Senate Orders investigation Into Senator Yerima’s 'Child Bride'

PHOTO: SENATOR AHMAD SANI YERIMA,

San Francisco, April 28, (THEWILL) - Nigeria's Senate today ordered an investigation into reports that one of its members, Ahmad Sani Yerima, 49, married a 13-year-old Egyptian girl at the national mosque in Abuja a few weeks ago.

The senator is reported to have paid a dowry of $100,000 (£66,000 or N15M), to the child's parents who were flown to Nigeria from Egypt with the bride to attend the wedding ceremony.

It was reported that he opted to have the marriage in Nigeria because the Egyptian government would not permit it in their country.

A Senate Committee has been mandated to investigate the report after the Senate received a petition from protesting women's groups, who believe Yerima has broken the law.

Sani Yerima, a former governor of Zamfara State, one of Nigeria’s northern states, introduced Sharia law in 1999, for the first time in a Nigerian State.

He has refused to make any public comments or issue a statement since the report of his marriage to the minor, hit newspapers.

The senator has also been accused of marrying a 15-year-old in 2006.

Many Nigerian female senators have criticized Yerima for taking a minor as wife.