Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka and human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi
Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, on Sunday, berated individuals
masking the abduction of 14-year-old Ese Oruru with religion.
The duo, at a press conference in Lagos, said the matter was purely
criminal and not religious, adding that the perpetrator should be
prosecuted so the victim could get justice.
Ese was abducted by Yunusa Dahiru, aka Yellow, a regular customer at
her mother’s food shop, last year August, from Bayelsa and taken to
Kano, where her parents said she was forced into child marriage having
been converted to Islam without her consent.
Soyinka specifically faulted the Director, Muslim Rights Concern and
Professor of Islamic Eschatology, Ishaq Akintola who claimed that Islam
has no age barrier for marriage.
He said, “Culture is not static; it is dynamic and evolves. It is of
humanity. There is no culture without human beings. If you say you are
religious, there are others who could come to say they are holier than
you are. We should take religion out of Ese’s abduction. We are talking
about criminality. Nobody should say people are Islam-phobic. We are
only against criminality. Who invokes religion in criminal matters? Who
brings religion into issues of government and constitution? If you want
to bring religion into a criminal matter, then let us talk about other
things. When we are talking about crime, don’t diffuse it with
religion.”
The revered playwright also said Akintola, like others hiding the
case under religion, should desist from using literature to justify
their claims, noting that the don likened the matter to Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet.
“Did Shakespeare tell you that a court wants to grab Romeo and
prosecute him? People bring their own intelligence into matters and
think others are fools. Don’t quote Shakespeare when we are discussing
criminality. The welfare of a child is more important than the money
stolen. If you steal money, you commit crime against the society but
when you force a child into marriage, you have ruined her for life. When
criminality is in the public domain, it becomes everybody’s business,
“Soyinka stated.
According to him, the society failed Ese and government must protect
other underage female from child marriages like the one conducted with a
teenager by a former governor now senator.
The consummate writer added, “Until we make an example of people like
Yerima (Senator Ahmed), there will be thousands of Yunusa.”
He further said the Emir of Kano did what was right when the case of
Ese was initially brought to his (emir’s) attention, adding “The emir
represents a modern traditional ruler who will help transform the
primitive chiefs in power. If I am proved wrong, I will come back and
apologise.”
On his part, Falana said Yunusa did not only violate Ese’s rights to
religion as enshrined in Section 38 of the Constitution but also broke
the laws contained in the Child Rights Act which Nigeria is a signatory.
The lawyer added that the likes of Yerima and Akintola would not allow their teenage daughters go into child marriage.
Falana noted, “Attempt to bring religion into the matter is sheer
hypocrisy. People like Akintola are playing on the intelligence of the
poor. “
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