. As of Sunday morning, more than 17,000 responses had come in, and the vote was split 50-50.

The question generated more than 1,200 comments. Yahoo! user lamme, who voted in favor of gay marriage, said, "If you don't believe gay marriage is right, then don't have one. Leave the gays who wish to marry alone. Can someone explain how gay marriage hurts the straight community?"

User Jen, who voted "No," commented: "I will tell you why I care; because it is ruining the family unit and the downfall of our civilization. Men and women have separate, distinct roles in life...they should be upheld."

People on both sides of the issue expressed one other opinion that comes up fairly often in the debate: that the government should just stay out of the marriage business altogether.

"The Constitution does not define marriage. All unions should be civil unions. Marriage is a religious ceremony," Chet Askew, who voted "Yes," said.

Terry voted "No" but said, "Marriage is defined as between a man and a woman. Plus, government should not be involved in this process period."

What do you think?
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There is a popular belief that the longer couples stay in marriage, the more they look alike. NNAEMEKA MERIBE reviews some studies into this belief.

If you do a little thinking, you'll probably remember some older couples you know who look very much alike. You probably have also been wondering whether the resemblance was there before they got married or whether it was many years of marriage that caused their features to look alike, as in aging in similar way.

Well, it€˜s a common belief not just in Nigeria but also in other climes that married couples grow to look alike.

Though some people may contend that what makes such spouses tend to resemble each other is that seeing them together overtime may make people€˜s minds to begin to €˜see' similarities in their facial features.

But, science has lent support to the old belief. Psychologists in the University of Michigan, US, studied this phenomenon many years ago and found that shared emotions could gradually sculpture the faces of a couple to become more similar. Moreover, they found that the more marital happiness a couple reported, the greater their increase in facial resemblance...

Dr. Robert Zajonc, who led the study, wanted to see if people could identify married couples solely from photographs of faces.

Participants viewed two sets of photographs: pictures of males and females at the beginning of their relationships and a set after the individuals (who were between the ages of 50 and 60 years old) had been married for at least 25 years.

The participants were asked to match the men to the women who looked most like them. They matched older couples together more often than younger couples..

Zajonc suggested that empathy was the most likely factor leading couples to look more alike the longer they are together. He said that shared facial expressions bring on identical emotions because facial muscles play a role in regulating blood flow to the brain. €˜€˜You both smile because you feel good and feel good because you smile,€˜€˜ he said.

According to Zajonc, one sign that such empathy has been going on is that people€˜s fixed facial features begin to resemble those of their spouses as a result of sharing the same expressions often. In support, he points to the finding in his study that those couples who were found to resemble each other most greatly after 25 years were also those who reported the happiest marriages.

In any case, the article, Long-married couples do Look Alike, study finds, published in the New York Times of August 11, 1987, noted that a research by Olaf Dimberg, a psychologist in Sweden, lends support for mimicry of expressions

Dimberg measured the tension levels in the facial muscles of volunteers while they were shown photographs of various facial expressions. When the volunteers saw an angry face, for instance, their facial muscles mimicked the anger, often to a degree that was invisible but was measurable by electronic devices.

The study further suggested that diet might also be another factor contributing to facial similarities €“ although Zajonc gave this theory less credence. The longer a couple is together, the more likely they are to have the same foods in their diet, thus receiving the same vitamins and minerals. Likewise, older couples might also avoid the same foods and certain nutrients might be absent from both spouses€˜ diets. When the older couples€˜ photographs were evaluated for facial fat, a correlation was not found.

But a new study by psychologists at Michigan State University, US, contends that marriage does not in any way make couples to look alike. The research by psychologists at Michigan State University and the University of Minnesota was based on a relatively huge data base of 1,296 couples who have been married for an average of 19 years. It was published in the current issue of the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

According to ABC News, what the researchers found was that couples who had been married for a long time €“ up to 39 years €“ were no more alike in fundamental personality traits than newlyweds, leading the researchers to conclude that personalities do not grow more similar as the years pass. More likely, the couples were looking for specific traits during the courtship and they ended up with someone who was very much like themselves.

"They may not have been conscious of that at the time," Mikhila Humbad, a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at Michigan State University, and lead author of the study, told ABC News.

When Humbad and her colleagues began studying the large data base collected by the Minnesota Centre for Twin and Family Research, ABC News noted, they were struck by the fact that married couples seemed very similar to each other, at least in terms of definitive personality traits.

"We wondered why that similarity was there," she was quoted as saying.

Research by others has led to debate among psychologists over whether similarities are a product of convergence (spouses grow more similar over time) or selection (similarity is what the spouses were looking for in the beginning.)

"That could be what attracted them to each other in the first place," Humbad noted.

The reserchers found that nearly all the spouses had many personality traits that they shared with their mates, regardless of how long they had been together. And the similarities did not grow or diminish when the older marriages were compared to the newlyweds €“ with one notable exception which is aggression.

The data shows that if one spouse is physically aggressive, the other is likely to react in a similar manner.

"It is possible that individuals might reinforce each other€˜s aggressive tendencies due to hostile interpersonal exchanges, thereby promoting greater convergence over time," the study concludes.

"It makes sense if you think about it," Humbad added. "If one person is violent, the other person may respond in a similar fashion and thus become more aggressive over time."

A similar study published in the March, 2006 issue of the Journal of Personality and Individual Differences, however, argued that marriage does not necessarily make couples to look alike but rather, the similarities in appearance in couples grow with marriage.

According to the study, human beings like people who look like us, because they tend to have personalities similar to one another. In other words, one will likely marry someone who looks like one.

The researchers investigated why couples often tend to resemble one another. They asked 11 male and 11 female participants to judge the age, attractiveness and personality traits of 160 real-life married couples. Photographs of husbands and wives were viewed separately, so the participants didn€˜t know who was married to whom.

According to the online science news portal, LiveScience, the test participants rated men and woman who were actual couples as looking alike and having similar personalities. Also, the longer the couples had been together, the greater the perceived similarities.

In his view, however, a psychiatrist, Dr. Adeoye Oyewole, said couples did not actually look alike physically but, perhaps, psychologically.

"In my view, this is just a perception. And what people perceive are not the physical attributes of the couples but the psychological attributes - that is, synergy," said Oyewole, who is the Head, Psychiatry, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Osogbo Campus. "When people marry, they begin to accommodate each other in different ways and, over time, they will even believe that they are alike in a lot of ways. And people see them together continuously, they will see the synergy and not necessarily any physical change."

Oyewole argued that people at times believed that members of religious sects looked alike without necessarily examining the physical attributes.

He said, "Because they have seen the members of the sect overtime wearing the same clothes and shaving their hairs and beards the same style, they will think that they (sect members) look alike without paying close attention to their facial features."
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Why Mercy Johnson’s marriage didn’t hold

Mercy Johnson
She is one of the ingenious innards in the Nollywwod, the theatrical and delectable damsel from Kogi State. Mercy Johnson reportedly sounded very angry recently. Her anger spanned across the peddled gossip that one Emeka Duru who happened to be the Production Manager in a film she acted in, titled, “The Maid”, was going everywhere selling her integrity that he was the first to give her the first job – “The Maid”. But vigorously, she denied him, saying that he didn’t give her the first job and had not given her any before. Mercy distanced Duru, saying that he wasn’t the owner of “The Maid” and didn’t own “The Maid” and had no decision in the crew that chosed who acted in the movie and not. “The Made”, she said, was Kenneth Nnebue’s film, a film that not less than 480 girls participated in the audition.

Like many people who are intensely fearful of poverty, this Nollywood ingénue said that she loves money so much, because she likes and wants to be comfortable. But, she has a strong different view about money in a relationship. To her, true love should come first in a relationship. But, she swiftly reiterated that relationship should not be all about dating..

It is a known issue today that many Nigerian girls, but most especially, Nollywood actresses see dating as one of those world’s enterprise. To them, it is no finance, no romance. But, Mercy though had agreed that dating should not be everything, but money shouldn’t of course be the basis of everything. Sounding clerically like a maddened Pentecostal clergy, she admonished that it is time people began to appreciate their dates: by valuing the ‘person’ in their partners, their charisma, innate qualities and allow their spirits to accept the person first, and should stop concluding first with their imaginations.

What many interviewees had shied away from, Mercy Johnson did not. She revealed how she met her fiancé: Odi. She said that it was at a salon; he came to wait for her at the salon he was intimated that she usually goes to. She said that Odi is not the first who had made advances to her; she had received more than enough text messages on her cell phone from men. Buttressing her point, one of the text messages reads: “Oh! I just had a dream and Jesus Christ said you are my wife”.

She confessed that as a celeb, it’s very difficult to pick a partner when admirers send such text message, but she has find solace in Odi. She said that her fiancé never told her that he saw “Jesus” that moved him to her, but she likened everything that has brought them together to God.

This is coming from Mercy Johnson now that many Nollywood actresses allow make-belief things run into their heads instead of allowing the reality. Many of the actresses are sacrificing love on the altar for money and hardly fall in love. Mercy is not comfortable with that belief, because out there, she said; there are a host of lovers out to showcase their loves. She lengthened her point, saying that she came to realise that everyone has a lover one day that she was driving and saw a blind woman that’s pregnant; what she saw convinced her that there is true love. It is not easy for any successful person to tell the world the source of his or her power, but Mercy did. Mercy said that the Baba who does her “Juju” in Nollywood will never fail her and fade. She confessed that the Baba will always be with her for as far as she lives and that she is not going anywhere.

Hear her: “Yes o! (I use Juju). There is Baba somewhere. The only Baba that me, I know, is up there and you know he says when He begins to bless somebody people will begin to ask what is happening. My Baba’s own (Juju) will not fade o!”

The lovely Mercy loves her Odi more than words could possibly say, but not that she goes around telling people about him, she said, she only mentions him when she wants to prove a point in a discourse about relationship. Mercy that has grown thick skin about people’s allegation that she sleeps with men in the Nollywood to get roles, said that she now wore this skin because her fiancé is not complaining; the unbridled mouths could have caused her nervesquake if her Odi is complaining; but since he has blinded his eyes, people don’t bother her anymore. On a thought, Mercy said that if people are saying that she’s sleeping with all the big boys in the Nollywood to get roles that, is she as well sleeping with all her fans to buy her films? Though, she didn’t deny the fact that she gets scripts a lot, but disagreed that she is the ‘number one’ in the Nollywood, because she hadn’t got to where she’s walking to.

Against that backdrop, since she is still ‘walking’, an observer was keen to understand if she has walked out of her purported marriage as was awash on media, and, she said: “Nobody walked away. I heard about the August 17th gist and the August 27th gist and it’s funny. I know that I mentioned that I am engaged, but I didn’t give a date.”


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Ahmed Sanni Yerima may soon be arraigned in court for alleged child abuse and marriage to a minor. The former governor, who is now a senator, may be prosecuted over his marriage to an Egyptian minor, a 14-year old school girl, Eladly Maryam Maged Saleh. Investigation in Abuja showed that the federal government is currently studying a report which detailed the offences of Mr. Yerima. Sources at the Ministry of Justice headquarters in Abuja disclosed that the report recommending the prosecution of the senator, is ready for the approval of federal government. The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke, told our correspondent in his office yesterday that the file has been returned to him to properly advice the government. Mr. Adoke had before directed our reporter to the office of the Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary of the ministry, whom he said was handling the investigative report submitted by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP). Attorney General breaks silence Yesterday, the minister said, “I cannot answer your question right now. This is the file on my table (he raises the file for the journalist to see). I am reading it with a view to working on it and aligning it with the position of the Constitution..” Explaining his position, Mr. Adoke said: “The issue is that the man who contracted the marriage said he did so under the Islamic rites, which is at variance with the Constitution. The Constitution, on the other hand, recognises marriages under the Marriage Act and Customary Laws. So, as the chief law officer of the country, I have the duty to read the report and align it with the position of the Constitution, which supersedes any other law and which I swore to uphold. I am still in the process of doing that. As soon as I finish doing that I will let you know. But I will not act against the Constitution by playing to the gallery just because I want to become a hero in the eyes of the public.” According to NAPTIP, and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Mr. Yerima’s marriage breached Sections 21, 22 and 23 of the Child Rights Act, 2003. The Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria has sued the NHRC and NAPTIP over the matter asking the court to stop his prosecution. However, sources at the Ministry of Justice say he will still be prosecuted irrespective of what comes out of the case by the Sharia council because he clearly breached some of the laws of the country. The case, which is presently being heard before Justice Adamu Bello, president of Court 5 of the Abuja High Court, has been adjourned for hearing. International investigation The case has already attracted the attention of some international organisations including the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), which General Counsel, Joel Sollier, last week contacted its national central bureau in Lagos for relevant information. According to legal experts, one of the issues that is central to INTERPOL’s interest is the possible link to terrorism of the family of the under-aged girl, whose father was found in possessing of two different international passports. A copy of the NAPTIP investigative report obtained by NEXT revealed that the girl’s father, Maged Saleh Mohammed Eladly, who is a driver to Mr. Yerima, had two Egyptian passports: A01086511, issued on 17/10/2009 in Egypt, valid till 16/10/2016 and A01403462, issued on 07/03/2010 in Egypt, valid till 06/03/2017. Recommendation for Yerima’s prosecution According to the report, “The first passport issued in 2009 has the father’s profession as workman while the second passport issued in 2010 referred to his profession as export and import office owner.” Miss Eladly, a 14-year-old student with passport number: A01385736 issued in Egypt on February 28, 2010, was born on January 9, 1996 in Kalyobiya, Egypt and was accompanied in her marriage to 49-year-old Mr. Yerima by her father, ten relations and many well-wishers - 58 in all- sponsored by the senator who paid $100, 000 dowry or Sadaqi on the girl. The marriage was conducted by the Chief Imam of the Central Mosque, Abuja with a general form of sworn affidavit deposited at the Sharia Court of Appeal, Abuja. The report before the justice minister notes that, “Senator Ahmed Rufai Sani Yerima’s action contravenes Sections 12 (a & b), 13 (1 & 2), 14 (1) and 17 (a & b) of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act 2003 as amended. His refusal to disclose the age of the minor (victim), the school she attends, and her class amounts to willful obstruction of lawful enquiry contrary to Section 58 (A & B) of TIP Act.. His refusal to disclose the exact amount of money paid as dowry is with intention to deceive the agency (NAPTIP) by using Islam as a cover up. The above section could be invoked as an offence under the Act which he is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years as the case may be. The Senator also breaches Sections 21, 22 and 23 of the Child Rights Act 2003, which is operational in FCT and liable on conviction to a fine of ₦500, 000.00 or imprisonment for a term of five years or both.” Considering that Mr. Yerima was also alleged to have encouraged foreigners to breach the laws of Nigeria, raising the need to share intelligence with the government of Egypt, the Nigeria Police was urged to join in the prosecution. Asked what the police was doing on its end, the Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Police Force, Abuja, Emmanuel Ojukwu, said the police do not have to duplicate the duties of NAPTIP, which is in charge of the case.
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A British crown court has sentenced three Nigerians and a Dutch national to a combined jail term of more than six years for their roles in a sham marriage scam..

Trouble started for the four convicts when the United Kingdom Border Agency officers identified suspicious travel patterns of passengers flying in and out of Luton and Stansted Airports on tickets purchased by a 29-year-old Nigerian, Mr. Adeolu Eletu, according to a statement on the agency's website.

Consequently, officers from the agency's Immigration Crime Team (East) on February 10, 2010 arrested Ms. Daniloush Solano, a 21-year-old Dutch woman, at Luton Airport as she attempted to board a flight to Amsterdam.

Investigations later revealed that earlier that day Solano had married Eletu at a church in Wood Green, London after being paid 1,500 euros.

Eletu was subsequently arrested on February 27 at his home in Falcon Brae, Livingston. His Nigerian girlfriend, Helen Omoboye, 33, was also arrested. She had been due to participate her own sham marriage at the same Wood Green venue on February 11.

A 36-year-old Nigerian, Mr. Sylvernus Ogungbade was also arrested on February 10 after officers established that Solano had boarded a taxi to Luton Airport from his home in Goldbeater's Grove, Edgware. Immigration checks revealed that Ogungbade, who was living alone, had recently applied for a visa on the back of his marriage to a Dutch woman who was still wanted by the UK Border Agency.

Last week Thursday at Luton Crown Court, Eletu, Ogungbade and Omoboye pleaded guilty to conspiring to breach the UK's immigration laws. Eletu and Omoboye also pleaded guilty to perjury charges.

Eletu was sentenced to two years and eight months, Omoboye was sentenced to 18 months and Ogungbade was sentenced to a year and eight months. Solano had pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to breach the UK's immigration laws and perjury at an earlier hearing on June 10. She was sentenced to 12 months.

Sam Bullimore, UK Border Agency Assistant Director, said, "The sentences handed out show how seriously we, and the courts, take these kinds of attempts to undermine our immigration laws.

"We will not tolerate immigration abuse and, as these convictions demonstrate, our Immigration Crime Teams are creating a hostile environment for those who break the immigration laws. We know that sham marriage rackets are not just about getting a ticket to the UK, often the offenders are also involved in other forms of criminality. If we see marriages that are not genuine, we will challenge them and prosecute where appropriate.

"People should be under no illusion that marriage is enough to get permission to stay in the UK. Couples must also prove to the UK Border Agency that they have been in a genuine relationship for at least two years."

Any foreign criminal sentenced to more than 12 months in prison for any offence is automatically considered for deportation, the website said.
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A 29- year old man, Ademola Arogboto is in police custody for allegedly defiling his landlady’s 11 years old daughter..

The victim, a primary six pupil, lives in the same compound with the suspect at a suburb at Iju road.

Mr. Arogboto, who had just moved into his one room apartment on Monday, allegedly asked his landlady’s daughter to help him run errands. The suspect allegedly took advantage of the victim, about 12.30pm on Wednesday.

Lured in

Mr. Arogboto, suspecting that no one was around, allegedly dragged the girl on his bed, locked the door and had sex with her.

The suspect was however arrested when the victim’s elder brother suspected foul play and swooped on him while he was having sex with the girl. The victim’s mother, Bose Ige, said he regrets renting the apartment to the suspect.

“This man who did this terrible thing to my daughter just moved into my house three days ago,” she said. “He told me that he does not know anywhere and that my daughter should help him run errands. On Wednesday, he told my daughter to help him buy rice to eat; I did not suspect any bad thing, so after waiting for sometime without seeing her, I asked her brother to go and look for her. When he got to his room, he knocked but no response, he kept banging the door, but no response, that was how he went round and peeked through the window and saw him have sex with my daughter.”

Mrs Ige said he rushed her daughter to the hospital for treatment and called the police to arrest the suspect. “We took her to the hospital, and it was confirmed that he had sex with her, the doctors are still treating her. I pray that nothing happens to my daughter,” she lamented.

‘She looked advanced’

Mr. Arogboto, a 200 level dropout from the University of Lagos, confessed to the crime. He however said that the victim lured him to have sex with her.

“I did not send her on errand, she come into my room by herself and she looked advanced, like somebody who is mature,” he said. “She was the one who put her hand around me, so when I see that, I carried her on my chest and pull my trouser so that was how I had sex with her. I did not release into her, I released into a tissue paper; but all the time I had sex with her, she did not cry, in short, she behaved like an advanced mature person.”

Police spokesperson Frank Mba said the girl is a minor, and therefore cannot give consent to sexual intercourse.

“According to Section 218 of the criminal code, the girl, cannot give consent and what this man is saying is her “consent” is not recognised in law,” he said. “Parents and wards should befriend their children so that they can feel free to tell them anything that is happening to them.

“They should constantly monitor their girls, and people around them, because such thing is done by people who are close to the family, neighbours, uncles, drivers, people who the parents of the girl repose trust in, will turn round and rape, or defile their daughters. If found guilty of the offence, the suspect is liable to life imprisonment.”


In a related incident Senator Yerima aka The Ex Sharia Governor paid 100,000 dollars to marry a 13 year old Egyptian Girl ..

READ HERE :


http://www.9jabook.com/profiles/blogs/senator-marries-13year-old
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By Chioma Igbokwe

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Visualize a scenario where you are fast asleep beside your partner and at 2.00am, the ring tone of your phone disturbs your sleep. With your eyes heavy with sleep after a hectic day and retiring to bed just an hour earlier you pick the call only to hear the voice of a stranger you never met.

The voice is that of the opposite sex. You try to fix a face or incident to it but cannot. While you battle with ‘I can’t remember who you are’ interjection, he/she insists loudly that you gave him/her appointment to call you because you would be sleeping alone in your room.

He/she further puts you on the spot that you had always talked at such hours in the past and you are merely pretending not to know the caller. Your spouse at last takes the caller for real and counts you a liar who deliberately put up denial to save face. Problems arise from there and at last the relationship crashes.

To you, this is just a conjecture. But to many Nigerians, it is real life drama that changed the course of their lives and happiness. Despite the gains of free midnight calls offered subscribers by GSM operators, many Nigerians have such adverse stories to tell about free midnight calls that became a monster to them. To such persons who have suffered the negative impact, the free calls are not worth the trouble and the effects they inculcate.

“It has caused more harm than good to the society, the individual and families”, said a respondent who fumes at the hazards. Before the promo started any child who is awake till 1.00am must be a student who is seriously preparing for his or her forthcoming examinations. Then with the dilapidated state of the power sector, such a person would risk the effect of candle to the eyes and burn it for hours just to ensure that he/she graduates with a good grade.

But today the reverse is the case, at 12.am on the dot, children and adults, especially the singles embark on compulsory vigil just to tap into the gains of free calls that enable them talk sense and nonsense endlessly. A phone user who cannot spend three hours in a church or mosque for vigil will have his eyes wide open because of midnight call till morning. Some use the opportunity to engage on conference calls where families would seize the opportunity to chat.

Others use it as an avenue to engage in fraudulent act while most use the period to woo and toast ladies or men, even the married. Saturday Sun found that such clandestine raunchy calls are laden with romance and deep frolic that go beyond the ordinary level. And there is no need to emphasise that these midnight call have shattered and destroyed marriages and other relationships.

One of such victims of free romantic midnight calls is Jide Adesanya who lamented that it was midnight call that crashed his marriage, which he had been managing to stabilise. “I am a divorcee today because of midnight call. I was battling to save my marriage, which was on the brink of collapse because of a mistake I made in the past.

I had promised my wife that it would not repeat itself, till one night that I had convinced my wife to spend the night in my room. The grave mistake I made was not to switch off my phone. At 1.00am, with my wife in my arms my phone rang. Blood of Jesus, I pleaded hoping that my wife did not hear. I was about to switch off the phone when she asked me to answer the call, as it could be an emergency.

Could you believe that it was a voice of a woman who claimed to know me? I tried my best to pretend it was a mistake. Only for the idiot to call back insisting that I used to be her lover.

Even when I told her that I am a married man she insisted that we could always handle the affair the way we had always done. My wife got mad and that was it. Till date, I have not seen this woman who I have been begging to come help me clear the crisis that broke my marriage. Today, my marriage is over but what I do is to arrest anyone that dares call my number at night.”

Mr. Paully Onyeka blamed midnight free calls for his children’s poor attitude to reading at night and thereby performing poorly in school. “The advent of GSM has caused more harm than good especially among our children. The problem is not the midnight call but the fact that these phones are accessible. If you decide not to buy a phone for your child, one way or another, they will raise money and buy one.

I am not saying that it is not good that these products are cheap and affordable all I am hammering on is that it they have caused more bad than good to Nigerians. I was shocked one day when I woke up at 3.00am and heard voices. I quickly grabbed my cutlass and moved towards the direction of the noise only to discover that it was from my 13-year-old son. He was making a call at that unholy hour. This is a boy that has been performing badly in school, instead of reading he spends his time making irrelevant calls. How can this boy stay awake in class when lectures are on? No wonder the, performance of our children is dwindling by the day. I suggest that free midnight call should be abolished. If they want to subsidise, let them reflect it on our tariff.”

Nnenna, a journalist decided to find out who and how on earth a crippled man was able to get her number and wake her up at 2.00am. “At 2.00am, my phone rang, my husband who was by my side woke me up to pick the call. Scared that there might be an emergency, I picked the call.”

She was disappointed and relieved when he discovered that it was an unknown person.

How did you get my number? she queried and the caller, a man confessed that he asked God to ensure that whoever owns this number would turn out to be a friend. Nnenna explained that she is married and lying beside her husband. The caller who identified himself as Steve encouraged her that their relationship would be the perfect one since he was also married. He told her that the only way to control it was for her to learn to sleep in her own room.

With the consent of her husband, Nnenna decided to follow up the matter by conceding to the man’s request. They agreed that Steve should call her every Friday at 4.30am to help her wake up and receive the call. In the course of their discussion Nnenna sought to know why he chose to call an individual who he had not met. Steve’s excuse was that he has never been lucky with women. Ladies always abandon him because of his looks and the fact that he has no money. His wife, Steve lamented left him and followed another man. He decided to embark on such calls to try his luck if he would be able to get one who will agree to befriend him.’’

According to Chika Agina, a banker, midnight call is meant for irresponsible men and women who have no value for their health, thereby use the opportunity to shop for trouble. “I do not make midnight calls and would not take it lightly with anyone who calls me at such an ungodly hour. Irresponsible men or women use it as an avenue to toast the opposite sex. Any man who toasts a woman through free call is a beggar. Initially, when the promo started, I was one of those who stayed awake till 5am, just to chat with friends who wanted to. But gradually it started telling on my health.

As a banker, I had terrible errors in my job, I slept while counting money and I paid dearly for over paying people. It has no gain and I wish that it would be abolished so that people will value every call they make since they are paying for it.” Taiwo Oluwadare, student makes free night calls strictly to save cost and the night is a very peaceful time to discuss at length without fear of anyone eavesdropping.

I make night calls to save cost and also to be in relaxed mood to talk as tortuous moment in the day may not let me attend to some people especially my friends and relatives. No unknown person has called me in the night but it has cost me a dearest girlfriend. That night, I received the call and the person said I should guess who was calling, but unfortunately I mistook the person for an old girlfriend. That made my girl part ways with me bluffing my apology.

Although Chigoziem Ehirim, businessman, admits that the promo saves costs, he however warned that Nigeria is not strong enough to cope with the after effect on their health. “I make midnight calls because, its saves money. The disadvantage is that it takes your sleep away and the next day you become stressed up. Because of the effect on my health, I stopped the habit. Despite the economic benefit, I would want it to be banned. You receive all kinds of useless calls from people who are out to ruin your life. People abuse free things and this free midnight call is one of them. The habitual callers have ruined homes, the children no longer read their books or study because they spend their leisure time on phones.”

Tayo 14, is rather happy with free night calls. To people of his age bracket, it is the only source of communication since their parents would not afford to buy credit for them. “It is very good, since my parents will never buy credit for me, I wake up at night and call my friends. MTN is doing that promo for the sake of children who do not have the money to buy credit. We can talk for hours and when it is about 4.00am, you go to sleep so that you can function the next day.” A nurse, Chikezie Okezie, could not hide his face in shame as he voiced out that he makes midnight call frequently although it is not healthy.

“I make free night call but I have to sacrifice the next day with serious headache. It saves cost but has its own disadvantage. I suggest it should be banned as, it will curtail the abuse by children who will prefer to talk throughout the night and sleep during the day. I am preparing for JAMB and you can’t believe that if I decide to do midnight call I will not blink an eye, but once I pick up my book, I will doze off. It’s terrible but still saves cost.”
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Judge beheaded in Kwara for dissolving marriage • Suspect fleesFrom LAYI OLANREWAJU, IlorinTuesday, February 2, 2010An Area Court Judge, Mallam Kazeem Zakari, in Yashikira, Baruten Local Government Area of Kwara State has been allegedly beheaded by a Fulani man. The man, who is now on the run, was said to have murdered the judge at his residence shortly after the judge acceded to a request by the killer’s wife to summarilly terminate their marriage.advertisementAccording to Daily Sun source, parents of the Fulani man’s wife had instituted a divorce suit before the area court in Yashikira over constant battering and bashing of their daughter by the husband whom they described as a ‘rascal.’The judge, it was gathered, after hearing and careful deliberation of the case reportedly granted the parent’s prayers.Displeased with the ruling, the man who currently at large allegedly resolved to ‘deal’ with the judge personally.Daily Sun was reliably informed the on that fateful day, the judge, who was said to have reported for duty, dashed home after adjournment only to meet his untimely death in the hands of his alleged assailant.It was gathered that at the close of work, when the court clerk and court assistant took the late judge’s books to his home, they met his head already severed off his lifeless body, lying by the window side.The spokesperson of the Kwara State Police Command, Dabo Ezekiel(ASP) confirmed the incident.He added that the command was yet to link anybody to the crime.The spokesperson disclosed that the corpse of the judge had already been released for burial.It was also gathered that the remains of the late judge had since been interred at his country home, Okuta in the same local government.
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With the growing number of broken homes in Nigeria and a SIGNIFICANT increase in single parenthood Though my critical theological mindset sometimes criticizes and tend to jigsaw around the seeming fundamentalism that characterizes Femi Awodele's intellectual and oftentimes meaningful didactics on the Christian life, I also tend to respect his efforts at publishing these series, especially the ones he titles Home Improvement Series. However, my reflection on these series and the rational question of why we get married refuses to be abated by whatever I read, watch on television, or experience in the clinical marriage therapy world. The point is not to adjudge or argue the biblical principles on marriage but to sincerely ask the rational question: Why do we get married? Tyler Perry the popular black american Movie director has theatrically brought this comical and singular question almost to our doorsteps via television, making each viewer truly question the rationale for marriage, particularly if such a person is unhappy with their choice of a spouse. However, this digest goes deeper than Perry's moviedom to examine the true motivations that push us to believe that life is worthless without marriage. Several sub-questions then arise: Advertisement 9jabook.com 9jamovies.com are the hottest sites in naija right now Amazing selected articles & Videos.Great music! and best of ALL YOU GET F.R.E..E AD.VER.TISI.NG CRE.DIT ! wow ! join now ! click to join 9jabook now where your space is really yours 1) Are human beings naturally engineered to be married? 2) Are married couples truly happier than unwed but committed couples? 3) Is the adult truly unfilled without marriage? 4) Doesn't official marriage seem to cause more chaos than anyone needs? 5) Why bother getting married? 6) Is it not better to have everything but the rings? This writer has been fiddling with these rational aspects of this issue and the yet burgeoning popularity of marriage. 7) Is Marriage really a CONTRACT ? A 2009 study by the Times Magazine shows that "--- more than five million unmarried couples cohabit in the U.S., nearly eight times the number in 1970, and a record-breaking 40% of babies born in 2007 had unmarried parents (that's up by 25% from 2002)." And we are not analyzing the segments of babydaddies or babymamas, the young and the accidental but couples who take up everything and give everything but the rings. Sociologists has dubbed this phenomenon as the committed unmarried (CUs), the happily unwed (HU), the unwed committed (UC); the Brad and Angelina, the Oprah and Stedman, the Goldie and Kurts of our world. While these couples may be disparagingly described as the famous unmarried, their group extends beyond the corners of Hollywood to our local streets and neighborhoods where we now see couples who are committed to a lack of legal commitment. And they are as happy as the truly married couples society shows us. Another study from John Hopkins University notes that unmarried parents in Europe stay together longer than married parents in the U.S. Many other researchers (Cabrera, 2008, Maryland University) have also argued that the longevity of marriages is not because the relationship is rubber stamped by the Church or the State but by the fact and presence children. Having children is "--- a decision that a couple makes to strengthen commitment and move in together"; that commitment is more important than the marital status per se. As a Catholic theologian, this writer understand the goals and purpose of marriage to be more expansive than just the procreation of children, yet ecclesiastical and biblical doctrines weave around human experience to be practical. Street interviews on the subject bring up many conjectures, some without any line of thought processing: 'so that we can live together; so we can have children; to have a solid commitment; to make our relationship official'. "Unwed committed" can live together, have children together, have a solid commitment, and if the public official commitment is what is desired, an advertisement can be placed in the papers reading "We are now official". With such deflated arguments my church folks argue that marriage makes a relationship divine, 'that something bigger than both of you bring you together and helps you succeed in it'. This is a valid faith argument, but not an empirical and rational one. Even so, the divine transposition of human limitations in marriage does not take away mistakes, strife, chaos, stress, fights and divorce. Ask an elderly married couple if they ever thought of divorce, and they will answer: 'divorce, no; committing murder, yes, and several times'. As my unwed committed friends would ask: who gave Eve's hand to Adam in marriage? The musical artiste, Beyoncé sang the lyrics "if you like it, then you should have to put a ring on it." Others would say "the plus sign on the pregnancy test told me it is time to marry; I fell in love because I was tired of dating jerks; I got married because I met my soul mate and we are best friends; we communicate well and we both agreed on our future and I love and respect him." What happens if you loose that pregnancy in the second trimester, or when your sweetheart turns out to be a jerk overnight, or you catch him sleeping with your best friend just before the wedding? In the American Association of Retired Persons magazine, Modern Maturity (May/June 1995), Linda Stern describes the various socio-economic demographics: social security earning limits, capital gains limits, Medicaid eligibility limits etc. and states that some time, long married couples divorce to remain eligible for benefits or in order to avoid financial disaster. One then would question, why did this couple marry in the first place and for how long? Overall, official economic policy makes marriage a bad option for too many people. Yet, there is the seeming pressure from culture, emotions, social status, and religious motivations to get married. Are these pressures good enough to induce us into marriage? Why did David Letterman finally marry his partner of 23 years and the mother of their five year old son, just in the third month of this year? Was Letterman unhappy for the past 23 years, and if so why did he choose to officially marry her? Would Letterman be a happier man now, having married his previous unwed committed sweetheart? No one seems to rationally know these answers or the reason why we get married. Is it some force of nature or a divine engineering in humans that gravitates us towards marriage, if so can the human mind rationally unravel it? No matter how the human mind works on the marriage phenomenon, the 'no spouse in the house' group have their own arguments on why they should not get married: You get the couch to yourself; you can watch whatever TV channel you like, without arguments; no one snores; you know where the bar of soap has been; smelly socks and skidding under-wears are not that big of an issue when you are only washing your own; you don't have to buy those stupid flowers; there are no curfews; if you mess up your finances you have no one to blame but yourself; Las Vegas is at back on the list of vacation considerations; you will never trade your interest in miniskirts for minivans; and without a spouse you can still have a descent social life. Even women feel this same way. Anne Wright of the Sage Magazine (2007) interviewed 30 women on the basic question: "why get married". She found out that many women "don't buy the myth that you to be married to be happy and complete." Medical advances in fertility have extended the childbearing age range, meaning that women can put off having children later or have none. Women are earning graduate degrees, making them more self-sufficient with little or no reliance on men. The high divorce rate is a discouraging factor for others to attempt marriage, and is creating a large pool of single women who may settle down to a partner than a husband. The numbers of single women in New Mexico, 52,559 in 2004 rose to 106,622 in 2003 with the dual deduction that women are not getting married and/or are less likely to stay in troubled marriages than in previous years. Perhaps, some of these divorcees never bothered to reflect deep on the reason why they got married in the first place. Obviously, marriage is more than a love affair, where boy meets girl and they are happy for a moment, and then go their separate ways. Marriages conjure a committed state, companionship, love, and the procreation and education of children; but are these features exclusive to the married state? Even the unwed committed do as much, do they not? The desire to entrench marital values makes us argue that marriage brings satisfaction and happiness; yet happiness is not a tangible and extrinsic value that you purchase or acquire, it comes from within. And are married folks truly happier or more satisfied than the unwed committed? The fact is, any couple can make a lifelong commitment to one another; being heterosexual and saying "I do" in the public doesn't make you more special, respectable or caring than the next person. The fact is, you don't have to do it to be happier than the rest of us. The unwed committed are not inferior to the married committed, and not committing suicide does not make you a health freak. The vanity in this argument is that unwed committed are purposively living their life as a photographic negative, defined not the persons they are but by the choices they refused to commit to. Sitting at the feet of elderly married couples, one would hear galling counsels like: marriage is patience, endurance; marriage is a sacrifice or something you really have to work at. So if marriage is such a hellish pain, why do it? Australian is turning its head on this one, by initiating fixed-term marriages, just like mortgages and car notes; five years, 10 years, or perhaps 20 years and you are done. So why marry at all if you can survive just five year in it? When a couple stands at the front of friends and family to take the marriage vow, they inherently want to believe that their commitment is lifelong. No one takes those vows with the intention of giving it a short. Yet parts of the vow, 'till death do us part' adds to the sense of failure when we can't deliver this promise. Comically, we are a generation of legal contracts: work contracts, internet contracts, cable contracts, cell phone contracts; and when these contracts are about to expire we shop for better deals. Marriage is also a contract, though we would add, a lifelong contract riffed with arguments, stress, fights, misunderstandings, deceits, unforgiveness, accusations, mood swings, heart-breaks, and betrayal amidst momentary satisfaction and happiness. It is becoming clearer that marriage bears a less relationship to having children. By 2026, The Australian Bureau of Statistics project that couples without children will be the commonest type of family in Australia, a 44% of all families. In the same token, married couples are not really happier than the unwed committed. Though marriage is meant to be forever, people can already live together without being married, so why is it necessary? What rational reasons push us to marriage? Why do we get married? click to join 9jabook now where your space is really yours
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before and after marriage love

Before Marriage:please baby Oh I love you . After Marriage: You ? Love ?i, oh baby please ! He: Yes. At last, it was so hard to wait. She: Do you want me to leave? He: NO! Don't even think about it. She: Do you love me? He: Of course! Over and over! She: Have you ever cheated on me? He: NO! Why are you even asking? She: Will you kiss me? He: Every chance I get! She: Will you hit me? He: Are you crazy! I'm not that kind of person! She: Can I trust you? He: Yes. She: Darling! After marriage Read from bottom to top
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If you love real talent, you would love . She acts with extra grace. All you need do is watch her in The Rivals and Sweet Tomorrow, then you are hooked. She recently signed up with the Ope Banwo-led Stingomania to manage her affairs. This 31 year-old French graduate who has been married for 10 years spoke with SAMUEL OLATUNJI on what has kept her marriage and Nollywood.Why did you have to marry so early?I wonder! I just met the right person. You know what it is when you meet someone and you know that this is the man. It’s not that he was my first boyfriend; I just knew that he is the man. Again, I fell in love with the way he loved me. His love was overwhelming and when he proposed, I just said yes. He proposed to me after two weeks actually. I surprised myself by saying yes.Are you sure you did not rush into this?No, I did not rush into it. It’s been almost 10 years now and we have three beautiful children. I think the love is even getting stronger.You have three children and you look this stunning. How do you keep in shape?It’s hard work. I do a bit of dieting and fitness on the side. I know a lot about keeping fit.What kind of exercise do you do and what kind food do you eat?Six weeks after my last child in England, I used to leave my baby and go for one-hour power walk. I would be out there whether it was raining or snowing and in the evening I would go to the gym. And I would not touch cake even if my life depended on it. Even till now I don’t take sugary thing.Why all these hard work?My husband likes me like this.Your husband looks so gentle one would wonder if he is capable of handling you, or I’m I being deceived?No, you are not deceived, but he is also very strong. He knows when to accept something and when not to accept. Generally, he believes in what I do and he knows this is what makes me happy, so he would rather have a happy wife than an unhappy one. This is my life; I’m not going to do anything else.Weren’t you scared that marriage would slow you down?Talent has a lot to do with how you rise. I got into the industry when I was 17 or 18. I didn’t have to sleep with anybody to get there. I did three lead roles in one year. The films are Destined to die, Not my Will, and Campus Tail by Hilda Dokunbo. Since I wasn’t sleeping with them before, I don’t have to start now.How was it like on the set of Figurine by Kunle Afolayan?It was great. It is very different from what I’ve ever done. I’ve never seen the kind of equipment we used. The story is very different; it wasn’t your normal regular Nollywood story. We shot for a month and we all became like one family. We also had lots of cool locations.How was it like leaving your husband behind in Lagos for one month?My husband had to come once and spent about four days with me.When you spend a long time with people outside of your home, do you get to feel something emotional with them?There is no actor in Nollywood that is as tight as my husband. Why would I be tripping for a fellow actor? This is a job, you have to do what you have to do and go. I have friends among them. But that is as far as it goes. I don’t even think about it. Really, no one looks better than my husband.What’s been the most challenging role you’ve played?I think it is Sweet Tomorrow. I had to be in wheel chair. I fell so many times and I had bruises all over me. It wasn’t funny at all.Why is it taking you so long a time to breakthrough despite the fact that lots of people are saying you are so talented?I think everyone has his or her time. But a lot of my movies have not been released. So, you should watch out.How was life at UNIBEN and why didn’t you study Theatre Art?Funny enough, I’ve been acting since I was three. I’ve always loved entertainment and showbiz. I don’t think I have to study Theatre Art to be in the industry. There are so many people who did not study art in school, but they are great actors. I believe I have the talent, which was enough for me.Since global meltdown affected Nollywood, did it affect you?No, Nollywood is not the only thing I do. And for crying out loud, I have a husband that works.What does your husband do?He is an optometrist. That is different from optician. It is an optometrist who checks your eyes and determines whether you need to wear glasses or not.Is that why you are wearing contact lens?I have eye problem.Let’s talk about your deal with Stingomania. Don’t you think you are signing away your freedom?I think this would work because I’m not driven by money. If my management company is taking 20 per cent, I still have 80 per cent. I think that is a lot. The management company is getting me deals and things I couldn’t do on my own. If for instance I’m supposed to do two movies a year, I would probably be doing six with my management company. So, I’m making more money because of them. Stingomania will do a lot of things for me and will get me deals even outside of acting. And as per the freedom issue, the company doesn’t close a deal for you without discussing with you first. If I say I don’t want it, that’s it.So, the marketers will have to speak with your management company now, don’t you think that will get them pissed off?They won’t get pissed off because I’m a humble person. I think the way you present issue to people will determine how they react to it.What is your fan book all about?It is a place where my fans can interact with me directly. It is omoniobolifanbook.com. They can ask me any question on anything and I answer.What has kept your marriage going for 10 years?We just have to keep it fresh all the time and we keep the sex hot. I was ready for marriage and I told myself that once I get married I would stay married.How easy is it to break into Nollywood?It’s not easy, let me not lie about that. Some people are there and don’t want anybody to come up there, I don’t want to mention names. But if you have the talent and persistence, you will get there.Who is the most interesting actor you’ve worked with?I would say Ramsey Nouah because he is fun to work with. He is lively and always looking for what will make people happy.How old are you?I was 31 in April.Are you still going to make more kids?No. I’m done.At 31 you are done with kids, you seem to be doing everything early?I got married at 21 really. Honestly I didn’t think I would be married at 21. I just met the right person. Why wait again if I’ve met the right person? He would probably date me for a couple of years, get frustrated and move on to another person. And then I would have missed the right person. He wanted marriage and I wanted it too. Marriage has matured me. I’ve always been matured. I grew up before my time. His being with a good man has also helped me.Does he complain about your romantic roles?No. There was a scene in Figurine where I had to kiss someone. Everybody is talking about the picture on facebook. But what most people don’t know was that he was actually there when we were shooting the love scene in Osun.Why kiss somebody on set when you could fake it?It’s a job. There is nothing to it. There were about 20 people there, so you can’t really be moved emotionally. It is a job.What should your fans expect from you?They should expect the best. I’ll always give them the best, That is why I don’t do every movie that comes across my way, I chose my script. That is why I can confidently say that if you find me in a movie, it is really good.courtesy odili network
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Two Nigerian Men indicted in marriage fraud in Houston A federal grand jury indicted Ibraheem Adegoke Buraimoh, a citizen of Nig.eria, and Ibraheem Adeneye, a naturalized U.S. citizen and Houston resident, Tuesday for conspiring to commit marriage fraud, according to a U.S. Attorney?s Office release..The prosecution of these two men began with the filing of a criminal complaint that alleged that agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement began an investigation earlier this year into the possibility that an alien was attempting to arrange a fraudulent marriage with an American citizen in order to obtain a favorable change of immigration status from Citizenship and Immigration Services. Adeneye, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Nigeri.a, allegedly acted as a broker to arrange a fraudulent marriage between Buraimoh and an undercover ICE agent posing as a U.S. citizen willing to enter into the fraudulent marriage with Buraimoh. In January, meetings were held with and phone calls were made by the agent with Adeneye and Buraimoh, during which the arrangement of the fraudulent marriage allegedly was discussed, including a total of $3,500 to be paid in installments to the agent (?wife?) for her role in the conspiracy and to Adeneye for arranging the marriage. In addition, the process for obtaining a change in immigration status as a result of the ?marriage? allegedly was discussed. On Feb. 2, according to the complaint, after ICE took steps to notify the Harris County Clerk?s Office of the impending fraudulent marriage, the agent and Buraimoh were married in a state court in downtown Houston by a judge. Thereafter, Buraimoh allegedly made a partial payment to the agent for going through with the marriage. Both men were arrested Feb. 17. If convicted of conspiring to commit marriage fraud, Adeneye and Buraimoh face a maximum of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Buraimoh has been ordered held in federal custody without bond pending trial. Adeneye has been ordered released on bond.
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Story Highlights Saudi judge stands by decision, refuses to annul marriage of girl, 8 Girl's father arranged her marriage to a 47-year-old to settle debts, lawyer says Appeals court declined to certify original ruling, sent case back to judge Girl's mother says she will continue to seek daughter's divorce By Mohammed Jamjoom CNN (CNN) -- A Saudi mother is expected to appeal a judge's ruling after he once again refused to let her 8-year-old daughter divorce a 47-year-old man, a relative said. Sheikh Habib Al-Habib made the ruling Saturday in the Saudi city of Onaiza. Late last year, he rejected a petition to annul the marriage. The case, which has drawn criticism from local and international rights groups, came to light in December when Al-Habib declined to annul the marriage on a legal technicality. His dismissal of the mother's petition sparked outrage and made headlines around the world. The judge said the mother, who is separated from the girl's father, was not the legal guardian and therefore could not represent her daughter, the mother's lawyer, Abdullah al-Jutaili, said at the time. The girl's husband pledged not to consummate the marriage until the girl reaches puberty, according to al-Jutaili, who added that the girl's father arranged the marriage to settle his debts with the man, who is considered "a close friend." In March, an appeals court in the Saudi capital of Riyadh declined to certify the original ruling, in essence rejecting al-Habib's verdict, and sent the case back to al-Habib for reconsideration. Under the Saudi legal process, the appeals court ruling meant that the marriage was still in effect, but that a challenge to the marriage was still ongoing. The relative, who said the girl's mother will continue to pursue a divorce, told CNN the judge "stuck by his earlier verdict and insisted that the girl could petition the court for a divorce once she reached puberty." The appeals court in Riyadh will take up the case again and a hearing is scheduled for next month, according to the relative. Child marriages have made news in Saudi Arabia in the past year. In a statement issued shortly after the original verdict, the Society of Defending Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia said the judge's decision went against children's "basic rights." Marrying children makes them "lose their sense of security and safety," the group said. "Also, it destroys their feeling of being loved and nurtured. It causes them a lifetime of psychological problems and severe depression." Zuhair al-Harithi, a spokesman for the Saudi Human Rights Commission, a government-run group, told CNN that his organization was fighting child marriages. "Child marriages violate international agreements that have been signed by Saudi Arabia and should not be allowed," al-Harithi said. Child marriage is not unusual, said Christoph Wilcke, a Saudi Arabian researcher for the international group Human Rights Watch, after the initial verdict. "We've been hearing about these types of cases once every four or five months because the Saudi public is now able to express this kind of anger, especially so when girls are traded off to older men," Wilcke told CNN.
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