Nigeria: Islamic and secular laws clash;
. Nigeria’s secular and Islamic laws clashed when a senator notorious for marrying a 14-year-old filibustered a vote to amend the constitution by insisting that a girl child comes of age when she marries, not at 18. Enraged activists are demanding the senate revisit the vote, asking how a known pedophile could get away with subverting the country’s constitution. (Sunday Alamba/Associated Press)
By Associated Press, Published: TUESDAY, JULY 23, 10:20 AM
LAGOS, Nigeria — Many Nigerians are enraged, wondering how a senator notorious for marrying a 14-year-old girl can use Shariah law as an excuse to filibuster a constitutional amendment that has sparked a debate on the age of consent for girls.
Since the country’s secular and Islamic laws clashed in the upper house of Parliament last week, concerned citizens are using petitions, protests and social networks to demand the Senate revisit the issue.
“Every Nigerian should bow his or her head in shame because instead of crushing the head of the lustful beast that seeks to fornicate with our children, to steal their virtues and to destroy their future, what the Senate did the other day was to compromise with and cater for the filthy appetites and godless fantasies of a bunch of child molesters and sexual predators,” Femi Fani-Kayode, a traditional chief and former Cabinet minister, fumed in a letter to The Vanguard newspaper Monday.
The vote was on an amendment to set the age when Nigerians can renounce their citizenship, but it has wider implications because it suggests when a girl is old enough to be married.
Currently, the constitution says only that a person must be of “full age” to renounce citizenship. The Senate had voted to approve an amendment to set the age at 18, to bring the clause in line with other laws setting the age of consent for marriage and voting.
But, after the vote was counted and against Senate rules and procedures, Sen. Sani Ahmed Yerima opposed the age limit, saying it goes against Islamic law.
“By Islamic law any woman that is married, she is of age, so if you now say she is not of age then it means that you are going against Islamic law,” declared Yerima.
In the second vote forced by Yerima, several Muslim senators who had voted “yes” to set the age at 18, changed their minds, and the amendment did not get the two-thirds majority needed to pass, according to Sen. Tenyi Abaribe, the Senate spokesman.
So now, a Nigerian male must be 18 to renounce his citizenship but a girl married at 14, like one of Yerima’s wives, can do it at a much younger age.
The vote applied only to citizenship, Abaribe emphasized.
Nigerians are seeing it as a confrontation with other laws that dictate a girl should not marry until she is 18 and, coming from a man known for marrying children, as a gateway challenge to those laws.
“The government needs to stick with the age of consent being 18 and to work with communities in recognizing that a child is a child,” said Iheoma Obibi of the Nigerian Feminist Forum.
Her forum has lodged a protest along with the Gender and Constitutional Reform Network, and other groups including advocates using the Twitter hash tag #ChildNOTBride.
Nobody knows quite how many thousands of girls are forced into marriage here — some say more than 50 percent of girls in the Muslim north — often sold for a bride price in mainly poor and rural communities.
Yerima is infamous for his marriage to a 14-year-old Egyptian girl in 2010, when he was 49. He had divorced a 17-year-old whom he married when she was 15, to comply with Islamic law that allows a maximum of four wives at a time.
Then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rebuked Yerima for “child slavery,” and the State Department’s 2012 report on human rights complained that Nigerian authorities did nothing to prosecute Yerima.
In a public outcry at the time, activists demanded that prosecutors investigate and Yerima be forced out of Parliament. Instead, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons questioned Yerima but said it lacked evidence to charge him. It said Yerima had paid $100,000 for the young bride, the daughter of his Egyptian driver.
The government agency recommended the justice minister and attorney general investigate Yerima for violating Nigeria’s 2003 Child Rights Act.
“But nothing was done, he has got away with it,” said women’s right activist Obibi.
She pointed to the horrendous statistics that show a high percentage of young girls suffer damage in child birth, with maternity wards in the mainly Muslim north filled with young mothers whose vaginas, uteruses and anal passages have ruptured. According to the U.N. Children’s Fund, Nigeria has 2 percent of the world’s underage marriages but 10 percent of its victims of vesicovaginal fistula, which leaves the girls incontinent, dripping urine and feces.
Such girls are often divorced and abandoned, left to beg on the streets or turn to prostitution, Obibi said.
Dupe Killa, a human resources manager and mother of two girls, started an online petition at #ChildNOTBride after the Senate vote. When the petition was oversubscribed within hours, she decided to take to the streets to get signatures and has won support, including from the country’s influential Movement for Islamic Culture and Awareness.
Protesters handed out #ChildNOTBride flyers featuring the silhouette of a girl with pig tails and bows set in a protective red circle. The petition urges the Senate and National Assembly to stop “loopholes within which Nigeria can continue to discriminate against half the population (i.e. females).”
Yerima was instrumental in introducing Shariah law to Nigeria’s nine northern states in 2000 and 2001, when he was governor of Zamfara state. Another three states where Muslims form a plurality have since instituted Shariah as a substitute for Western-style family law for Muslims wishing to use it. The other 25 states are governed by secular law.
Shariah is interpreted differently by scholars and laws differ according to a country’s history and culture. Fani-Kayode, the former minister, said most Muslim countries have banned child marriage and rape.
Nigeria’s population, at 160 million the biggest in Africa, is almost equally divided between a mainly Muslim north and majority Christian south.
While the religions coexist peacefully in most of the country, there are frequent and bloody clashes between militant Muslims and Christians in the north. Tens of thousands of been killed over the years, and churches and mosques razed.
___
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
#CHILDNOTBRIDE#
Nigeria: Islamic and secular laws clash;
. Nigeria’s secular and Islamic laws clashed when a senator notorious for marrying a 14-year-old filibustered a vote to amend the constitution by insisting that a girl child comes of age when she marries, not at 18. Enraged activists are demanding the senate revisit the vote, asking how a known pedophile could get away with subverting the country’s constitution. (Sunday Alamba/Associated Press)
By Associated Press, Published: TUESDAY, JULY 23, 10:20 AM
LAGOS, Nigeria — Many Nigerians are enraged, wondering how a senator notorious for marrying a 14-year-old girl can use Shariah law as an excuse to filibuster a constitutional amendment that has sparked a debate on the age of consent for girls.
Since the country’s secular and Islamic laws clashed in the upper house of Parliament last week, concerned citizens are using petitions, protests and social networks to demand the Senate revisit the issue.
“Every Nigerian should bow his or her head in shame because instead of crushing the head of the lustful beast that seeks to fornicate with our children, to steal their virtues and to destroy their future, what the Senate did the other day was to compromise with and cater for the filthy appetites and godless fantasies of a bunch of child molesters and sexual predators,” Femi Fani-Kayode, a traditional chief and former Cabinet minister, fumed in a letter to The Vanguard newspaper Monday.
The vote was on an amendment to set the age when Nigerians can renounce their citizenship, but it has wider implications because it suggests when a girl is old enough to be married.
Currently, the constitution says only that a person must be of “full age” to renounce citizenship. The Senate had voted to approve an amendment to set the age at 18, to bring the clause in line with other laws setting the age of consent for marriage and voting.
But, after the vote was counted and against Senate rules and procedures, Sen. Sani Ahmed Yerima opposed the age limit, saying it goes against Islamic law.
“By Islamic law any woman that is married, she is of age, so if you now say she is not of age then it means that you are going against Islamic law,” declared Yerima.
In the second vote forced by Yerima, several Muslim senators who had voted “yes” to set the age at 18, changed their minds, and the amendment did not get the two-thirds majority needed to pass, according to Sen. Tenyi Abaribe, the Senate spokesman.
So now, a Nigerian male must be 18 to renounce his citizenship but a girl married at 14, like one of Yerima’s wives, can do it at a much younger age.
The vote applied only to citizenship, Abaribe emphasized.
Nigerians are seeing it as a confrontation with other laws that dictate a girl should not marry until she is 18 and, coming from a man known for marrying children, as a gateway challenge to those laws.
“The government needs to stick with the age of consent being 18 and to work with communities in recognizing that a child is a child,” said Iheoma Obibi of the Nigerian Feminist Forum.
Her forum has lodged a protest along with the Gender and Constitutional Reform Network, and other groups including advocates using the Twitter hash tag #ChildNOTBride.
Nobody knows quite how many thousands of girls are forced into marriage here — some say more than 50 percent of girls in the Muslim north — often sold for a bride price in mainly poor and rural communities.
Yerima is infamous for his marriage to a 14-year-old Egyptian girl in 2010, when he was 49. He had divorced a 17-year-old whom he married when she was 15, to comply with Islamic law that allows a maximum of four wives at a time.
Then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rebuked Yerima for “child slavery,” and the State Department’s 2012 report on human rights complained that Nigerian authorities did nothing to prosecute Yerima.
In a public outcry at the time, activists demanded that prosecutors investigate and Yerima be forced out of Parliament. Instead, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons questioned Yerima but said it lacked evidence to charge him. It said Yerima had paid $100,000 for the young bride, the daughter of his Egyptian driver.
The government agency recommended the justice minister and attorney general investigate Yerima for violating Nigeria’s 2003 Child Rights Act.
“But nothing was done, he has got away with it,” said women’s right activist Obibi.
She pointed to the horrendous statistics that show a high percentage of young girls suffer damage in child birth, with maternity wards in the mainly Muslim north filled with young mothers whose vaginas, uteruses and anal passages have ruptured. According to the U.N. Children’s Fund, Nigeria has 2 percent of the world’s underage marriages but 10 percent of its victims of vesicovaginal fistula, which leaves the girls incontinent, dripping urine and feces.
Such girls are often divorced and abandoned, left to beg on the streets or turn to prostitution, Obibi said.
Dupe Killa, a human resources manager and mother of two girls, started an online petition at #ChildNOTBride after the Senate vote. When the petition was oversubscribed within hours, she decided to take to the streets to get signatures and has won support, including from the country’s influential Movement for Islamic Culture and Awareness.
Protesters handed out #ChildNOTBride flyers featuring the silhouette of a girl with pig tails and bows set in a protective red circle. The petition urges the Senate and National Assembly to stop “loopholes within which Nigeria can continue to discriminate against half the population (i.e. females).”
Yerima was instrumental in introducing Shariah law to Nigeria’s nine northern states in 2000 and 2001, when he was governor of Zamfara state. Another three states where Muslims form a plurality have since instituted Shariah as a substitute for Western-style family law for Muslims wishing to use it. The other 25 states are governed by secular law.
Shariah is interpreted differently by scholars and laws differ according to a country’s history and culture. Fani-Kayode, the former minister, said most Muslim countries have banned child marriage and rape.
Nigeria’s population, at 160 million the biggest in Africa, is almost equally divided between a mainly Muslim north and majority Christian south.
While the religions coexist peacefully in most of the country, there are frequent and bloody clashes between militant Muslims and Christians in the north. Tens of thousands of been killed over the years, and churches and mosques razed.
___
Monday, July 22, 2013
Royal baby GEORGE ALEXANDER LOUIS
PRINCE WILLIAMS and KATE MIDDLETON welcome newborn baby boy
on July 22, 2013 at 2:32 PM, updated July 22, 2013 at 2:38 PM
Prince William and his wife, the former Kate Middleton, have welcomed an eight pound, six ounce baby boy.
The birth was announced at 4:24 p.m. London time today.
The baby was born in the private Lindo wing at St. Mary's Hospital in London. He will be third in line to the throne behind his grandfather, Prince Charles, and his father.
Kate was reportedly taken to the hospital around 6 a.m. local time today.
The baby is the first for William and Kate, who were married in April 2011.
TIMELINE OF KATE MIDDLETON AND PRINCE WILLIAM'S RELATIONSHIP
KATE MIDDLETON IN LABOUR: Royal baby due almost 12 years after she met Prince William: Timeline of their relationship
Parents-to-be: Kate and William will welcome their first child this month
Splash
By Andy Rudd | 22 Jul 2013 12:52
The royal baby is almost with us and to celebrate Kate finally going into labour Mirror.co.uk takes a look back at the events leading up to today.
September 2001: Prince William and Kate Middleton meet at St Andrews University, where they are studying art history.
Christmas 2003: The pair reportedly become a couple after sharing a house together with two friends.
November 16, 2010: William and Kate's engagement is announced by Clarence House.
April 29, 2011: The pair wed at Westminster Abbey. William is made the Duke of Cambridge by the Queen and Kate becomes the Duchess of Cambridge.
December 3, 2012: St James's Palace announce that the Duchess is pregnant and being treated in hospital for severe morning sickness, known as hyperemesis gravidarum.
December 4, 2012: Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg confirms the Government has received final consent from all Commonwealth realms to press ahead with a Bill ending discrimination against women in the succession to the British throne.
December 5, 2012: Prank callers from an Australian radio station pretending to be the Queen trick a nurse at the King Edward VII's Hospital in London into revealing information about Kate's condition.
December 6, 2012: The Duchess is discharged from hospital after three nights, telling reporters she is feeling "much better".
December 6, 2012: The Prince of Wales says he is "thrilled" that the Duchess is pregnant, adding: "It's a very nice thought to become a grandfather in my old age."
December 7, 2012: Nurse Jacintha Saldanha who took the initial prank call and put it through to another colleague is found dead in a suspected suicide.
December 9, 2012: William pulls out of attending the British Military Tournament so he can spend time with Kate as she recuperates.
December 16, 2012: Kate makes her first public appearance since leaving hospital by presenting the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year award to cyclist Bradley Wiggins.
December 25, 2012: Instead of going to Sandringham on Christmas Day, Kate and William stay with the Middleton family home in Bucklebury, Berkshire.
January 11, 2013: Kate and William attend the unveiling of her first official portrait at the National Portrait Gallery.
January 14: St James's Palace announces that the baby is due in July and that Kate is feeling better. She is now in her second trimester and has had her 12-week scan.
February 5: Kate and William holiday on the Caribbean island of Mustique with the Middletons, reportedly staying in a £19,000-a-week villa.
February 12: Italian gossip magazine Chi uses photos of Kate in a bikini on holiday. St James's Palace say they are "disappointed" at the "clear breach" of privacy. Other foreign publications follow suit.
February 19: Kate carried out her first engagement in five weeks and visited the Hope House addiction treatment centre in south London, showing signs of a small baby bump and admitting she was nervous about giving birth.
Meanwhile, debate raged when novelist Hilary Mantel described the Duchess as "gloss varnished" with a "perfect plastic smile". Prime Minister David Cameron stepped into the row and branded the comments "completely wrong".
March 2: Kate and William travel to Switzerland for a friend's wedding in the ski resort of Arosa.
March 5: Kate apparently lets slip that she is expecting a daughter on a solo visit to Grimsby. Accepting a teddy bear from a member of the public, she apparently replied: "Oh, is this for our d...? Thank you so much." Although other footage suggest she said "Is this for us? Aw" instead.
March 17 - Kate tells a soldier at a St Patrick's Day parade that they do not know the sex, but says she would like a boy and William a girl.
March 19 - William and Kate visit the headquarters of Child Bereavement UK, exchanging hugs with bereaved parents. They also meet TV cook Mary Berry.
March 20 - Kate gets given a "Baby on board" badge when she joins the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at Baker Street underground station to mark the 150th anniversary of the Tube.
March 22 - Kate visits a Scout camp in the Lake District in snowy conditions.
April 4 - Kate reveals she has taken up knitting ahead of the birth during a two day visit to Scotland and reveals the baby is due in mid July.
April 5 - Kate and William join the Prince of Wales at Dumfries House in Ayrshire where Kate is given a "Princess Catherine" doll by a wellwisher.
April 19 - Kate chooses three more patronages - SportsAid, the Natural History Museum and Place2Be, a mental health charity for schoolchildren.
April 21 - The Duchess showed off her baby bump, looking obviously pregnant for the first time, at the National Review of Queen's Scouts at Windsor Castle.
April 23 - Kate's bump was even clearer under her a £1,065 blue patterned silk Erdem dress by Sophia Visconti as she visited Willows Primary School on the deprived Wythenshawe estate in Greater Manchester. In her third speech as a royal she said "cycle of addiction needs to be broken" as she launched a school drugs and alcohol counselling programme.
April 24 - Kate, in a duck-egg blue empire-line Emilia Wickstead cocktail dress, attended an evening reception at the National Portrait Gallery in honour of The Art Room charity and gave a short speech on the power of art to change people's lives.
April 25 - It emerges that France's Closer magazine and a photographer have been placed under formal criminal investigation following the publication of topless pictures of Kate in September 2012.
April 26 - Kate, William and Prince Harry get given their own wands on a tour of Warner Bros Studios in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, where the Harry Potter films were made.
April 29 - The Duchess spends part of her second wedding anniversary celebrating Children's Hospice Week with a visit to Naomi House Children's Hospice in Hampshire.
May 11 - Kate and William attend William van Cutsem and Rosie Ruck Keene's wedding in Oxfordshire.
May 12 - It is reported that Kate's baby is due on July 13.
May 22 - Kate attends a garden party at Buckingham Palace.
June 4 - William and Kate return to their wedding venue when they join the royal family for a service marking the 60th anniversary of the Queen's Coronation at Westminster Abbey.
June 13 - Kate, in a dalmatian print coat, carries out her final solo engagement before going off on maternity leave when she names a new cruise liner - Royal Princess - in Southampton.
June 15 - The eight months pregnant Duchess makes her last public appearance before the birth at the Trooping the Colour parade.
June 19 - It is confirmed Kate is planning to give birth at the private Lindo wing of St Mary's Hospital in Paddington. She is hoping for a natural birth but does not know if the baby is a girl or a boy.
June 22 - Kate stays at home while William attends the wedding of his close friend Thomas van Straubenzee.
Feb 19th: Kate debuted her tiny bump for the first time at four months but no maternity wear was needed as she stepped out in this £298 MaxMara wrap dress
March 5th: On a chilly day in Grimsby she kept warm and covered her patterned Great Plains dress with this £369 chestnut brown wool Hobbs Celeste coat
March 17th: THE Duchess celebrated St Patrick's Day with an emerald green Emilia Wickstead dress-coat, recycled from an earlier engagement, teamed with a John Lock hat
March 19th: AT five months, Kate kept it simple on a visit to Buckinghamshire with a £45 Topshop black contrast collar dress with a slightly pricier £560 cream coat by Goat
April 4th: A WHIRLWIND day in Glasgow called for a sturdy outfit, so happy Kate opted for a £425 blue and grey checked woollen coat by UK label Moloh
April 21st: EVEN at six months Kate continued to shun maternity wear as she wore this £1,750 Mulberry frayed coat in mint cotton tweed at Windsor Castle
April 23rd: THE Duchess courted controversy by picking this £1,065 Erdem frock, with a bold Visconti print, for a visit to a deprived area of Manchester
April 24th: ON a pleasantly warm spring day, Kate wore this pastel blue creation by favourite designer Emilia Wickstead which skimmed her by-now blooming bump
April 26th: THIS £38 polka dot maternity dress sold out at Topshop after Kate teamed it with a Ralph Lauren jacket. She wore it again a few weeks later
April 29th: ON her second wedding anniversary Kate picked a £380 bright coral coat by Tara Jarmon over a peach dress by an unnamed "independent dressmaker"
May 22nd: KATE, now seven months pregnant, wore this bright £1,285 Emilia Wickstead coat-dress, with a Jane Corbett hat, for the Queen's first summer garden party
June 4th: ON her first visit to Westminster Abbey since her wedding, Kate chose an understated lace peach Jenny Packham dress and a matching Jane Taylor hat
June 13th: Kate made the daring choice to wear this £169 Dalmation print coat from Hobbs with a Jane Taylor hat for her last solo public appearance naming a ship
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