Child Marriage - Yerima Faces Five Years' Jail If - NHRC

Ahmed_Sani_Yeriman_Ba kuraFormer Zamfara State Governor, Ahmed Yerima's marriage to an Egyptian minor has once again come under fire as National Human Right Commission (NHRC) accused him of violating the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Child Right Act, where the marriage was contracted and the Act domesticated.

At the public hearing organised by Senate Committee on Ethics and Petition under the Chairmanship of Umar Hambagda, to look into the petition from the NHRC, Olukayode Senbanja, its Director of Legal Services, said if it was established that Yerima violated the Act the punishment would be five years, N500, 000 or both as applicable under the Act.

Whether she is 13 years or 14 years, under the law as operational in Abuja which is the Federal Capital Territory, she is regarded as a child under the Child Right Act 2003.

If a marriage truly took place between Senator Yerima and the 13 year or 14 year old child, the laws are there as to what the Act is

.

"Section 21 of that Act stipulates that no person under the age of 18 years is capable of contracting a valid marriage and accordingly a marriage contracted is null and void and of no effect whatsoever and the punishment is stipulated in section 23 of that same Act, which says the person who marries a child or whom a child is betrothed or who promotes the marriage or who betrotheds a child commits an offence and is liable of conviction to a fine of N500,000 or imprisonment for a term of 5 years or both such fine or imprisonment," the director said.