If found guilty of marriage to a child, Ahmed Yerima, a senator and the former governor of Zamfara state faces five years imprisonment, the director of legal service, National Human Rights Commission, Olukayode Sebanjo have said.
Mr. Sebanjo made the assertion in Abuja on Wednesday when he led a team of human right officers to the national assembly to prove a case against Yerima before the senate committee on Ethics and Petitions.
Mr Yerima is accused of marrying a 13 years old daughter of his Egyptian driver and the Human Rights Commission say it is a violation of Child Right Act Federal Capital Territory where the marriage was contracted. The Child Rights Act is fully domesticated in Abuja, the federal capital territory.
Mr. Sebanjo argued that if the marriage been contracted in Zamfara where the Act is not domesticated, the Commission would not have bothered much about it because the Child Rights Act which Yerima is accused of flouting is not domesticated in Zamfara, where he was governor for eight years.
Although Yerima was present at the plenary earlier in the day, he was absent at the hearing and no mention was made of his appearance or reason for absence.
The National Human Rights Commission delegation added that when proven, that Yerima violated the Act the punishment would be five years in jail or N500, 000 or both.
“Section 21 of that act stipulates that no person under the age of 18 years is capable of contracting a valid marriage and accordingly a marriage contracted is null and void and of no effect whatsoever and the punishment is stipulated in section 23 of that same act, which says the person who marry a child or whom a child is betrothed or who promotes the marriage or who betroths a child commits an offence and he is liable of conviction to a fine of N500,000 or imprisonment for a term of 5 years or both such fine or imprisonment,” the Director said.
Not above the law
When asked by the senators what the Commission wants the Senate to do about the Yerima’s case, Mr. Sebanjo told the Committee on Ethics and Petition to investigate the issue thoroughly and ascertain the age of the girl and her mode of entry into the country.
The human rights delegation also countered Yerima’s arguments that the age of his bride is misrepresented.
“Whether she is 13 years or 14 years, under the law operational in Abuja which is the Federal Capital Territory, she is regarded as a child under the Child Right Act 2003. If a marriage truly took place between Senator Yerima and the 13 years or 14 years old child, the laws are there as to what the Act,” Mr. Sebanjo argued.
He also dispelled Mr Yerima’s argument that his actions were compliant with Islamic laws saying that under any law,
whether Christian, Islam, Ogun or atheism, the Child Right does not permit marriage under the age of 18 years.