A Nigerian rights group has initiated a petition to halt plans by religious leaders and a state lawmaker for a mass wedding involving 100 girls and young women next week, causing significant public backlash in the country.
The plan was announced by Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, speaker of the national assembly in Niger, a predominantly Muslim state. Nigeria’s women’s affairs minister, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, condemned the proposal and vowed to seek a court injunction to stop the ceremony and verify if any of the girls were minors.
Sarkindaji claimed the girls and young women, who are orphans due to attacks by kidnapping gangs in northern Nigeria, would have their dowries paid by him.
Concerned Nigerian Citizens, a rights group, launched a petition on Wednesday, amassing over 7,000 signatures. The group argued that the Niger state government should focus on educating the girls rather than forcing them into marriage.
“We demand immediate action to halt the proposed forced marriages and to instead implement measures that will empower these girls to lead dignified and fulfilling lives,” the group said.
Despite the backlash, Sarkindaji and the Imams Forum of Niger announced that the marriage ceremony would proceed on May 24. The ages of the girls were not disclosed, but the lawmaker and the Imams insisted they were not minors.
Child marriages are prevalent in northern Nigeria, where poverty rates are higher compared to the predominantly Christian south. Federal law sets the legal marriage age at 18, but Nigerian states can determine their own legal age.
Niger’s legal marriage age is also 18, but spokesperson Auwal Mohammed noted that under Sharia law, practiced in the state, girls can be married upon reaching puberty.
The Imams Forum threatened legal action against the women’s affairs minister if she did not retract her statements implying the girls were minors, giving her a seven-day ultimatum.
Kennedy-Ohanenye did not respond to calls and messages seeking her comment.
