The statement credited to our Attorney General & Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke today (01-09-10) “that the senator has no case to answer before the law, because the Child Rights Acts was enacted by the Senate to protect the Nigerian child, not the Egyptian child as this case was” according to NEXT (http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/Politics/5613547-146/g…) Is most unfortunate coming from the chief law officer in Nigeria.
The statement credited to our Attorney General & Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke today (01-09-10) “that the senator has no case to answer before the law, because the Child Rights Acts was enacted by the Senate to protect the Nigerian child, not the Egyptian child as this case was” according to NEXT (http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/Politics/5613547-146/government_to_begin_trial_of_halliburton.csp) Is most unfortunate coming from the chief law officer in Nigeria.
I challenge Mr Adoke to show me where in the Act a Child is defined as a Nigerian by birth and or nationality. As much as I know, the Child Right's Act 2003, passed into law in the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja), defines a child as a person who has not attained the age of eighteen years. Furthermore the Immigration Act stipulates that any person below 16 years is a minor.
Article. 2 of Children and Young Persons Act, enacted in Eastern, Western and Northern regions States a "'child' means [a] person under the age of fourteen years, while 'young person' means a person who has attained the age of fourteen years and is under the age of seventeen years."
Is Mr Adoke suggesting that if a crime is committed against a Ghanaian child in Nigeria (for example), the person who committed the crime is free because the Child Right Act avails him/her a jurisdiction defence? Are children of foreigners in Nigeria left without protection from the Child Right Act? This line of argument from our Attorney General & Minister of Justice is lame and myopic coming from a learned gentleman.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
Mr Adoke should be told pointblank that he will be protecting a paedophile who imports a child into the country if he fails to take serious action against the Senator. Does he the Attorney General & Minister of Justice know that any child within the borders of Nigeria or any other country is owed a duty of care by the law enforcement officers of that nation? Should we accept our AGF argument if a foreigner (child) is raped or sexually abused within our borders by Nigeria citizen who sought to rely on his AGF’s point view on the protection coverage of the Child Right Act 2003?
Any point of law (omission or commission) that has or is being deployed by Mr Adoke and others in exonerating Senator Yerima of this grave crime against a child will further expose our country as a nation of different laws for the high/mighty and low/needy. The constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria should not be ridiculed under any pretence by the same people who are supposed to be protecting it. . Section 1 of (1) of the 1999 Constitution clearly solved the problem arising/stemming from the sharia code, as it declares its supremacy “This Constitution is supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on the authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. While Section 1 of (3) put a nail on it by stating “If any other law is inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail, and that other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void”.
As I said before if we allow Senator Sanni Yerima who also was a former Governor of Zamfara State descend to the level of promoting paedophilia in the name of marriage, then it is safe to say our children and visitors are no longer safe in our country. The legal angle Mr Adoke is coming from cannot be relied upon, because a crime committed to a Nigerian in UK, US or any other nation is a CRIME and such is dealt with according to the relevant laws in that country.
Mr Adoke should not forget the preambles of the 1999 constitution which states and I quote “We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Having firmly and solemnly resolved, to live in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under God, dedicated to the promotion of inter-African solidarity, world peace, international co-operation and understanding and to provide for a Constitution for the purpose of promoting the good government and welfare of all persons in our country, on the principles of freedom, equality and justice, and for the purpose of consolidating the unity of our people ..........”
In 1989, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), whilst the OAU Assembly of Heads of States and Governments adopted the African Union Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (CRCW) in July 1990. Nigeria has signed both International Instruments and had ratified them in 1991 and 2000 respectively. Both international instruments contain universal sets of standards and principles for survival, development, protection and participation of children.
It reflects children as human beings and as subjects of their own rights. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) outlines the human rights to be respected and protected for every child under the age of 18 years and requires that those rights are implemented. Amongst the prohibited conducts or crimes against a child in the CRC-1989, AU-CRCW-1990 and the Nigeria CRA-2003 is Betrothal and marriage of children.
I have called for our Senate to suspend him (Yerima) without delay, else our Senate will be guilty of supporting this absurdity. I also call on Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke to repent of his lame excuse and do what is right and reasonable before the law. . I need not remind our AGF that UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Child Rights Act 2003, has since set the statuary minimum age of marriage at 18 years in all parts of the country. This is a crime against a child, any child within Nigeria is a Nigerian child named and owed protection under the Child Right Act of 2003.
As Nigerians heal their land, may God bless Nigeria.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });