YeriMalady: Questions Arising – By Dr. Kunle Ojeleye

Posted by admin Articles, Columnists, Kunle Ojeleye, Legislature, NNP Columnists, Senate Tuesday, July 30th, 2013

The Face of a Child Rapist and Pedophile. Alhaji Sani Yerima Ahmed

By Dr. Kunle Ojeleye | Calgary, AB | July 30, 2013 – Against the background of the recent furore on alleged legalisation of child marriages by the upper chamber of the Nigerian legislature, this piece, as the title indicate, is written to seek answers to questions which in my private rumination I have not been able to resolve.

1. The Senate President, David Mark is quoted as saying they were blackmailed into voting “for” section 29 (4)(b) of the Nigerian constitution “which tends to give support to underage marriage” (Child marriage supporters blackmailed us to have their way – Mark).

Blackmail according to Chambers Dictionary means “to extort under threat of exposure or the use of threats to compel”. What did the Pro-Yerima senators threatened the others with which compelled them to revisit and recast their votes to favour the former’s position on the provisions of section 29 (4) (b)?
Is an act of blackmail (covert or overt, subtle or blatant) not a criminal offence for which such Senators should be recalled, suspended or expelled from the Senate as well as prosecuted and if found guilty, jailed?

2. Yerima claims that because Prophet Muhammad married a 9 year old girl, he is entitled to do the same.
Should Yerima (and his cohorts) be allowed in the 21st century to perpetuate an act that took place 1,400 years ago in complete disregard of the cultural as well as sociological context in which that singular act occurred?

3. Going back to Yerima, he argues it is an integral part of his “religion” and “culture” to marry underage children and consequentially to defile them as well as ruin their future.
From Kogi state downwards to the Southwest, we definitely share that same religion with Yerima, BUT I am not aware that we give underage children away in marriage or defile them under the guise of religion. Or do we?

4. Some of the senators claimed they did not understand what they were voting for.
In the same nation, pensioners who have worked for their entitlements are continually asked to show up for re-verification exercises for a gratuity or pension they may never be paid.

Since it is obvious that “some” of those who are in charge of making laws for the land “probably” do not have the educational qualification to talk less of the intelligence quotient to fulfil the duties associated with their roles, should we not have a serious re-think of collapsing the two legislative arms into a single and smaller body with qualitatively elected members?

I do not believe that religion and culture means perpetual backwardness of wanting to hold on to stone age traditions whilst seeking to enjoy the luxuries of modern life. And if it is true that in the 21st century, a large section of the country presently called Nigeria share the same backward orientation as Yerima and his supporters, it is obvious from the foregoing and the furore raised by the Senate’s constitutional amendment vote that most parts of Nigeria do not share any cultural or religious affinity with Yerima and his group.

In view of the evident disparities that are becoming more prominent each day in our polity, disparities that lends credence to the allegation that a section of the country has continually dragged the others back by being a clog in the wheel of progress, education, industrialisation and modernisation, the ultimate question from me is:

Does YeriMalady indicate our incompatibility as Nigerians and the urgent need to question and re-examine the fundamental basis of our artificial unity as one country?
I crave your answers.
N.B.
And by the way, where are all the world leaders who were hell bent on forcing the legalisation of gay rights on African nations?

In the face of a blatant violation of children rights, they seem to have suddenly gone deaf and dumb – seeing no evil, hearing no evil and not commenting on any evil?

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