The Senate has defended its decision to retain a controversial section of the constitution that seems to support child marriage, asking Nigerians to be calm and understand that the section has nothing to do with marriage, but instead citizenship.
The Senate said Nigerians had nothing to fear as it will never support child marriage, a subject at the centre of the controversy over Section 29, subsection 4(b) of the constitution. “This has nothing to do with child marriage; we will never support child marriage,” said Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who heads the review committee, said.
That section details guidelines for a Nigerian to renounce his or her citizenship. Part of the law says the person must be at least 18 years. But if the person is a woman and married, the section continues, she shall be deemed to be “of age”.
An attempt by the Senate last week to delete the second definition having to do with a married woman, as part of its ongoing constitutional amendment, failed after a member, Ahmed Yerima, claimed it was un-Islamic.
The failure has sparked intense public anger, one of the most sweeping, against a decision by the National Assembly in years.
Here is Tonto Dike's reply tho:
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