The Speaker of Niger House of Assembly, Abdulmalik Sarkin-daji, has denied forcing 100 orphaned girls into marriage as part of his constituency project.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, had petitioned the Inspector General of Police on the matter.
NAN also reports that the minister had sought for a court order to restrain the speaker from engaging 100 orphaned girls into forced marriage.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday in Minna, Sarking-daji said the purported story was untrue and mere speculations.
“I didn’t force any child into marriage and I didn’t arrange the marriage of anybody,’’ he said.
The speaker explained that recently he announced plans to support orphan girls, especially victims of banditry attacks to get married following an appeal by religious and traditional leaders from his constituency.
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Sarkin-daji said he was approached by religious and traditional leaders in his constituency to support less privileged parents, whose children were due for marriage.
“They appealed for my support on behalf of the less privileged parents whose children are of maturity age with suitors of their choice but cannot afford marriage expenses.
“They wanted my support and I felt that instead of allowing the girls to fall into fornication because of the marriage expenses, I decided to respect the appeal and support them,” he said.
The speaker further explained that apart from the Women Affairs Minister, he also received a message from Senior Special Assistant to President on Community Engagement, Abiodun Essiet, on the issue.
“The honorable minister should have got across to me directly to share ideas and work out initiative on how to develop the gesture and serve as guidance rather than making a topic out of it,’’ Sarkin-daji said.
He urged the minister to be confirming issues from reliable sources as against relying on social media fake stories.
Sarkin-daji said about 200 JAMB candidates of which majority were orphans and Internally Displaced Persons from his constituency have benefited from his support programme.
The speaker, however, said he withdrew the marriage support to the orphans following the minister’s petition, pledging to communicate the action to his constituency soon.
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