President of the Senate, David Mark has revealed that members of the upper legislative chamber were actually blackmailed into voting favourably for the contentious early marriage law.
Deputy President and Chairman of Committee on Constitution Amendment, Ike Ekweremadu on Tuesday had earlier defended senators against the allegation that they approved an early marriage law, saying they only voted on the law prescribing the terms for renunciation of citizenship.
However, speaking after representatives of civil society group Gender and Constitution Reform Network (GECORN) visited him in his office, Mark disclosed that lawmakers were blackmailed into reversing their stand to delete the controversial Section 29 (4) (b) of the 1999 Constitution.
“That is the fact, because it is in the open, I cannot hide it and nobody could hide it. They were simply blackmailed, and on that day,” he said.
“If they didn’t do what they did, nobody knows what the outcome would be or how the consequences will be today, because the people outside can say ‘this man, you are a Muslim and didn’t vote for something that is of Islamic interest’, because if we don’t hit the nail squarely on the head, we may never get it right.”
But he said the Senate remains on the side of the people and this is why the section hadn’t yet been deleted.
“We wanted to remove it but it failed,” he said. “We were a total of 101; 85 voted and about six or so abstained. There was hardly any dissenting vote but it got mixed up with so many other issues and it didn’t get the required 73 votes anymore.”
He described public criticism that has followed the matter as a “misunderstanding” of its sensitivity due to the religious dimension that was introduced to it.
“Religion is a very sensitive issue and you must agree with me that in this country, we try as must as possible not to bring issues that involve faith to the floor of the Senate and indeed the chamber,” he said.
Mark added that when people receive more enlightenment on the matter, there is still a chance the Senate could re-examine the matter back and explore the possibility of securing the required number.
“Let me also talk to my own brothers and sisters who are senators, who were probably blackmailed,” he added.
“We voted publicly so that everybody will know the stand of every senator on every issue. I think the problem is not whether we can delete this Section 29(4) (b) or not. That is not the issue; it is whether we can get the number to be able to delete it. With all due respect, the entire Senate is being castigated because there was and there is still a complete misunderstanding of what the Senate had tried to do.”
In their presentation, the women argued for the removal of the section, saying it indirectly allows young Nigerian girls not old enough to vote to renounce their citizenship.
“It is generally accepted that there is an age where mental capacity is presumed and as such, to provide a basis where girls without this mental capacity can renounce their citizenship not only unfairly discriminates against females but also trivialises this treasure gift,” Saadatu Mahdi said on behalf of the group.
“Citizenship is and must remain gender-neutral and safeguarded from any cultural, religious or social interpretations or connotations. The harm of maintaining Section 29 (4) (b) which is open to manipulation arising from its ambiguity, far outweighs any arguable benefits a few females might arguably obtain.”
The Senate has been under severe criticisms since last week over its vote on Section 29 (4) (b). The public viewed the Senate’s inability to delete that section of the constitution as an attempt to legalise early marriage.
Among those who continue to criticise the Senate is Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Alfred Adewale Martins, who punctured the arguments of the senators in support of the section.
“The argument that their decision is not about child marriage flies in the face of reason because if they agree to define adulthood by marriage they automatically approve the action of the lecherous old man who marries a 13-year-old girl and make her an adult when by the same constitution, she cannot vote in an election,” his director of social communications, Very Rev. Msgr. Gabriel Osu wrote.
“Such children are denied their childhood and made victims of vesico-vaginal fistula because their bodies are not ready to carry or nurture babies. Pregnancy and motherhood are not conferred by obnoxious laws but nature prepares the woman for them.
“Our children deserve to have access to qualitative education and opportunity for self-actualisation. Unless the Senate rescinds its resolution, it would have failed woefully in protecting our children and giving them the opportunity to realize their potential to the fullest.”
