Maimuna Abdulmunini, a child-bride victim, was just 13
when she was arrested for burning her 35-year-old husband to death.
The legal process dragged out over five years and in
2012, when she turned 18, Abdulmunini was convicted of murder and sentenced to
death. Today, despite a court ruling six months ago that the sentence is a
violation of her rights, she is still on death row, waiting.
The lawyers representing Maimuna Abdulmunini are equally
frustrated with the Nigerian political system. Angela Uwandu works with
Avocats Sans Frontières in
Abuja. Together with Jean-Sebastian Mariez, who works for the organisation from
Paris, she took
Abdulmunini’s case to
the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) Court of Justice.
In June 2014, after granting her an injunction to prevent
her being executed four months earlier, the court said the decision to sentence
Abdulmunini to death for a crime committed when she was a minor was a violation
of her rights. In its judgement, the court also noted a number of flaws in the
original trial. The issue of her age had been ignored by both sides, while
lawyers for the prosecution
argued that Abdulmunini’s desire
to keep her newborn baby with her while she was incarcerated was just a cynical
attempt to gain sympathy.
Lacking the authority to order her release, the ECOWAS court can only urge the Nigerian government to follow its judgement. ASF’s
lawyers have been lobbying to ensure this happens but so far their pleas have
fallen on deaf ears.
A separate criminal appeal has been filed by
Abdulmunini’s lawyer at the national level challenging the death sentence
conviction by the High Court.
Abdulmunini, who Uwandu described as being “overjoyed” when
she heard the regional court had decided to strike down her sentence back in
June, is now dejected.
She is currently separated from her three-year-old
daughter – the result of a relationship she had while out on bail – and is
living in an overcrowded cell with six other inmates.
The Child Rights Act, which raises the minimum age of
marriage for girls to 18, was introduced in 2003. But the legislation, which
was created at a federal level, is only effective if it is passed by state
governments. To date, only 24 of Nigeria’s 36 states have
passed the act. The legislation is yet to be
passed in either Abdulmunini or Tasiu’s home states.
It is important to note that Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima,
representative for Zamfara West in northern Nigeria made
headlines back in 2010 when he
married a 13-year-old Egyptian girl. Three years later he persuaded his fellow
Senators to
defeat a motion that
would have removed a constitutional loophole that means girls under the age of
18 are considered adults as soon as they get married.
A senior lawyer at the International Federation of
Women Lawyers
in Kano,
Hussaina Ibrahim in her remarks
said, “I am frustrated. There is a real problem with access to education in
this region. The government could take steps to address this, but it is yet to
do so. Better access to education could have a real impact on child marriage.
It’s easy to get the sense that those in charge in the south don’t care about
the people of the north. The election has been so focused on terrorism and Boko
Haram that other issues are being lost,” she says.
hile Maryam Uwais, a lawyer based in northern
Nigeria,
who “grew up watching girls being married off all around” her, suggests that “Many
of our northern politicians seem to think that taking a stand against pegging
the minimum age for marriage would be synonymous with taking a stand against
the Muslim faith. The religion has been misinterpreted to convey that child
marriage is encouraged in Islam, whereas contextual interpretations would
suggest the opposite,” she says.
“Child marriage is prevalent in many of the communities
where poverty is endemic. Parents (and fathers especially) actually benefit
from the dowry and extras that their daughter’s suitor contributes to the
family of the girl child.”
Françoise Kpeglo Moudouthe, head of
Africa engagement
at Girls Not Brides, is calling on the Nigerian government to do more to tackle
child marriage.
If nothing is done, it’s clear that Nigeria – and other countries where child
marriage is prevalent – will continue to fall short in its efforts to improve
the education, health and wellbeing of millions of its citizens.
“It’s important to remember that many parents marry off their daughter as a
child because they believe it is the best and safest option for her future. The
government of Nigeria must do more to empower girls and ensure their access to
safe secondary schools, and other services, if parents are to see that they and
their daughters have other options to child marriage.”
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