Hundreds of women yesterday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, staged a peaceful rally to protest the National Assembly's resolution to pass into law, the bill supporting early child marriage.
The protesters, which included market men and women, religious groups and civil society groups, organised themselves under the aegis of the Concerned Women Forum, CWF.
They stormed the state Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, at Iwe Irohin House in Oke-Ilewo, Abeokuta to register their displeasure over the matter.
The women, who were led by the Iyalode of Egbaland, Mrs. Alaba Lawson, carried placards bearing different inscriptions such as: "Give us education, not marriage," "Child marriage is barbaric, no to it," "Woe to husbands of underage, they are evils," "Ogun children reject child marriage," among others.
The aggrieved women bemoaned the attitude of the lawmakers, who they said ought to be good examples for Nigerian children.
"Is that the next thing we need in this country? What are they looking for? What are they portraying to the other nations of the world?" the protesters asked.
Speaking with journalists during the rally, Lawson explained that child marriage would deprive girls the right to get adequate education, adding that the act had destroyed the lives of young girls in some parts of the country.
National Mirror
Early marriage is something to write home about in this country and it's very sad. It is something that must be stopped a.s.a.p