Money Power: Ex-Governor, 60, marries 13 year old girl, paying $100,000 to buy bride’s family.
EX- Governor Ahmed Sanni Bakura
A former state governor in northern part of Nigeria has married a thirteen-year-old Egyptian girl as his fourth bride.
The marriage was solemnised at the national mosque, Abuja, Nigeria according to Islamic rites.
Ex-governor of Zamfara State, in Northern Nigeria, Ahmed Sani Yeriman Bakura who is now a Senator in the nation’s House of Senate paid a bride price of $100,000, to buy off the Egyptian family.
He also divorced one of his wives to facilitate a space for his new bride as the Islamic law only permits for four wives at a time.
According to reports, the governor, who in the past has been identified as a major protagonist of Sharia law code of Islam in Nigeria, could not have had the wedding in Egypt because the Egyptian authority would not have allowed his spoilt due to laid down rules which forbid that sort of union.
Yariman Bakura exploited Nigeria’s laxity and ineffective rule of law enforcement by shifting the traditional solemnisation of the marriage according to Muslim injunction by moving the ceremony to Nigeria
Egyptian law forbids such a relationship because Bakura is well into his 60s and the laws in Egypt consider his bride a minor.
A source claimed:”The former helmsman of Zamfara State, however, in a deft move relocated the venue of the event to Nigeria, where he believes “anything goes”,
The marriage has been formalised in Nigeria’s capital Abuja.
The bride moved 30 members of her family over to Abuja where they were lodged in the top PROTEA Hotel in Asokoro area of Abuja..
An Islamic cleric who spoke to Leadership newspaper said that the whole thing goes counter-cause to Islam.
He said that though there were no limits to how much can be paid as bride price, Islam still preaches moderation in actions.
According to him, the former governor flouted this caveat.
Besides, said the cleric, Yeriman being a public office holder, should not have made such an ostentatious show of wealth.
Those who attended the wedding in Abuja include Sen. Kabiru Gaya, Maina Maaji Lawal, deputy governor of Zamfara State, Mukhtar Hanka, and the Emir of Bakura.
The National Council of Women Societies in Nigeria has condemned the action of the senator, describing it as shameful and degrading exploit.
Speaking through its National President, Hajia Ramatu Usman, the umbrella women’s organisation said Sani’s action did not come to Nigerian women as a surprise because, according to them, many northern governors had been using religion as an excuse for not passing the Child Rights Act.
She further stated that the council had been mounting a campaign against young girls being given out for marriage at ridiculously early ages of 12 or 13 years, adding that the action was against all reasoning.
She touched on both moral and medical imkplication of the governors action claiming early committal of a thirteen year old into marriage constituted serious health danger.
According to Usman, “Vesico vaginal fistula has been attributed to under age marriages due to the practice of early marriages in Nigeria, where young girls are given out for marriage at ridiculously early ages as 12 or 13 years.
They get pregnant and when they are ready to deliver, their pelvises are so small for the babies to pass through.
“The baby gets stuck in the birth canal and in some cases dies. The baby’s head wears a hole between the birth canal and the bladder (VVF) or rectum (RVF).
“So, when the dead baby is eventually delivered, the young mother is left with a dead child and she begins to drain urine and/or stool continuously. She develops sores on her skin and smells horribly from the constant drips of urine and stool on her clothes.”
The body therefore advised parents to avoid giving out their under age daughters in marriage in order to check cases of this health risk, which it said is particularly common in the northern part of Nigeria.
The statement further said, “It is a shame that while we are seeking ways to view closely what pushes parents into giving out their underage daughters into early marriages, a former governor of a state is celebrating this act of child trafficking and abuse.”
It also called on well-meaning Nigerians to mount pressure on northern governors to immediately commence work on the Child Rights Act.
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Posted by 
According to islamic law there were no problem on this marrige, Because even our pass scholars and prophet Muhammas (S.A.W) has married a girl of 10-11 year and there were no any problem, and he married a women of 45 years of old while he is 25years of old.
As Ahmad Sani Yariman Bakura he’s a Governor to use Islamic Shari’ah law in Nigeri’a he has to act like this.
And according to scientist i couldn’t belive that when girl is under age should not marry that was wrong, is defence on the body structure of the girl wether she’s 20yaers of old if she’s still tinny there were problem, but wether she’s 9year old if she’s machure and she has big body she can marry.
can you please learn English very well before writting here? shame on you. the rich and wealthy people like your prophet mohammed use thier advantages and money against poor children that does not know what they are getting into and you dont see anything wrong in that? you shameless men, just wait for the girl to atleast grow enough to know exactly what she wants before using your money to buy kid as a wife from thier poor parents. am not surprise that men have sex with thier children, with minors (kids) or even rape women. phycho men. the governor is sick.
Moh’d Salim… u r a BIG FOOL… ur statement just shows d disadvantages of being an illitrate… dis is wat happens wen students are paid 2 go to school. they consume d nations resources still cannot express themselves properly… U r a real Ediot… quote me… wen u have a thirteen year or or even ten year old girl, go and do breast enlargement for her so she can be matured in time and sell her off to one big man… and see what happens to u and d buyer in your after life…..Try not to exhibit your nuisance value here or anywhere else next time. Beast.
Please guys lets all try and reason here..is marriage all about sex? For God’s sake, what will a 60yr old man and a 13yr old child discuss after sex? Did any of or mothers give birth to us at the age of 14? What is the reason behind the money paid; is this amount the standard bride price in Egypt or is it the family’s bail out package to cater for the recession?Do you know what $100,000 can do to the lives of hungry people in Zamfara State? Would our pedophile senator be willing to give his 13yr old daughter to another pedophile if the situation occurs? Are these young girls truly willing, or are they forced, to marry these grandfathers? May God help the helpless
I don’t think any reasoning whatsoever can ever justify about this incident. This is wrong and filthy to the core. That said, relating this to religion and wiping off the face is again incorrect. Mr Mohd. Salim consider this as my sheer pursuit…if religious laws says child marriage was OK…..bearing child at the early age is also OK…becoz ur religion, ur law…everthing in the gamut is OK and NATURAL. But can a early teen girl really bear a child…is that safe. Or can she really raise a healthy child…i dont think so. Marriage is not about SEX only…but marriage after sex is natural…..so logically if the senator was really benevelont on the girl and her parents….he must have not consummated his marriage till now???? If he really wanted to help and use his god bestowed powers for proper of the mankind…he could have helped even without marrying a CHILD. Perhaps, that would have been an example set for all of us. In short, the senator already looks pimpish and trying to cover his perverted self using the religion. God save the poor child.
This is absolutely beyond the beyond.
The man is a pedophile. that is all.
and the parents of the girl
have sold their daugther to a pedophile.
Religion has got nothing to do with it.
I admire Nigerian’s women associations for their efforts.