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A former Zamfara State governor, Senator Ahmad Sani Yerima, has once again defended his decision to marry a 14-year-old Egyptian girl 13 years ago.
Recall that Yerima sparked a global reaction after reports emerged in 2010 that he had taken the hand of an Egyptian minor in marriage.
The reports claimed that the bride was an alleged 13-year-old foreigner he got hitched to at the national mosque in Abuja.
The Senator's action attracted wide condemnations, especially from local human rights groups who deemed the development as a violation of the rights of the girl child.
Owing to his status as a member of the Red Chamber at the time, the Senate was forced to set up a probe following an outpouring of criticisms but Yerima came out without any indictment.
Yerima says Egyptian bride on the verge of acquiring master's degree
However, while appearing on Channels Television's Politics Today, Friday night, the Senator revealed that his Egyptian bride was older and was in the process of obtaining a master’s degree.
When he objected to her being 13, the former governor was asked if she was 15, to which he replied, “Around that age: 14, 15.”
“She is doing her Master’s Degree now.
“I told you my own daughter who was married at the age of 16, is doing her Ph.D”
“Marriage does not stop people from getting educated,” Yerima said.
The former governor also criticised the Child Rights Act (2003) and the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (2015), saying whatever act is passed at the National Assembly has to be domesticated by the state assemblies.
“And once they have not done that, it’s no longer a law,” he added.
He accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of trying "to smuggle the Child Rights Act.
“He passed it at the National Assembly through some manipulations but I don’t think any state in the North domesticated it and passed it,” Yerima said.
Answering questions about whether children deserve the right to education and other freedoms enshrined in the Child Rights Act, the senator argued that marriage isn't an impediment to education.
Probed further on the level of education of his Egyptian wife, he said, “She’s doing her master’s degree now.”
Yerima also noted that his daughter whom he had given away in marriage at the age of 16 “is doing her PhD in London”
Yerima denies paying $100,000 dowry
Reacting to claims that he forked out $100,000 as dowry for the Egyptian girl’s hand in marriage, the former Zamfara governor noted that “it’s not dowry.”
Explaining further, he said “all other things” stipulated as conditions for the marriage were counted to arrive at that figure.
“Provision of the house, provision of dowry, the dresses that she has to wear, everything [in] total,” he said. “At that time, it was just N15 million.”
One can give as much as is requested of them in marriage by Sharia Law, Yerima disclosed.
“Whatever you have to do in marriage is clearly stipulated under the Sharia Law. You have to provide for a house for the girl, if you’re marrying her, like, from the condition the Egyptian government’s law provides,” he said.