Two paedophiles: Sani Yerima & Harrison Eze (hat tip F)
Two paedophiles are currently in the news in Nigeria. One is Former Zamfara governor Ahmed Sani Yerima who took a 13-year-old Egyptian girl as a fourth wife and paid $100,000 (about N15 million) to her family as bride price.
The other is Harrison Eze, who have been remanded by an Abuja Magistrate‘s court on Wednesday, in prison custody for alleged forceful carnal knowledge of a minor.
The prosecutor, Sergeant Ambi Ayuba, told the court that the accused, a 21-year-old man, committed the offence on April 6, at about midnight in a bush. Ayuba said the offence contravened section 275 of the penal code.
According to the prosecutor, the accused accosted the minor while she was returning from an errand and forcefully had sex with her without her consent.
But the Former Zamfara governor Ahmed Sani who had taken a 13-year-old Egyptian girl as a fourth wife and paid $100,000 (about N15 million) to her family as bride price is walking free with swagger in the National Assembly as “Honourable Senator” of the Federal Republic.
The wedding took place at the Abuja National Mosque three weeks ago and was witnessed by the girl’s family which was flown to Abuja for the ceremony.
It was learned that Sani divorced one of his four wives in order to be able to marry this one. He had been married and divorced many times in order to marry younger women. He is using his wealth to oppress the society. He continues to abuse the girls.
According to Leadership, the wedding could only take place in Abuja and not Egypt because the authorities in the North African country could not sanction it. Their laws, we were informed, do not permit such unwholesome unions.
Even more alarming was the information that followed from other sources that Sani, who is now a senator had to divorce another young girl who has borne one child for him and is about the same age as her Egyptian counterpart.
The divorce was necessary in order not to exceed the decreed number of four wives for Muslim men.
Eze denied the allegation when the one-count charge of procuration of a minor was read to him. Counsel to the accused, Mr. Chiemeka Okereke, urged the court to admit his client to bail. The prosecutor objected to the application on the grounds that the police had not concluded investigation on the matter.
He said the hospital where the minor was treated after the forceful sex had not issued a medical report on her condition. The magistrate, Mrs Njideka Duru, upheld the objection of the prosecution and asked the defence lawyer to formally apply for bail for the accused.
Duru adjourned the case to April 16, to rule on the bail application.
Meanwhile a group, Women Empowerment and Legal Aid, has urged the Federal Government to arrest and prosecute a former Governor of Zamfara State and a serving Senator, Ahmed Sani, for child trafficking without further delay.
WELA in a statement by its Chairperson, Mrs. Funmi Falana, said that the action was illegal and reminded Sani that marriage to under age girls violated all known laws, especially the Child’s Rights Act which is an existing law in Nigeria.
It further decried Sani’s bid to marry the Egyptian girl, saying that the senator ought to know that the act of child marriage was abhorred in all civilised societies.
Related:
KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s religion minister on Tuesday defended Islamic laws that allow girls under 16 to marry, amid a controversy over two youngsters who were married off to middle-aged men.
The issue has flared in Malaysia after reports that two girls aged 10 and 11 were wed in the conservative northern state of Kelantan last month. They have now been removed from their husbands.
Rights groups have called for the reform of Islamic laws that allow marriage under the age of 16 if religious officials give their consent. Sharia law runs in parallel with civil law in multi-ethnic Malaysia.
“There is no need to amend the law,” Jamil Khir Baharom, a cabinet minister in charge of religious affairs, told reporters.
UPDATE: Rise in child sexual abuse in schools: psychologist in "moderate Muslim countries" [Khaleej Times, Dubai, United Arab Emirates]
