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Tag: paedophiles

  • Dickson’s wife urges parents, guardians to expose rapists, paedophiles

    WIFE of Bayelsa State Governor, Dr. Rachael Dickson, yesterday, warned parents, guardians and traditional rulers against protecting rapists, paedophiles and other criminal elements in the state. She lamented increasing cases of abuse of women and girl-child in society and urged people to always shame rapists to reduce the incidence of the menace. Mrs. Dickson spoke when the Commonwealth Women in Parliament (CWP), African Region, visited St. Judes Girls Secondary School, Amarata, Yenagoa, to interact with the students.

    The interaction was compered by Miss Mabel Obiriki, a Bayelsa scholarship beneficiary and first-class student of the Lincoln University, United States of America. Speaking on the theme, ‘Girl-Child Education: A Panacea for a Stable Society’, the governor warned parents against encouraging their girlchild to indulge in street hawking instead of being at school. She said: “The government is doing so much about rape and street hawking. As you are aware, we have the office of Public Complaints in Bayelsa that takes care of every girl that has been violated. “Now, the family cannot say they do not have the money to prosecute the matter.

    Now, I say to every mother and guardian, once your daughter is violated, it is not a cultural issue anymore; it is a criminal matter. Somebody has broken the law, the law should take its course. “Do not go for settlement. Immediately you go for settlement and a token is paid, that culprit will violate another girl. So, let them (violators) face the law. It is not traditional. No traditional ruler should call for settlement. If the law sets him free, we accept, if the law does not set him free, let him face the punishment. “On the issue of street hawking, actually, there is no reason for street hawking in Bayelsa. We have free education and I know that government has formulated legislation.

    Every guardian, every parent that their daughter and their son is of school age that are hawking while they should be in school, will not go unpunished. Education is the right of a child and in Bayelsa, we will enforce that right.” In her submission, chairperson, Commonwealth Women in Parliament, Lindiwe Maseko, appealed to the parents and society to give equal attention to both the girl-child and the boy-child. Maseko commended the government and legislature for making a law to ensure that the perpetrators of violence and abuse against the girl child were brought. She said: “It is important for all to appreciate that this is a challenge to our society, not just Bayelsa, not just Nigeria, not just African continent, but for society as a whole. It therefore behoves us all, in particular men and our boy children to stand and say no to abuse, rape and violation of the girl-child. “The boy child should be taught to protect the girl child. Parents should appreciate that every child is important, not to protect the boys alone. We need a societal movement that forbids that practice of violating the girl child.”

  • PAEDOPHILES ON THE PROWL

    PAEDOPHILES ON THE PROWL

    • Infants, toddlers, other underage girls in danger as rapists go on the rampage.

    Not a few Nigerians were alarmed in February last year with the news that a Kano-based businessman, aided by his wife, raped a six-month-old baby girl named Khadija until she lost consciousness. Upon his arrest, the businessman hired 10 lawyers to defend him in court.

    At about the same time, a 27-year-old man was caught red handed in Ogun State, raping his 11-month-old niece after using his fingers to open her up. The baby’s screams were said to have attracted some neighbours who rushed to the scene only to find the heartless man raping the toddler while she bled profusely.

    Early in December last year, a three-year-old girl was raped in Masaka, a community on the outskirts of Abuja, by her unmarried 46-year-old relative. The toddler, who was said to be playing at home with her siblings when the relative, who all the kids knew as Uncle Austin, carried out the nefarious act, was eventually found crying in a pool of blood in a bush in the neighbourhood late at night.

    About three weeks ago, a 50-year-old man who had just been released on bail for raping a minor, also raped his neighbour’s five-years-old daughter, Hussaina, in Kano. The sad incident reportedly occurred just three days after the errant man regained his freedom.

    Not even security operatives saddled with the responsibility of protecting citizens are left out of the menace. Sometime last year, there were reports of a two-year-old girl sexually molested by a policeman in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Ironically, when the mother of the two-year-old girl saw her bleeding and crying at the policeman’s house, the policeman’s wife quickly rose in her husband’s defence, insisting that the poor girl had started menstruating. The suspect was eventually transferred out of the FCT, and that seemed to be the end of the story as nothing more was heard about it.

     

    Worrisome menace

    In a country like Nigeria where only a few victims and their family members would damn the stigma associated with being a rape victim and speak out about it, perhaps only one in 10 cases become public knowledge. Yet, on and on go the gory stories of rape and trauma. Randomly picking up Nigerian national dallies and flipping through the pages opens one to the reality of this menace. In the three months of January 2016, December 2016 and January 2017 alone, there were no fewer than 26 different reports on rape of little girls in different states around the country.

    Data collected by the Presidential Committee on the Northeast Initiatives (PCNI) show that in the month of September 2017 alone, the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Yobe State recorded 27 new cases of rape of girls under the age of 18. Some reports even claim that the figures are higher in Borno IDPs camps, adding that this might have contributed significantly to the high rate of persons living with HIV in the state. Abuja IDPs camps are also not left out with horrific stories of rape and parents giving out their little daughters to be raped for money.

    Increasingly, the sexual exploitation and rape of IDPs is attracting public interest and national concern, but evidently, much more needs to be done. Data provided by the Police in Kano State revealed that at least one little girl is raped each passing day. The disaggregated data on sexual offences for 2016 and first quarter of 2017 shows that 386 girls under the age of 17 were raped in just 15 months. In some months like October 2016, the police recorded 13 cases of rape but in months like March of the same year, the record was as high as 66 cases, all minors. And the data is high when added with victims older than 18.

    Lagos State is not exempted. In an unprecedented bid to eradicate the scourge of child sexual abuse in 2013, the state set up a Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) in collaboration with Justice for All Programme of the Department for International Development (DFID) of the British Council, and funded through UK Aid called the Mirabel Centre. In the report produced by the centre in March 2017 to mark its four years of existence, it revealed that a total of 2,342 survivors of sexual assault were helped by the centre in the four-year period between its opening in April 2013 and 31 March 2017, adding that the number of clients had increased significantly each year.

    According to the centre, clients accessing the centre increased by over 80 per cent on the previous year in the second and third year of operations, and by over 40 per cent in the fourth year. This last year, ending March 2017, saw more than 1,000 survivors of sexual assault assisted, equating to nearly three new cases every day of the year.

    The report also reveals that 79 per cent of victims who sought the assistance of Mirabel SARC after a sexual assault were under the age of 18. Furthermore, 45 per cent of this group were under the age of 11. Of those victims that were 18 years or older, 51 per cent were between the ages of 18 and 22 (i.e. college age); an evidence that those who are most at risk of sexual assault are young girls.

    Of particular concern is the number of victims that would be too young to understand what is happening to them, let alone prevent it. This is illustrated by the 318 victims that were under the age of six when they were brought to the centre.

    In March 2014, 123 cases of child defilement were reported. In March 2015, it increased to 271. Another increase of 515 was reported in March 2016 before the figure jumped to 783 in March 2017, meaning that 1,692 cases of minors’ defilement was reported to the centre alone in four years.

     

    Little children in an Abuja IDP camp
    Little children in an Abuja IDP camp

    Africa at the forefront of menace

    Global and international statistics shows that rape cases are more prevalent in Africa. According to global and international statistics made available to The Nation by the Cece Yara foundation, Swaziland is the country with the highest number of sexual abuse of girls with 38 per cent, followed closely by a 33 per cent rate with Zimbabwe. Nigeria comes in sixth place globally with 25 per cent, higher than those of the United States (14.3 per cent) and the United Kingdom (7.8 per cent).

    In the Cece Yara Foundation’s report, one in every four girls in Nigeria experiences sexual violence before age 18, while 70.5 per cent of victimised girls experience multiple incidents of sexual abuse and one in nine girls experience unwanted sex. Only 38.3 per cent of girls sexually abused tell someone about it, while only 15.8 per cent seek help.

    In the foundation’s estimation, based on the National Bureau of Statistics, population projection for 2017, based on percentage growth with Nigeria’s population of 199 million, the population of Nigerian children being 100 million and the number of girls below 18 estimated at 49 million, the estimation of girls in Nigeria that will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday is 12 million.

    These data can be said to show that the Nigerian child, especially the girl child, is increasingly at the risk of losing her childhood and life to paedophiles.

     

    Little kids posing for the camera
    Little kids posing for the camera

    Why such little girls?

    Western scientists argue that paedophilia is a mental illness. Some researchers liken it to an addiction, others to sexual orientation, but some Nigerians who have spent years fighting the scourge have different explanations.

    A lawyer, rights activist and National Coordinator, Proactive Gender Initiatives, Esther Uzoma, who has so far taken on more than 50 cases of child molestation, believes that it is in the nature of some human beings. To her, human beings are creators of pleasure and pleasure is an acquired taste, with everyone having his preference.

    On her part, the Founder/CEO of Twin and I Child Care Foundation, Hajiya Aisha Tokura, says she is forced to believe that it is done mostly for ritual purposes. She argued that two out of the cases her foundation has handled, especially in Asokoro village in Abuja, has given her reasons to support the theory. One of the girls, she said, insisted that after the man had finished sleeping with her, he would use a white handkerchief to wipe her private part.

    “It is not the first case I have heard like that. Another said she was wiped with a red handkerchief and when he was caught and asked why, he said he had taken her womb. And the girl is just eight years old,” Tokura lamented.

    This line of argument can be said to have some credibility since the molester of baby Khadija in Kano State was reported to have been asked by a native doctor to rape a six-month-old baby, hence his wife aided him in the act.

    Tokura also blames the internet for the exposure that is leading more Nigerians to commit such atrocities. According to her, the dark web is filled with videos of Nigerian adult males taking videos while raping children.

    She said: “I’m fortunate to be close to someone who is a computer genius. He goes into the dark web sometimes and shows me the atrocities. It is amazing that Nigerians can stoop so low as to bring our children to being abused like that. This is not foreign. If you go to a certain site, you will see Nigerians and small children.”

    She said that most of these molesters are paid huge sums for such videos. She also cited the example of an article she read recently where a man, who was confronted by his wife for making a video where their baby was sucking his private parts, defended himself by saying that he was going to make $10,000 for selling the footage.

    Uzoma, on her part, argued that Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is fuelled by the conspiracy of silence by caregivers, which she says has become a fertile ground for the practice to bloom. According to her, it is an altar where a child is damaged forever, because when she gains the courage to explain to her primary caregiver, being her family, since the child feels violated and the parents ask her not to tell anyone, then the person goes ahead to violate other children.

    She said: “I once took up a matter where a child was violated. In the heat of the matter, the parents told me to drop the case, saying that the 60-year-old man had paid N10,000 as bride price to marry the little girl.”

    Explaining the situation with most parents, Tokura lamented that most of them feel embarrassed, so they try to pretend that it never happened. Others try not to disgrace the family when the abuser is a member of the family, so they decide to settle it as a family matter. In some other cases, the abuser is wealthy and people who would have fought for the victim are dependent on him, so they become voiceless.

    But in all this, she says, “I always tell them: you are embarrassed today, you are killing your child tomorrow. So, your child has no future at all, because an abuser ends up becoming an abuser or they end up becoming suicidal.”

    According to Cece Yara Foundation, 39.6 per cent of girls’ abusers are boyfriends, 17.2 per cent are friends, 14.4 per cent are neighbours, 13 per cent are schoolmates, 12.9 per cent are strangers, while 7.7 per cent are family members.

    Hajiya Tokura further explained that most girls, especially in the North, who are sent out by their parents and caregivers to hawk are sexually molested by everyday men on the street; like the mason constructing the house down the road, motorcycle riders, kiosk owners, and so on. And by the time she is 12 or 13, she feels that she has slept with so many men, so she is eager to marry and get some rest.

    She explained that what most people do not understand is that in the North, not all girls are necessarily forced into marriage. A lot of girls going to school, she says, are even trying to marry their teachers. “It is the way of the North. Once you are above 19 and you are not married, you feel left out,” she said.

    Lamenting further, Tokura says that she does not think the world takes the issue of child sexual abuse (CSA) seriously. In the UK or America, she noted, there are no grants for child sexual abuse, but one finds grants for child labour, early marriage and girl child education. “But when it comes to CSA, nothing. Sometimes I wonder why nobody wants to talk about it. They say the western world is so enlightened, but nobody wants to talk about CSA, and it is rampant.

    “I want everyone to open up. Why is this not an issue? Look at Save the Children. They are supposed to be saving children, but they only talk about child marriage, not child sexual abuse.”states that have domesticated it also provides that sex with a child is rape, and anyone who has sexual intercourse with a child is liable to imprisonment for life upon conviction. But whether any molester has been made to face the full wrath of the law is another matter.

    A detective with one of the police divisions in the Federal Capital City of Abuja, who pleaded anonymity while speaking with The Nation, explained that Nigerians often fail to realise that the act of releasing a child molester back into the society does not rest solely on the shoulders of the police. “We are always accused of receiving bribes when a molester is released, but it is not always so,” he said, adding that the police had pushed several molesters to court, but at the end of the day, “you see them come back from the court and even mock you as the prosecutor that took them to court.”

    A senior lawyer and former chairperson, Federation of International Women Lawyer (FIDA) in Kano State, Hussaina Ibrahim, lamented the lackadaisical attitude of the government towards the fight against child sexual abuse, saying that in most states of the country, especially Kano, prisoners who get released because of overcrowding in prisons are such rapists.

    “The problem I have with the authorities is that when they stay in the prison for a while, they get released due to overcrowding,” she said.

    She cited as example the case of five-year-old Hussaina whose 50-year-old rapist was released from the court for molesting a minor, three days after he molested her. She said she had on some occasions taken up pro bono cases of molesters awaiting trial for years, just to ensure that justice was served.

    Hajia Tokura also feels that the government needs to do more to fight the scourge. In her view, the Nigerian Police needs to train its personnel on how to deal with victims of sexual abuse, recalling an incident to push home her argument.

    She said: “There was an 11-year-old girl we took to the police station, and the police woman asked her, ‘Tell me the truth, were you not enjoying it when you were doing it?”

    Girls being educated on what to look out for to avoid abuse
    Girls being educated on what to look out for to avoid abuse

    But Uzoma says she still believes strongly in the justice system. According to her, the courts are always eager to enforce existing rights. She said the court system, particularly in the Federal Capital Territory, does not take it lightly, but the reluctance of victims to come forward creates the vacuum in the fight against CSA.

    She added: “Because of the nature of our criminal justice system in the country, I did something that was unprecedented. I used a process called fundamental rights enforcement procedure to fight for the rights of the minors brought to me. I argued for the first time that it is a breach of fundamental rights to have sexual intercourse with minors. The beauty of the process is that it is very short. Evidence is by affidavit, so you front load and argue”.

    Evidence has shown that the society sometimes encourages paedophiles with its culture of silence. Tokura narrated an incident where a man vowed to divorce his wife for reporting his rapist brother.

    She said: “There was a family in which the husband came and threatened us. His brother abused his six-year-old daughter and the wife was taking it on, but he said he was going to divorce her. He came to the office and threatened us. He said we should drop it. He said I was a disgrace for bringing up such a thing as someone from the North, and he asked me if I was not ashamed to do so. I had to call the police.”

    The police detective, who spoke with The Nation, also narrated an incident that occurred in Kubwa, Abuja, where the mother of a 13-year-old who was molested by a man in his 30s had to drop the case because she could not afford the transport fare for the trips to the station and the court. In the end, the only punishment meted out to the molester was being fired from the bakery where he worked.

    Suggesting the way forward towards dealing with the problem, Tokura advised government to create more awareness so that parents know the trauma a molested child goes through.

    “For a child to be told ‘Shut up, you were not raped’ or to be asked ‘what do you know about rape?’ it is wrong,” she said.

  • Paedophiles on the prowl

    Paedophiles on the prowl

    Nigerians woke up last year to the bizarre news of women and girls in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states being turned into sex machines by depraved camp officials who insisted on having canal knowledge on them before they are given the basic items they are entitled to. Few months after the ugly trend was reported, a more disturbing form of sexual perversion is said to have become commonplace in Yobe State. Wealthy and influential homosexuals are sexually assaulting young boys and initiating them into the bestial practice, INNOCENT DURU reports.

    A ruinous health challenge and warped moral behaviour could soon become the lot of many underage boys and girls in Yobe State. The Nation gathered that for some time now, many children in the state have become easy prey for homosexuals and paedophiles. It was learnt that many boys in the state have had their natural sexual nature distorted by ravenous homosexuals who deploy their time and resources hunting for the innocent children and devouring them at will.

    Findings showed that young boys are not only sexually assaulted, they are also initiated into the unwholesome practice by the perpetrators who are said to be wealthy and influential men in the society. Key government officials who swore to promote the wellbeing of citizens are also involved in the despicable act, according to the state police command.

    Homosexuals, especially the malleable children lured into the act, medical experts say, may experience anal tears, and it is only a matter of time that every boy involved in the practice suffers such avoidable health challenges and walk about with stitched buttocks.

    Odious silence

    But in spite of the worrisome dimension the problem has assumed in the state, the attitude of the people is to keep mute over it. Our correspondent observed that the influential people involved in the act might have muzzled the people so much that many of them approached for comments were not willing to do so. Even those who had earlier indicated their willingness to speak on the matter ended up withdrawing into their shells.

    That, however, was not the case with Baba Ale Mijinyawa, the Executive Director of North East Youth Initiative for Development, who said his open condemnation of the act has exposed him to threats from the perpetrators.

    Mijinyawa said: “We really have the challenge of homosexuality in Yobe. The problem is that most of the people involved are well to do. The only cases that are reported are those of people that are poor. Even when wealthy people are taken to court, they are discharged.”

    Reliving some of the ugly incidents, the vocal activist said: “In Portiskum, a 40-year-old man raped two 10-year-old boys. Some community leaders in the area told the parents of the raped children that they could pursue the case to any length but they (community leaders) would be there to defend the perpetrator of the act. The offender is somebody that the people know so well because he is wealthy.

    “Twelve cases of homosexuality were reported to me, and all of them involved minors. There are some groups who are in prison right now because they were sentenced to five years imprisonment each.  There is another two sets; one was sentenced to two years imprisonment while the other was sentenced to three years. Others are still in court. The boys will tell you that they are not doing it alone.”

    Mijinyawa added: “We have some groups of tricycle drivers in Yobe. There is a group of wealthy men who often lodge these boys in a hotel for a week. Each of the wealthy men would then go one after the other to sleep with the boys for one week. After seven days, the boys will be provided with new tricycles. I said this even on the radio.

    “Some Muslim scholars spoke against the act and the perpetrators went to them and warned them to stop doing that. The perpetrators have godfathers.”

    Mijinyawa said he had been speaking against the act at the risk of his own life. “I do have radio programmes where I speak against the practice, but some people have warned me against what I am doing. But I don’t really care because I have only one life to live. For me, the best thing is to always speak the truth,” he said.

    Concerned citizens

    A prominent indigene of the state, who asked to be identified only as Hajia for security reasons, corroborated Mijinyawa’s account, regretting that many innocent boys who were initiated into the act are now initiating their peers and practising sodomy with impunity.

    She said: “We now have a lot of children engaging in this unholy act. Some are reported and others are not. Some parents don’t want the issue to be discussed openly. The truth is that some people initiated these children into the bestial practice.

    “A man recently molested 11 boys. He was arrested, prosecuted and convicted. The man is from Gadaka where homosexual cases are very high. Cases of homosexuality among the youth are promoted by highly placed people in the state. Such cases are not reported.

    “One of the victims is my neighbour, but I can’t go on giving details for security reasons.”

    The Chairperson of International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Barrister Aisha Godowoli, told our correspondent that her organisation facilitated the conviction of the man that raped 11 boys.

    “FIDA facilitated the prosecution of the man that assaulted many boys. He was sent to seven years imprisonment by the Magistrate’s Court. As a mother, I feel so bad to hear such things. These are things that were happening outside but are now right here in our midst,” she remarked despondently.

    The Director of Citizens Rights in the state’s Ministry of Justice, Sale Dibo Gadaka, confirmed the menace of homosexuality in the state, but he said the government was on top of the situation.

    Sale said: “We have been prosecuting homosexuals. We have even got convictions against some of them. The development is worrisome, but we in Yobe State are trying our best. I think the number is reducing. I cannot tell you that influential people are behind the practice. All we do is that once a suspect is arrested and we have evidence against him, we take him to court. If you want to know this, ask the police.

    “I can’t also provide answer to whether it is true that some homosexuals use their influence to get away from justice. It is the police that can give you that answer because they are the ones investigating. Ours is to prosecute.

    “When the police have done their work and the file comes to us, we go to court with it. Many have been prosecuted for homosexuality.

    “The laws we are working on is to take care of the damages done to these children. They are supposed to be compensated.”

    War against menace

    The spokesperson of the Yobe Sate Police Command, Jafiya Zuberu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said the police had left no breathing space for homosexuals in the state.

    He said: “We have been arresting and prosecuting homosexuals. We have reduced the menace to the barest minimum. For some time now, we have not received any such case. But some months back, there were cases like that. Most of the offenders were arrested, investigated and sent to court for prosecution.”

    Zuberu denied that influential offenders use their positions to evade justice. He said, however, that high profile individuals were involved in the crime.

    He said: “One or two cases reported involved persons holding sensitive positions in the state government, but we don’t know the motive behind it. The police are part of the ongoing advocacy. I have a number of television and radio programmes on NTA, YBC and YTV for sensitization.

    Anxiety over raped minors

    Aside from the menace of homosexuality in the state, cases of raped minors, The Nation gathered, is also assuming a geometric progression in the state.

    Speaking on this, Mijinyawa said: “The rate of child abuse here is very high. The one that is very common now is the rape cases involving minors. The percentage of victims below eight years is very high. I would put it at 70 per cent.

    “Many adults are raping small children. As I am talking to you now, we have a case of an adult who raped a four-month-old baby. The challenge of neglect is so high.”

    He blamed the rise on the culture of silence among the people and the judicial system.

    He said: “We have this challenge of silence culture. People don’t want to speak out because of stigmatization. Some people want to speak out but the problem that they are having is the justice system. The legal system is not helping matters.

    “Some parents would report the case and start going to court. Later on, you would hear that the perpetrator has been sentenced to one year or two years imprisonment. In some cases, the perpetrators are given fines of very small amount of money. This makes many people to lose interest in speaking out or choose to leave things in the hands of God.

    “I must tell you that the issue of rape is rampant in Yobe State. This year alone, my organisation has handled over 90 cases. Some have been sentenced, some cases are still in court while some chose to settle out of court. The perpetrators agreed to marry their victims. Some of the victims are about 17 years.”

    FIDA boss Godowoli also attested to this, saying: “Cases of older people sleeping with minors are becoming rampant.

    “When I went to FIDA office which is opposite the SSG’s office to pray, there was somebody who came to complain on behalf of his sister, a nine year-old-girl. She used to go to her neighbour’s house to play.

    “One day, she went there as usual, not knowing that her kid friends and their mother were not at home. She went in and was just playing when the breadwinner of the house brought out a knife, threatened to kill her and raped her.

    “Thereafter, he warned her never to tell anybody about it or he would slaughter her. He did the same thing to her thereafter, but unfortunately for him, the wife came and caught him in the act. It was the wife that blew up the matter. He has been arrested and now going through prosecution.

    “The rape of minors in IDP’s camp is reducing because of the resettlement process. We still have cases of rape in places where they have been resettled.

    Why perpetrators engage in unholy act

    Asked what he thought was the reason why adult men rape minors, Mijinyawa said: “I believe the perpetrators of these acts are doing it for rituals. I think some of them belong to secret cults and some are doing it because they want to be rich. I don’t think there is anything they are getting from the act in terms of physical enjoyment. There are so many prostitutes or those you can give money to sleep with. So, why would somebody be having sex with minors?”

    For Godowoli, it could “have something to do with poverty, rituals, secret organisations and cultural beliefs.”

    Efforts at curbing sexual perversion in Yobe

    Checks made by our correspondent revealed that the war against sexual perversion in the state is being aggressively championed by both the state government and private organisations, including international organisations like UNICEF.

    According Godowoli: “Earlier on, these cases were not brought to the open because of stigmatization. But we decided to do vigourous sensitization in 2015 through 2016. That was when we had most of these cases coming out. We went into schools and were always in touch with the House of Assembly.”

    The state government, according to Godowoli, is really playing its role in all this. “Last year, we started our advocacy for the passing of the Child Rights Act. The act has a problem with being passed in the north. Later, the Ministry of Women Affairs said we could pass it but that we should make some amendments that would be in line with our customary differences.

    “The problem we have is the word right. Islam wise, they will tell you which one is oyinbo telling us about the rights of our kids? They will tell you they know the rights of their kids. Even the Christians and traditionalists will tell you the same.

    “Later, we advised that we should drop the word ‘right’ and use something else. The House agreed to this and now we have a bill. UNICEF supported the Ministry of Justice to come up with a bill we call the Child Protection Law, which is exactly Child’s Right Act.

    “It is going to be passed any moment from now. It is going to be an executive bill. It will be taken to His Excellency who will pass it to the House of Assembly. In all the processes, the House was involved. So it will be easier when it comes to passage.

    On his part, Mijinyawa said: “Series of advocacy is being carried out. We go to primary and secondary schools to educate them on gender-based violence and other issues which they were not conversant with.

    “Many primary school teachers are being trained by UNICEF and another group on the issue of protection. Here they have protection desk officers in all schools. They are to observe and attend to children who have any form of fears.

    “It is the almajiri (beggar) children who are in real danger because they are out to beg. Begging outside, someone could tell them to come and do this or that for them, and they will innocently oblige them because they want to get food or money.

    “The Catholic Relief Centre is trying by providing food which the scholars cook for the children. This prevents the children from going out to beg. This is a great achievement I would say, but it is not happening in every part of the state.

    “The state government is also trying to have a modern Islamic boarding school where they are feeding the children in the school. With this, the children don’t have to go out and beg. But it is not yet in place.

    “We have an advocacy group working with tricycle riders. We told them this is what is happening to your people, so try and see how you harmonise them. Every two months, we speak with them to know their problems and how to tackle them.”

    Sale, the Director of Citizens Rights said: “We are currently working on a bill for domestication of child abuse, and the moment we finish it, we will send it to the House of Assembly. We have Child Right Act which is from the Federal Government. We want to domesticate that law to suite our environment in Yobe State.

    Medical, legal experts speak

    Reacting to the years of imprisonment that some the offenders were reportedly given, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Ladi Williams, said they fell short of what the law prescribes.

    He said: “It is an offence punishable by 14 years and it was unanimously passed into law by both Christian and Muslim legislatures.

    “Two years imprisonment is too short for that kind of offence- sodomy. If you know that you will serve 14 years imprisonment, you will not go about looking for a man’s ass to burst. The law should be enforced judiciously. Imagine having a son that you asked to go and get a job somewhere and the man would begin to run after his ass! That is very bad.

    “It is a mandatory 14 years sentence. The extant law now is 14 years imprisonment. You are asking me why offenders could be given two, three or seven year jail term for such an offence? Don’t you know our judges? Only God knows what happened.”

    Explaining the health and psychological effect of the act on the young victims, a public health physician, Dr Rotimi Adesanya, said: “Homosexuality has a lot of medical consequences. These include HIV, hepatitis and all other sexually transmitted diseases. Homosexuals are prone to having all these.

    “If the children are coerced into having such sexual relationships, it will affect them psychologically and emotionally. They will not be able to do well in their endeavours. Victims of homosexuality may have anal tear.

    “Rape of minors has both medical and legal consequences. Rape is even worse. Apart from those diseases that I mentioned, raped children pass through psychological trauma which may affect them for life.

    “It will affect their emotions, their intelligence, academic performance will drop. They will not be able to concentrate in whatever they are doing. They will have low IQ and they always have what we call post traumatic syndrome. After such incident, they will not be able to sleep well.”

    The physician advised: “Victims should always seek medical help. Most of them would need rehabilitation. They are seen by psychologists who will counsel and encourage them.

    “Medically, doctors will do several tests which will include HIV, Hepatitis and treat those infected. When minors are raped, it destroys the reproductive system of some of them and their urinary system.

    “Some of them have tear and urine would be leaking from their body. When some of them get pregnant when they are very young, their reproductive system would be affected and this affects the bladder. There could be a tear in the bladder and as a result, urine will be leaking from their private parts.”

  • Wanted: Stringent punishment for paedophiles

    Legal luminary, Mallam Yusuf Ali (SAN), has advocated a stringent punishment for paedophiles in order to curb the rising cases of sexual abuse of minors.

    He spoke at the Annual Law Week of the Ekiti State chapter of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) held in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital. The theme of the event was “The Roles of Stakeholders in the 21st Century Child Care.”

    Ali, who was a guest speaker at the event, delivered a lecture entitled: “Defilement of Children: Roles of Parents, Guardians and Society.”

    The Ekiti FIDA Law Week was declared open by the state Chief Judge, Justice Ayodeji Daramola who was represented by Justice Toyin Abodunde.

    The event was attended by wife of the Governor, Mrs. Feyisetan Fayose represented by a Permanent Secretary in the state civil service, Mrs. Peju Babafemi; Justice Cornelius Akintayo, Justice Emmanuel Adesodun, Justice Dele Omotoso, former General Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Obafemi Adewale; former Ekiti State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Owoseni Ajayi; Ado-Ekiti NBA Chairman, Mr. Gbemiga Adaramola and other members of the association.

    The week-long event also featured goodwill messages, cultural variety night, food competition between NBA and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), award night and dinner, ladies day out at Ikogosi Warm Spring and thanksgiving service.

    He said: “There should be proactive and stringent punishment enforcement for these child defilers. Even though the offence of child defilement is in itself punishable with life imprisonment, other offences such as indecent assault and sodomy, among others, carry lesser punishment.

    “It is not just expedient to ensure maximum punishment, it is also imperative to enforce this punishment in a very firm and decisive manner. The police authorities should courageously investigate and recommend for prosecution the alleged offenders.

    “The judiciary should not shy away from handing out maximum punishment, when the occasion demands, to sex offenders. This will serve as  deterrent to other aberrant members of the public. Judges should dispense justice without interference from the other arms of government and efforts should be made to ensure that cases are resolved quickly.

    “An ineffective judiciary will promote child abuse despite the enactments of several laws prohibiting it. The use of juvenile courts should be revived, especially to try offenders. It is strongly suggested that, apart from the punishments provided in the laws, convicted offenders must be made to undergo compulsory psychiatric rehabilitation.”

  • Paedophiles

    •Too many violations, too little progress

    An eight-year-old girl (allegedly) defiled by her stepfather, Mr. Happiness Essien, claimed that he started having carnal knowledge of her last year,” said a recent report. It was alarming enough.

    But the report was even more disturbing because it was yet another story of a child victim of sexual abuse. Regrettably, the scale of the problem is escalating, and recent statistics by the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) paint an ugly picture.

    UNICEF’s Communications Officer, Mrs. Ijeoma Onuoha-Egwu, said at a recent workshop on Violence Against Children (VAC) in Calabar, Cross River State: “From our survey, over nine million children are exposed to sexual abuse yearly in Nigeria and it is very unfortunate that the people who perpetrate this evil are people who morally, socially and statutorily are supposed to protect the rights of the children”.

    This observation is corroborated by the account of the eight-year-old victim in Lagos who was quoted as saying: “It happened in the room at daytime. It was during the holiday, and my mummy went out, so it was just me and Uncle Happiness at home. When I shouted, he told me to shut up. He said I should not tell my mummy, that if I tell her, he would stop giving me money.”

    According to the report, the little girl said “the accused had sex with her up to six times”. The report also said: “The accused has since been charged to court. The 31-year-old man… was arrested after the mother of the victim reported the case to the police station in Afonka, Shasha, Egbeda.”

    Certainly, what the little girl experienced was an act of violence. The violence was aggravated by the status of the alleged perpetrator who was supposed to be her protector.

    There is no doubt that sexual violence is sick conduct, and it is even more so when children are the victims. There should be no space for paedophiles in any decent society.

    The victim’s mother should be commended for her principled courage, which prompted her to expose the accused. Initially, she reportedly sought the help of a Lagos-based NGO, Esther Child Rights Foundation, when she found out that her husband had sexually abused her daughter. By taking the matter to the police, she demonstrated a sense of what was appropriate in the situation.

    It is relevant to note that during the launch of the UN Year of Action to End Violence Against Children in Abuja last year, the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, highlighted the role of the police: “Police record shows that between January and August 2015, a total of 133 cases of child violence involving 141 victims were reported to the police. Out of this figure, 112 were conclusively investigated; 21 are currently under investigation; 158 suspects were arrested, while 118 offenders were charged to court.”

    Violence against children takes many forms, and sexual abuse is just one of them. But whatever form it takes, it is outrageous and condemnable. Onuoha-Egwu said: “Six in every 10 children, which represents 60 percent, suffer one act of violence or the other. Majority of children surveyed witnessed violence in their homes; 66 percent of females and 50 percent of males witnessed violence in their homes before the age of 18 years.”

    According to her, the major objective of the UNICEF workshop was “to call the media to action for aggressive reportage on violence against children”. More importantly, the media should be at the forefront of a continuous enlightenment campaign against the violation of child rights.

    Taking action against child-related violence is a social responsibility. The bottom line is that all children should be safe from abuse, violence, exploitation, and neglect. It is a moral imperative.

  • Pope Francis: ‘About 2%’ of Catholic clergy paedophiles

    Pope Francis: ‘About 2%’ of Catholic clergy paedophiles

    Pope Francis has been quoted as saying that reliable data indicates that “about 2%” of clergy in the Catholic Church are paedophiles.

    The Pope said that abuse of children was like “leprosy” infecting the Church, according to the Italian La Repubblica newspaper.

    He vowed to “confront it with the severity it demands”.

    But a Vatican spokesman said the quotes in the newspaper did not correspond to Pope Francis’s exact words.

    He wants to show a more compassionate attitude towards Church teaching than his predecessors, but this can sometimes cause consternation among his media advisers, our correspondent adds.

    In the interview, Pope Francis was quoted as saying that the 2% estimate came from advisers. It would represent around 8,000 priests out of a global number of about 414,000.

    While the incidence of paedophilia in the general population is not accurately known, some estimates have put it at less than five percent.

    “Among the 2% who are paedophiles are priests, bishops and cardinals. Others, more numerous, know but keep quiet. They punish without giving the reason,” Pope Francis was quoted as saying.

    Above the interview La Repubblica ran the headline: “Pope says: Like Jesus, I shall use a stick against paedophile priests.”

    Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi denied that Pope Francis had said that there were cardinals who were paedophiles.

    Last year Pope Francis strengthened the Vatican’s laws against child abuse and earlier this month begged forgiveness from the victims of sexual abuse by priests, at his first meeting with victims since his election.

    Many survivors of abuse by priests are angry at what they see as the Vatican’s failure to punish senior officials who have been accused of covering up scandals.

    Asked in the same La Repubblica interview about the celibacy rule for priests, Pope Francis recalled that it was adopted 900 years after the death of Jesus Christ and pointed out that the Eastern Catholic Church allows its priests to marry.

    “The problem certainly exists but it is not on a large scale. It will need time but the solutions are there and I will find them.”

    Father Lombardi also denied that these were the Pope’s exact words.

  • Paedophiles in power

    Paedophiles in power

    Perhaps they could also learn one or two things from the following  press report in a newspaper just last week which reflects the views of one of the most respected leaders and islamic scholars in Saudi Arabia. The report reads as follows-

    ‘’A member of Saudi Arabia’s highest religious body has said that Prophet Mohammed’s marriage to a nine-year-old girl does not justify marrying minor children today because circumstances have changed in the intervening 14 centuries. The comments by Sheikh Abdullah al Manie, who sits on the Council of Senior Ulema, follow other recent public criticisms of child marriage, suggesting the government may be preparing public opinion for legislation setting a minimum marriage age.

    “They want to prepare the public to understand that the old days are not like today,” said Mekhlef al Shammary, a human rights advocate in Dammam. “It’s a crime to give a 12-year-old to be a mother and wife. “This is ridiculous. Even in Islam it’s not acceptable because the girl is not mature enough. She’s a child – she’s not ready for sexual relations.” The marriage of young girls, often to much older men, has been at the forefront of public debate in Saudi Arabia for a couple of years. It escalated early last year after it was reported that a man had contracted to give his eight-year-old daughter in marriage to a 47-year-old man in order to pay a financial debt. The contract was annulled after a public outcry.

    Sheikh al Manie is believed to be the most senior cleric to unequivocally denounce the practice of child marriage. Prophet Mohammed’s marriage to young Aisha “cannot be equated with child marriages today because the conditions and circumstances are not the same”, he said in remarks published in the Saudi Gazette and Okaz newspapers on Thursday. “It is a grave error to burden a child with responsibilities beyond her years,” the sheikh said. “Marriage should be put off until the wife is of a mentally and physically mature age and can care for both herself and her family.”

    Sheikh al Manie’s comments came a few days after Sheikh Abdul Mohsen al Obaikan urged legislation making marriage illegal for girls under 18.

    Waivers might be given in some cases by judges or the royal court, he added, according to reports in the same newspapers. Sheikh al Obaikan said the marriage of minors was a “grave error” and cautioned parents to “fear Allah and not marry their daughters by force” to men they do not want to wed’’.

    Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima, Professor Ishaq Akintola and all those that continuosly give the impression that child marriage is acceptable in islam and who erroneously believe that the honest criticism of such an abominable practice is an attack on their faith surely have much to learn from the contribution of this erudite Saudi Arabian leader and scholar. As a matter of fact, we all do and it is contributions like that that make the rest of us appreciate what a beautiful religion Islam really is when its tenets are properly understood and applied. Permit me to end this essay by sharing a few poignant words that my dear sister, Mrs. Toyin FaniKayode-Bajela wrote in a moving piece titled ‘’You Who Support Child Marriage’’ from London just last week. She wrote-

    ‘’You who for whatever ‘solid and noble’ reason have chosen to agree with legitimised child slavery, sexual abuse, psychological, emotional, physical and financial abuse under the guise of marriage. You who are silent about it or couldn’t care less as it’s not a topic worthy of inclusion in the constitutional review. All of you have freedom to choose your position on this issue- the freedom to wax lyrical, or not so lyrical, as is most often the case, on this issue. You enjoy the freedom to hold and have your own opinion. The freedom to air your opinion irrespective of whether l care for that opinion or not.

    “A girl child has no choice. A girl child has no opinion that anyone will listen to – a girl child learns quickly the horrific consequences of her unwanted opinion and her only goal is silent survival or only choice suicide. There is no point in appealing to an iota of empathy in you that agree with child marriage for whatever ‘noble’, ‘altruistic’ or patriarchal ‘reason’ as time and time again, on issue after issue, day after day, we are reminded that you have none. Everything is reduced to politics, religion and gain – financially or otherwise. For those of you who think we have spoken-’too much grammar’ on this isssue- you are darn right. I have just enough (grammar ) to speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves or those for whom the consequences of speaking out would be unspeakable, but not too little grammar that l might be tempted to stay silent.’’

    My heart missed a beat and a tear came to my eye when I read this and I commend Toyin for her admonitions to us all and for her touching words. I also commend Roz Ben Okagbue, Hanatu Musawa, Maryam Uwais, Stella Damasus, Aisha Osori, Helen Oviagbele, Oby Ezekwezile, Josephine Anenih, Cheluchi Onyemelukwe, Linda Ikeji, Bisi Fayemi, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Gbemisola Saraki, Nana Nwanchukwu, Modupe Debbie Ariyo and the many other leading women that have stood up and made their voices heard through their articles, actions, concerns and various commentries on the girl-child and child marriage issue in what is essentially a deeply conservative, insensitive, anti-progressive and male-dominated country and society which really does not offer much sympathy or hope to the plight of women generally let alone that of the girl-child and infant bride.

    Let me give a couple of examples of that insensitivity and our misplaced priorities. In Yerima’s own northern region no less than 93 per cent of girls do not complete secondry school education and 70 per cent of women between the ages of 20 and 29 cannot read or write. Worst still the region has the largest per centage and number of recorded vesico vagina fistula (VVF) cases in the entire world.  VVF is a terrible and very painful diesease which causes it’s victims to urinate and defecate uncontrollably and which is caused by child-sex, child marriage and child-pregnancies. According to our Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Zainab Maina, Nigeria has 800,000 cases of VVF today and we are adding 20,000 cases each year. All these cases are situated in the northern part of the country. Such a diseases, such suffering, such illiteracy and such high levels of poverty of the mind and soul should have no place in any part of our great nation in this day and age. Our people, whether they be from the North or the South, Christian or Muslim, young or old and men or women, surely deserve better than that. After all, we are living in the 21st century and not the 6th. Yet sadly these vices are more rampant in Yerima’s own northern region and constituency than anywhere else in the country and instead of attempting to improve on the lot, the education and quality of lives of the good people of the North all he thinks about is marrying little girls and bedding them. What a man and what a country. Outside of this contribution I have nothing more to say on this vexed and contentious issue of the horrendous plight of the girl-child and child marriage in Nigeria.

     

  • A word for Yerima and the paedophiles in power

    A word for Yerima and the paedophiles in power

    I expressed my concerns about the issue of paedophilia and child brides in Nigeria quite extensively in an essay that I wrote last week titled ‘’A nation of perverts and paedophiles’’ which was widely published and which attracted a lot of rejoinders and commentries from other writers and commentators from both sides of the divide. I do not intend to cover the same ground or repeat the same arguments here but kindly permit me to make a final contribution to the debate in this piece.

    The good news is that no matter what anyone thinks or says and regardless of whichever side of the divide one is on when it comes to this issue at least the Nigerian people are now talking about a subject which, hitherto, had been regarded as being ‘’off limits’’ and taboo and which had been essentially swept under the carpet. I commend the Nigerian press, the website magazines, the bloggers and the electronic media for standing firm, rising up to the occassion and bringing the matter alive and one can only hope and pray that they will keep the fire burning by continuing to reflect the heated discussions and various opinions on this issue. I was particularly impressed with and encouraged by the editorials of some of our leading newspapers on this issue including ’Thisday On Sunday’, ‘The Nation On Sunday’, ‘Leadership On Sunday’ and ‘The Sunday Vanguard’ which were all published on Sunday 28th July and which were titled “In Support Of The Girl Child’’, ‘’No Cover For Paedophiles’’. ‘’Much Ado About Child Marriage’’ and ‘’Building Nigeria On Deceit’’ respectively. With contributions like that from very serious and credible media like those there is still hope for the girl-child in Nigeria. I urge all those that have not read these contributions to please find them and do so.

    Yet despite the outrage expressed by the overwhelming majority of Nigerians and indeed the wider world about the plight of the girl-child in our country, on Sunday 28th July, a deeply defiant and unrepentant Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima, who was the individual that sparked off the whole controversy in the first place by insisiting that Section 29 of the Constitution must not be removed, told the Sunday Trust Newspaper that ‘’if the vote on the child marriage issue came up in the Senate again’’ he and his supporters ‘’would win a million times over’’. Sadly, given the nonchalant attitude that has been displayed by a large number of our Senators to the plight of the girl-child, paedophilia and infant marriages in Nigeria and their obvious reluctance to step on Yerima’s big toes and thereby upset his religious sensitivities he may well be right. If not for that how does one explain the fact that, two female Senators, Aisha Jummai Alhassan from Taraba State and Zainab Kure from Niger state, both of whom I gather have daughters, actually abstained when that historical vote took place? To drive home the point, the Senate President himself, Senator David Mark, only last week admitted that he and the entire Senate had succumbed to Yerima’s ‘’blackmail’’ on the issue of the right of the child-bride to renounce Nigerian citizenship and his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, accepted the fact that the matter ‘’needed to be revisited’’ in view of the outrage expressed by the majority of the Nigerian people.

    Yet many of us do not expect anything to change in the near future simply because it is clear that the Nigerian Senate and indeed the Nigerian political class generally simply do not have the sensitivity, the courage, the wherewithal or the political will to do the right thing and to not only delete the controversial Section 29 but to also revamp and amend the Constitution in its entirety and insert a clause that specifically, clearly and categorically outlaws and bans  marriages that involve anyone under the age of 18 in Nigeria. Mrs. Roz Ben-Okagbue, in her article titled, ‘’Is The Removal Of Section 29 The Answer To Eliminating Child Marriage?’’ has made this point more eloquently than anyone else. I consider Roz’s piece to be probably the most insightful contrbution so far in this debate simply because she made all the relevant points and consistently hit the nail on the head. It is the inability of the Senate and other political stakeholders to introduce a new clause into our Constitution and ban child marriages and their penchant for continously pampering and seeking to accomodate the strange fantasies and perversions of those that enjoy marrying and having sex with 6, 9, 12 and 14 year olds that informed Pastor Tunde Bakare to proclaim, in a characteristically powerful and explosive sermon, that ‘’Nigeria is suffering from the rulership of ‘PINPS’ ‘’ (by which he meant ‘’Paedophiles in Power’’) and that the issue of child marriage has divided our country more than any other issue before it in our entire history. No-one could have put it better.

    Yet the debate continues to rage and only last week the respected islamic scholar Professor Ishaq Akintola, added his voice by saying ’’there is no age restriction in islamic marriage.’’ Most muslims would disagree with this because child-marriage is specifically banned by the laws and constitutions of 90 per cent of muslim countries in the world today but I respect the right of Professor Akintiola to hold his opinion about the tenets of his faith. And regardless of his views and fervency I honestly believe that islam, like christianity, is a humane and compassionate faith which seeks to protect the weak and guide its adherents on the path of righteousness and light.

    I must, however, point out that Nigeria is not a muslim state. And neither is she a christian state. She is a secular state and she is governed by secular laws. Religious laws have no place in our land or Constitution.Our Constitution is a secular docuement which specifically says that the state shall not adopt any religion. This must remain so if we do not want a divided country and if we do not want continued controversy, strife and possibly even a fully blown religious conflagration and conflict. We should all keep our religious sensitivities out of certain matters if we want continued peace.

    Paedophilia, child sex, child slavery, child rape and child marriage cannot be justified under any circumstances in any civilised country. It is not a matter of religion. It is a matter of human rights, civil liberties and basic morality. There is nothing more repugnant to the natural mind and wholesome soul than the prospect of a fully grown man mounting, defiling and having carnal knowledge of a child that is between the ages of 6 and 18.

    Every child, whether she be a christian, a muslim, a pagan, an atheist or an agnostic has the right to be fully protected by the state and by the laws of our land from sexual predators, sexual deviants, statutory rapists, unrepentant perverts and child molestors. That much we ought to be able to achieve and we ought to insist on. We are meant to protect our children and not bed them.

    Like I said earlier on elsewhere in this debate, even animals don’t sleep with their own infants. Some may hate me for these words today but I speak nothing but the truth and tomorrow the people will thank me for it. In the heat of this debate, my dear wife, Pastor Regina Fani-Kayode, made a pertinent assertion. She said, ‘’knowledge comes to those who seek it’’. This is wisdom and I would suggest that our muslim brothers and sisters that share Yerima’s views on child marriage and that seek to defend those views on religious grounds like my respected sister, Dr. Zainab Shinkafi-Bagudu, whose article titled ‘’Early Marriage?’’ I read with great interest, learn a little from this deep truism.

     

    •To be continued next week

  • No cover for paedophiles

    No cover for paedophiles

     Senate must expunge section of the constitution seemingly encouraging underage marriage

    Prior to the decision of the Senate on section 29 (4) (b) of the Constitution on July 13, there was no controversy over the marriage age under Nigerian laws. It was generally believed that anyone under 18 could not legally contract marriage in any part of the country, and hardly had anyone misconstrued the section on renunciation of citizenship in the constitution as suggesting that a minor could be legitimately married under the extant laws.

    Even in the outcry over the marriage contracted by former Zamfara State Governor Ahmed Sani Yerima, no Muslim cleric came to his defence citing that section of the law. The denunciation came from all sides of the religious divide in the country.

    However, when the former governor called for a revisit of an earlier decision of the upper legislative chamber to delete the ‘offending’ section, an unwary Senate danced to the tune called by the Zamfara West senator, apparently beclouded by selfish interest. Senate President David Mark and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, have attributed the decision to blackmail by Yerima and his cohorts, promising to revisit the resolution.

    Yerima found support from Danjuma Goje, a former senator of Gombe State who contended that the section offered a cover for Muslims who may choose to get married to girls under the age of 18. The subsection states that, “Any woman who married shall be deemed to be of full age.”

    Explaining what happened, Senator Mark said: “We wanted to remove it but it failed, we were a total of 101 Senators, 85 voted and I think about six or so abstained. There was hardly any dissenting vote but once it got mixed up with so many other issues, it didn’t get the required 73 votes anymore.

    “So, first of all, I think the castigation outside is done out of misunderstanding, but because a religious connotation was brought into it, which is a very sensitive issue and you must agree with me that in this country, we try as much as possible not to bring issues that involve faith to the floor of the Senate and indeed the chamber, we keep religion completely out of it because what is good for a Christian is also good for a Muslim.

    It is unfortunate that such an important institution of state could make such a shocking confession. How mature are the men and women elected to perform the task of making laws for the entire country? Why would they be so easily blackmailed by a senator whose interest is hardly disguised? How does the rigmarole- the deletion, restoration and the promised revisit portray the “distinguished” senators?

    It is cold comfort to argue that the amendment would not affect the status of existing laws on the agreed marriage age, safeguard of the girl child and protection of Nigerian children. Yerima had a game plan and got his colleagues who were aware of the plot to support him; otherwise, how did a Senate that realised that the subsection was superfluous get persuaded to overturn a popular decision?

    The uproar created by that cruel action is welcome. It took a visit to the Senate President by Minister of Women Affairs Zainab Maina, head of the National Human Rights Commission Professor Chidi Odinkalu, Mrs. Maryam Uwais and Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, to extract the promise that the lid had not been put on the unacceptable resolution.

    It is however interesting that the people of Ondo Central whose representative voted for the iniquitous reinstatement of the section have called Senator Ayo Akinyelure to order. As they berated the senator for acting against cherished values of the people, he reportedly wept and apologised for his action, pleading that he was misled. This is the way forward for our fledgling democracy. Representatives in the legislative houses must regularly give account of their stewardship. Akinyelure now knows that his constituents are following his actions in the Senate and will not hesitate to invoke the relevant sections of the constitution to recall him in the event that he betrays the cause and joins in doing violence to the interest of the nation. It is not enough that the weeping senator has been called to order; he should be made to give a full account of what transpired in the Senate that day. His people deserve to know what the issues were, how he got converted to what obviously is the scheme of a paedophile and what he intends to do now to undo the vile deed. Only then would he deserve a pardon and told to “go and sin no more”.

    At a time when violation of minors is on the increase in our country and all over the world, we frown at the action of the Senate and call for immediate removal of the section. By the debate, action and inaction of the upper legislative house, the phrase has lost its innocence and has made the position of the law on such an important issue ambiguous and thus negates the good of the society.

    The constitution must be rid of offending sections, subsections, provisos and phrases in the ongoing amendment process.

  • A nation of perverts and paedophiles

    A nation of perverts and paedophiles

    Senator and former Governor Ahmed Sani, the Yerima Bakura, has finally had his way. The Nigerian Senate has bowed to his will and agreed to be silent about the age that young girls can get married in Nigeria.

    What this means once it is followed through and enshrined in our laws and constitution is that girls that are as young as 9 years old, providing they are deemed as having been ‘’physically developed enough’’ by their suitors, could be lawfully bedded and married in our country.

    That is the sordid level that we have now, as a people and as a nation, degenerated to. I weep for Nigeria and, perhaps more appropiately, I weep for the Nigerian girl child. Yet we have no choice but to live with this new reality and to accept it as it is.

    After all, our representatives in the sacred halls of the Senate were not sensitive enough or ‘’man enough’’ to shoot down the whole thing, to stand firmly against the unholy agenda and to say boldly and firmly that ‘’come what may’’ our children must be protected from sexual deviants and reprobates.

    And since the Senate, in its infinite wisdom, has now endorsed the “Paedophile Charter” which essentially seeks to make it lawful and constitutional for very young girls to get married and to have sex, it is my view that we have now become a nation of perverts and paedophiles.

    Every Nigerian should bow his or her head in shame as from today because what the Senate did yesterday, and seeks to do in the future, by beginning the process to amend our constitution in order for it to cater for the filthy appetite and godless fantasies of child molestors and sexual predators is sordid, ungodly and unforgiveable.

    Surely we ought to be seeking to protect our children and not seeking to bed them. Yet it appears that not everyone shares our outrage and collective sense of shame. One Uche Ezechukwu made the following contribution which went viral on the social media networks and which I think speaks volumes. He wrote-

    “Those who are railing against ‘paedophile’ senators, like Yerima Bakura, must be told that a Muslim can’t go wrong while imitating the examples of the Apostle of Allah himself and the founder of his religion, in the same way a Christian cannot be criticised for following the examples of Jesus Christ. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) married Aisha at the age of six and consummated the marriage when she was nine. So, why are we judging Muslims by our own standards?”

    I am appalled by these words. The truth is that I have never heard such a self-serving and specious argument in defence of the philosophies and beliefs of the Ayatollah of Bakura, Senator Ahmed Sani, the practising paedophile who married and bedded a 12 year old Egyptian girl, as this one.

    Ahmed Sani himself could not have argued it better. Yet I think that it is an utter shame. And this is more so because the individual that is putting the argument is supposedly a Christian. The Old Testament of the Holy Bible prescribes ‘’stoning’’ for adultery but that does not mean that Christian countries, or indeed secular states like Nigeria, should stone adulterers.

    Neither does it mean that we should preserve the institution of slavery or crucify petty thieves simply because the Holy Bible endorsed both practices in the Old Testament. We must accept the fact that the interpretation of biblical and koranic provisions are evolutionary and are ever changing. Jesus Himself said ‘’laws are made for man and not man for laws’’.

    The suggestion that paedophilia has any place in any modern and decent society simply because it was once practised in the distant past is not only a despicable argument but it also does not make any sense. After all, cannibalism and child and human sacrifice were once widely practised and were held as being perfectly acceptable throughout the world as well, but that does not mean that we should practice any of those terrible vices today.

    The man, Uche Ezechukwu, who appears to be defending child rape in the name of Islam, should either let someone lay with and ‘’marry’’ his own 6 or 9 year old daughter or he should seal his lips forever and stop trying to defend the indefensible.

    His assertions, and I daresay those of Senator Ahmed Sani and anyone that shares their primitive views, are not only utterly immoral and reprehensible but they are also intellectually dishonest. I say this because the truth is that there is NO Muslim country in the world that has adopted the “paedophile charter” where 6 or 9 year olds can marry and be bedded except for possibly Saudi Arabia and Iran.

    Every other Muslim country in the world, including Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Egypt, Jordan, Senegal, the Sudan, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Palestine, United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, Qatar, Bahrain, Dagestan, Albania, Bosnia, Somalia, Algeria, Libya, Mali, Azerbijhan and Syria have specifically banned child marriage, paedophilia and child rape in their various constitutions and laws and some have declared it ‘’repugnant’’, ‘’unacceptable’’ and ‘’un-Islamic’’. Are these people not Muslims too?

    Like Christianity and Judaism, Islam is a noble, pure, honourable and ancient faith that seeks to protect the weakest and most vulnerable in society, including children. No-one should use the misinterpretation of its provisions to try to justify or rationalise what is essentially depraved, shameful, disgusting and barbaric behaviour and the most sordid and filthy expression of sexual deviance and perversion. Even animals do not marry or bed their own infants. The bitter truth is that paedophiles have no place in any civilised society.

    I am constrained to say that in the light of their “yes” vote to child marriage and their green light to paedophilia, every single member of the Nigerian Senate should bow their heads in utter shame and they should be compelled to offer their own infant and under age daughters for marriage. I repeat, they have turned us into a nation of perverts and paedophiles. I say a pox on all their houses.