Massive
protests have continued to trail the Senate’s passage of a resolution
to retain the provision of Section 29 (4) (b) of the 1999 Constitution.
Under the section, a married underage girl is deemed to be an adult.
Prominent
Nigerians and human right organisations took to the social media to
protest what they described as legalisation of sexual abuse of underage
girls.
The
protests were held in parts of the country on Saturday such as Abuja
and Lagos among others. Also, petitions were signed to protest the law.
The
protesters might besiege all state Houses of Assembly and the National
Assembly on Tuesday to call on the Senate to reverse itself.
Those
who protested queried why underage Nigerians could not exercise their
franchise at the poll but were being subjected to marriage at tender
age.
On Twitter, several petition handles were created on Saturday, where users condemned the Senate position.
Lagos-based
pastor and motivational speaker, Sam Adeyemi, twitted, “If Islam
permits something that the rest of the country and many parts of the
world feel is detestable, then it’s a serious issue. We cannot take away
from a Muslim the right to practice his/her religion.”
Former
Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nasir El-Rufai, also twitted, “We
need your support. Please comment on #ChildNotBride. Criminals, from
time, use religion to cloak perversion.”
Two
of the many tweets by a former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby
Ezekwesili, read, “We kid ourselves to think that we can catch up and
compete with the rest of the world, when the #GirlChild is constrained.
“I got married at 24, after my first post-graduate. Some think 24 is early but then, I was ready to make sound decisions.”
Nigerian
actress, Omoni Oboli, also twitted, “I shudder to think I wouldn’t be
who I am today, if some perverts had convinced my parents to marry me
off before I turned 18.”
Nollywood
actor, Nonso Diobi, stated, “If she can’t vote, then she can’t marry. A
female child should be taken to the classroom, not labour room.”
Broadcaster,
Mo Abudu, expressed her concerns, saying, “My heart is broken by the
news from the Senate on #ChildBrides. This is not the Africa of 2013.”
Star
reggae artiste, Majek Fashek, also said, “How can a man of 40, 50 or
over marry a girl of 12, 13yrs? What kind of paedophilia is this?”
Eme
Ewa of Change.org, an organisation described as the world’s biggest
petition platform, has written an online petition to the United Nations,
titled, ‘United Nations: Stop The Nigerian Senate From Making Under-Age
Marriage The Law!’
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