Yarima’s Child Marriage Is ‘Nobody’s Business,’ Says Senator

Yarima’s Child Marriage Is ‘Nobody’s Business,’ Says Senator

OrderPaperToday – Senator Kabiru Marafa (APC, Zamfara) has accused his female colleagues of “selective concern” for children who are victims of insecurity in the country.

This was in reaction to a motion moved by Senator Binta Masi (APC, Adamawa) on the 2018 Children’s Day celebration.

Marafa stated that he expected the “women, especially of this Senate, to stand up shoulder-to-shoulder with women in Zamfara State.”

To buttress his point, the Senator provided estimates of the numbers of deaths recorded, the cases of rape reported and other negative effects of insecurity rampaging through his state.

According to him, they would rather focus on things that are “nobody’s business.”

To illustrate this, Senator Marafa then went on to speak about a case where a Senator from the 6^th Assembly, Ahmed Yerima, married a girl child. During this time, “noise was made in this country to the extent that they staged a protest on the streets of Abuja” and “almost whole of this chamber was pulled upside down.”

He posited that Yerima acted based on Muslim rites and the consent of the girl’s parent.

“But the issue of kidnapping is a daily thing in Zamfara State today. There is an estimated 5000 victims of rape and we have said it in this chamber but up till now, the women have not stood up to say enough is enough of this very bad incident.

“Whereas in the 6^th assembly when my colleague and my leader, Senator Ahmed Yerima fulfilled one of his religious rites by marrying a lady with the consent of her parents almost whole of this chamber was pulled upside down.

“That he married an underage which is nobody’s business in anyway because her parents consent to the marriage and Yerima is a Muslim and he married the girl according to Muslim rites. But so much noise was made in this country to the extent that they staged a protest on the streets of Abuja. Today, their sisters are going through hell in Zamfara, most of them victims of rape,” he noted.

He finished by mocking his counterparts in the North-East who “abandoned” the North-West when they were provided a commission.