Niger State House of Assembly Speaker, Barrister Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, has explained that 100 female orphans who lost their parents in banditry attacks in Mariga Local Government Area of Niger State will be given out in marriage this month.
Hon Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, the Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly, has talked about why he sponsored the marriage of about 100 girls from his constituency in Mariga Local Government Area of the state.
The Speaker’s explanation followed claims that the girls were married out against their wishes.
In a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Mallam Shamsudeen Lawal Binaira in Minna, the Speaker said over 50 per cent of the girls have suitors but their parents have no resources to meet their marriage expenses as required by the customs and traditions of the area.
The Speaker, who pledged to pay the dowries for the bridegrooms, has procured all the materials needed for proper marriage to the 100 girls, stated that their comfort in their matrimonial homes has been taken care of like any other child who gets married in the Islamic way.
The Speaker, who represents Mariga Constituency, did not disclose the age range of the girls but stated that the girls who would be married off were carefully selected from the 170 girls whose names were submitted.
According to him, “Majority of these girls are orphans who have lost their parents, including children of our gallant vigilantes who lost their lives to bandits and nobody to finance their weeding despite attaining marriage age with someone ready to marry them”
“The girls are not being married out against their will or that their husbands are been forced on them, but out of sympathy. They have suitors of their choice but only that the parents and relatives do not have the means to marry them out.”
He explained that, according to the Hausa tradition, a girl cannot be married without accompanying her with some essential needs to make her comfortable in her husband’s house such as room furniture’s, bed, mattress, kitchen utensils among others.
Saikindaji also said he took the decision after wide consultations with the immediate parents who are alive, relations of the orphans among them, religious leaders and other critical stakeholders in the area.
Sarkindaji said the project would be part of his constituency empowerment project, adding that it was being done with the best of intentions and would serve as a way of ameliorating the sufferings of the poor.
He also said the Niger State Governor Mohammed Umar Bago and the Emir of Kontagora Alhaji Mohammed Barau would serve as guardians to the female orphans who would be married off.
The Kano state Commander General of the Hisbah Board, Sheikh Aminu Daurawa, is expected to attend the event slated for May 24 at Bangi, the headquarters of Mariga Local Government Area.