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Nigeria

Probe ordered into lawmaker's marriage to 13-year-old girl

Nigeria's senate has ordered a probe into a prominent lawmaker's marriage to a 13-year-old Egyptian girl, after the national rights watchdog and other 10 groups accused him of shaming the country.

Reuters
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Women activists and a coalition of women groups have carried out protests against 49-year-old Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima who married the 13-year-old girl.

The women condemned the marriage which they described as paedophilia. The senator had earlier married and divorced another girl aged 15.

The senator at the centre of the storm is a former governor of Zamfara state. While he was state governor he introduced Islamic Sharia law, which killed thousands of people as Christians and Muslims clashed over its implementation.

Sani claims this is behind the uproar following his marriage.

The senator is alleged to have paid a dowry of 100,000 dollars to the child's parents and brought the child from into Nigeria from Egypt.

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