Child marriage: Senate will revisit the vote, says Mark

Senate President David Mark said on Monday that the Senate would revisit its vote on Section 29(4)(b), which deals with renunciation of Nigerian citizenship.The president said the Senate was blackmailed to vote against deletion of the section, which has sparked national outcry/Speaking when a coalition of Nigerian women under the aegis of Gender and Constitution Reform Network (GECORN) visited him in Abuja, the Senate President urged Nigerians to be calm as the Senate would always act with the best interest of Nigerians at heart. .The coalition, which was led by the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Zainab Maina, included the former Minister of Education Oby Ezekwesili, former Minister of Women Affairs Mrs. Josephine Anenih and a host of other women.The women leaders stormed the Senate to protest against the alleged move to endorse 'underage marriage'.The minister told Mark that they were in the Senate to seek clarification on some issues that arose from the voting of Senators during the Constitution amendment.Saadatu Mahdi, who presented the group's position paper to Mark, demanded the outright deletion of Section 29(4)(b).Mahdi said it was the desire of Nigerians, who treasure their citizenship, to remove the provision that young Nigerian girls, who are not old enough to vote or to obtain a driver's licence, are somehow old enough to renounce their citizenship.The position of the women, as conveyed by Madi, is that the harm of maintaining Section 29(40(b), which is open to manipulation arising from the ambiguity, far outweighs any arguable benefits a few women might obtain.She said: 'Contrary to the position conveyed for the retention of the section, that under Sharia, a girl, once married, automatically assumes full mental and intellectual capacity, we posit that there is certainly no unanimity of positions on such matters among Islamic jurists, which therefore allows the society to determine for itself what is in its best interest.'We further posit that there should be no basis to compel a girl to deal with matters of such gravity as the renunciation of citizenship merely because she is married.'Islam is certainly not presumptuous or harsh as to burden her with what she is mentally and physically incapable of bearing.'The Senate Committee on Constitution review recommended deletion of Section 29 (4)(b), which deals with renunciation of citizenship to cater for child rights and gender protection from discrimination.Section 29. (1) states 'Any citizen of Nigeria of full age who wishes to renounce his Nigerian citizenship shall make a declaration in the prescribed manner for the renunciation'.