Victoria Mgbanwa
Women Affairs Minister petitions the Inspector-General of Police over Sarkin-Daji’s plan to marry 100 girls.
Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police over the Speaker of the Niger state House of Assembly Abdul Malik Sarkin-Daji’s plan to marry 100 Girls.
She disclosed that she has taken the Speaker to court over his plan and that investigation has begin on the issue for May 24th.
The Minister, made this known while speaking to journalists in Abuja on Monday.
The Niger lawmaker had last week said that he would sponsor the wedding of 100 girls, some of whom were orphaned by insurgency, as part of his Maringa constituency project, But later said that he was only funding the wedding not forcing the girls into marriage.
The Minister of women affairs who did not buy his clarification said that his plan was unacceptable, and that the future of the girls should be a priority.
She said, “I want to let the honorable Speaker of the House in Niger state know that this is totally unacceptable by the Federal Minister of Women Affairs and by the government.
“Because there is something called the Child’s Right Act and I said it from the onset, that is no more business as usual.
“These children must be considered, their future must be considered, the future of the children to come out of their marriage must be considered.
“So I have gone to court. I have written him a letter and written a petition to the IG of police.
“And I have filed for injunction to stop him from whatever he is planning to do on the 24th, until a thorough investigation is carried out on those girls, find out whether they gave their consent, their ages, find out the people marrying them.
“As the speaker did not think about empowering these women or sending them to school or giving them some kind of training support financially. The Women Affairs have decided to take it up and we are going to educate the children.
“Those that do not want to go to school, we will train them in a skill, empower them with sustainable empowerment machines to enable that child build his or her life and make up her mind who and when to get married.
“If for any reason the speaker tries to do contrary to what I have just mentioned, there will be a serious legal battle between him and the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs.”
