Skip to main content

Married Underage Girls Not Adults, They Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Vote – Senator Olujimi

The lawmaker representing Ekiti South Constituency at the Senate, Biodun Olujimi, has kicked against the purported move to grant underaged married girls the right to vote.

The National Assembly Joint Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had reportedly recommended that young girls who are married should be given voting rights.


Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Kabiru Gaya, had said the recommendation is a unanimous decision by the joint panel.

Gaya had said, “The joint committee has proposed a review of the section of the Electoral Act that pegged the eligibility age of voters at 18 years.

“The joint committee has proposed that if a lady who is not up to 18 years is married, she should be considered to be mature enough and be eligible to vote.”

But in an interview with SaharaReporters on Thursday, Olujimi said it is better to stick to the minimum age (18 years) recognised by the Nigerian constitution rather than giving voting rights to underage married girls.

She said, “The fact that they are married does not make them adults. That is what I believe. Even if you get married at 13, you can’t be said to be an adult even though you have gone through some experiences for adults. We should stick to our minimum age which I believe is good for everyone.”

The Minority Leader at the Upper Chamber argued that maintaining the extant minimum voting age would discourage early marriage and prevent all the risks associated with it.

She said, “It will help us reduce Vesicovaginal fistula (VVF) and all the problems associated with early marriages. We all know how dangerous it is, we all know how we risk the lives of our young ones when we take them too early. So, if they know they won’t be able to vote until they are of a particular age, maybe they will be patient enough to wait before they get married.”

The Senator, however, explained that the issue had not been debated during plenary, saying, “It’s one of those side comments about the amendment of the constitution. It wasn’t debated, I was on the floor and I have not heard that. I also want to take it as one of those debates going on so that people can amend the constitution but right now, we have not deliberated on it.”

Politics

News

AddThis

: 

Original Author

: 

SaharaReporters, New York

Disable advertisements

: 

from 24HRSNEWS
via 24HRSNEWS



from EDUPEDIA247https://ift.tt/37M3ArG
via EDUPEDIA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nigerian Academy Of Science Inducts First Female President

The Nigerian Academy of Science has inducted a professor of Parasitology/Epidemiology, Ekanem Ikpi Braide, as its 19th President on Thursday. In a statement issued by Oladoyin Odubanjo, the Executive Secretary of the Academy, Braide is the Academy’s first female President in 44 years of existence. It read, “Braide was a member of the national committee that achieved the laudable feat of guinea worm eradication in Nigeria. “She has a rich professional experience as a researcher and an administrator. In July 2010, Professor Braide was honoured by the President of Nigeria with the award of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) for her contribution to disease control in Nigeria. “She was nominated by the Honourable Minister of Health to serve in the Ministerial Expert Advisory Committee on COVID-19 Health Sector Response (MEACoC-HSR). “Professor Braide served as Vice-Chancellor, Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH) Calabar, Nigeria (2004 to 2009) and as P...
Post a Comment
Read more

NLNG Signs Letter Of Intent On Delayed Gas Expansion Project

The Nigerian Natural Liquefied Gas LTD has signed a letter of intent for the engineering, procurement and construction of its long held up Train Seven project. In a statement released by the company on Wednesday, it said that the $10bn project will be executed by a consortium of Italian firm Saipem, Japan’s Chiyoda and South Korea’s Daewoo. The statement reads, “The project will form part of the investment of over $10bn including the upstream scope of the LNG value chain, thereby boosting the much needed Foreign Direct Investment profile of Nigeria.” Managing Director of NLNG, Tony Atta, said in 2018 that the Final Investment Decision would be made in the fourth quarter of that year. This did not however, materialize. According to the release, the project will have a four to five-year execution time after the signing of the FID. The project is expected to add an extra 8 million tons per annum of gas to the 22 mtpa currently exported by the company. Oil News AddThis :...
Post a Comment
Read more

Former Maritime Agency Boss, Buba Galadima, Accuses AMCON Of Witch-hunt After Property Takeover

  A former Director-General of the Nigeria Maritime Agency, Buba Galadima, has accused the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria of witch-hunt after the agency took possession of his business and assets on Tuesday in Abuja. Galadima, an ardent critic of President Muhammadu Buhari, claimed that he did not borrow money or have unpaid debt with Unity Bank, which lodged a complaint against him and occasioned AMCON’s move on Tuesday. The properties taken over include House No. 15, Addis Ababa Crescent, Wuse Zone 4, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and House No. 4, Bangui Street, Wuse 2, also in Abuja.  Reacting to the situation, Galadima said, “This is an attempt to disgrace and break me down. This is injustice and an attempt to humiliate me. "But I am unbreakable and they can never silence me. They sacked me and over 50 people that sleep in the apartment. "We don’t know where to go. We will remain on the streets. We will remain on the streets until God provi...
Post a Comment
Read more