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In reference to an article published in Thisday newspaper Nigeria, Senator Sani Yerima, a symbol of authority has just recently gotten married to a young Egyptian girl of 13years. This is a child fit to be his grand daughter. It was recorded that he allegedly moved the ceremony to Nigeria because such act is illegal in Egypt. It is so disheartening to think that an act that is considered as illegal in a country is permitted on d shores of our nation, to the extent that it is undertaken by an educated, respected and known figure, who is also a serving senator and a one-time governor of Zamfara state and one of the candidates who contested in the presidential election in 2007. It is more sad because this man is a policymaker for pet’s sake, a man who is meant to propagate the needs of his people for better treatment and recognition and judging from this, he is supposed to stand and represent the rights and progress of Nigerian as a whole.
Now, this singular act shows his lack of concern for young people’s sexual reproductive health and rights, and the debasement of womanhood. It then came to me that what would have been the future of young people in this country if this man had won the elections in 2007 and what kind of example is he setting for the younger generation to follow after, it also comes in handy when activist in the country are all up and about in the fight to wipe out the issue of early marriage especially in northern Nigerian.
This recent happening in Zamfara state has got me wondering how much we need to emphasize on the issues of early marriage especially when a so called policy maker is one of the perpetrators of the act. How do we go from if the challenges of child abuse and gender equality needs the support of these policy makers.
I think this is a call to action for all activists in Nigeria to rise up and fight and let our voices be heard.
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Wow. It's amazing that a Senator would do that. Thanks for bringing this to our attention! This guy needs to know that what he's done is NOT ok.
# Posted By AFY_Samantha
| 4/24/10 02:14 AM
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