*Withdraws Marriage Support For Orphans
THE Speaker of the Niger House of Assembly, Mr. Abdulmalik Sarkin-daji, has denied forcing 100 orphaned girls into marriage as part of his constituency project.
Recall that the Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs. Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, had petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP) on the matter and also sought for a court order to restrain the Speaker from engaging 100 orphaned girls into forceful marriage.
But addressing a press conference on Tuesday, May 14, in Minna, the state capital, Sarking-daji said the purported story was untrue and mere speculations, insisting: “I didn’t force any child into marriage and I didn’t arrange the marriage of anybody.”
He explained that he recently announced plans to support orphaned girls, especially victims of banditry attacks, to get married, following an appeal by religious and traditional leaders from his constituency.
Sarking-daji said he was approached by religious and traditional leaders in his constituency to support less privileged parents, whose children were due for marriage, noting: “They appealed for my support on behalf of the less privileged parents whose children are of maturity age with suitors of their choice, but cannot afford marriage expenses.
“They wanted my support and I felt that instead of allowing the girls fall into fornication because of the marriage expenses, I decided to respect the appeal and support them.”
He further explained that apart from the minister, he also received a message from the Senior Special Assistant to President on Community Engagement, Mrs. Abiodun Essiet, on the issue, saying: “The honorable minister should have got across to me directly to share ideas and work out initiative on how to develop the gesture and serve as guidance rather than making a topic out of it.”
He urged the minister to always confirm issues from reliable sources instead of relying on social media stories, saying about 200 JAMB candidates, majority of who are orphans and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from his constituency have benefited from his support programme.
The Speaker, however, said he had withdrawn the marriage support to the orphans following the ministers’ petition, pledging to communicate the action to his constituency soon.
Kennedy-Ohanenye said on Monday that she had reported the case to the Police by petitioning the IGP, Kayode Egbetokun, and sought a court injunction to stop the planned marriages earlier scheduled to hold on May 24, pending the completion of investigations.
The minister, while briefing journalists in Abuja, described the plan as “unacceptable,” emphasising that a full-scale investigation had commenced on the issue.
She stated: “I want to let the honorable Speaker to know that this is totally unacceptable by the government, because there is something called the Child’s Right Act and I said it from the outset, that is, no more business as usual.
“These children must be considered. Their future must be considered. The future of the children to come out of their marriage must be considered.
“So I have gone to court. I have written him a letter and written a petition to the IGP and I have filed for injunction to stop him from whatever he is planning to do on May 24, until a thorough investigation is carried out on those girls to find out whether they gave their consent, their ages and the people marrying them.”
The minister also emphasised the need to ensure girl-child education, noting: “As the Speaker did not think about empowering these women or sending them to school or giving them some kind of training support financially, my ministry has decided to take it up and we are going to educate the children.
“Those that do not want to go to school, we will train them in skills, empower them with sustainable empowerment machines to enable that child build her life and make-up her mind who and when to get married.”
The minister further emphasised within the Child Rights Act, every child belongs to the state; hence their rights would be protected from harm, violence or anything that would infringe on them.
