In this interview with JOHN ALECHENU, the first Executive Governor of
Zamfara State, now Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima- Bakura speaks about the
recent alteration of the constitution as well as his many controversies.
Politics and religion should be two separate issues, it is hard to
prove the sanity of someone that believes all animals on earth could fit
into Noah's ark and anyone who thinks a girl that starts menstruation is
free to marry. We don't need such ideas on the national stage, those
ideas belong to dinning room discussions.
Excerpts:
Your position on the recommendation by the Senate Committee on the
Review of the Constitution that provisions of section 29 (4) (b) be
deleted from the 1999 Constitution has generated public outcry. Why did
you demand that the matter be revisited?
People do not seem to understand the issues; most of the criticisms
about my position are based on ignorance. The issue was not about
marriage, it is about renunciation of one’s citizenship. If you read the
section carefully, it says a woman who is married shall be deemed to be
of full age. The preceding section described “full age” as meaning age
of eighteen years and above. Now, removing this section will infringe on
Islamic law, because Islam recognises a married woman as having
attained full age. Item 61 of the Second Schedule, Part I in the
Exclusive Legislative List of the Constitution says the Legislative
Powers include: “The formation, annulment and dissolution of marriages
other than marriages under Islamic law and customary law including
matrimonial causes relating thereto.” To delete sub-section (4) (b) will
amount to a breach of Item 61 as I mentioned earlier. Our people should
understand the provisions of our constitution.
Now to the other part of your question, when we voted on the item the
first time, I said nothing and I left to go and pray. When I returned
from prayers, I discovered that there were two items which had been
voted on but were revisited. I then raised the issue and the President
of the Senate, Senator David Mark, being a just leader, a leader who
listens, said a vote had been taken and passed. But I insisted and he
gave us the opportunity to revisit the issue in the interest of
fairness, we took another vote and we won.
People don’t seem to understand that this provision has been in the
constitution since 1979, not even 1999, it has been there. Framers of
the constitution recognise the fact that Nigeria is a multi-religious
society so they made provisions to guarantee religious freedoms. The
constitution recognises that there are Christians, Muslims, animists and
even those who do not believe in anything.
This is not the first time you are embroiled in a controversy over
the issue of marriage. About three years ago, you were said to have
married a 13 year- old Egyptian girl. Was she really 13?
You see, this is another misunderstanding of actions taken in conformity
with the tenets of my religion. When I married my Egyptian wife I
followed laid down procedures for marriage in Islam. When I informed the
Ulama that I wanted to get married as is required by Islam they said
they had to witness it because this was required before they could issue
a marriage certificate. They were there, it was not done in secret;
they witnessed it and issued me a marriage certificate, I still have it.
So when NAPTIP (National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in
Persons) wrote me a letter on the issue, in my reply, I attached a
photocopy of the certificate. Those who have decided to oppose anything
that Yarima says or does speak about these things ignorantly. There was
nothing Islamically wrong with my marriage.
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