The Niger State Council of Imams has given the Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, a one-week ultimatum to withdraw her comments over the Niger State Speaker Abdulmalik Sarkindaji’s planned sponsorship of the wedding of 100 orphan girls in his constituency.
Kennedy-Ohannaya kicked against the Speaker’s action during a press conference, and subsequently obtained a court injunction restraining from going on with his planned sponsorship of the wedding.
Secretary of the Imam Council in the State, Umar Abdullahi, issued the ultimatum during a press conference on Wednesday warning that the minister has overstepped her bounds, adding that the Council will not take it lightly as her comments are capable of causing crisis in the State and the country in general.
The Imams warned the minister to steer clear of religious and cultural matters and face her ministerial assignment, insisting that no amount of court action would stop the wedding from taking place as planned on May 24.
They threatened that the minister would have the entire Imams in the State and the country in general to contend with if she fails to withdraw her comments on the matter and steer clear of the planned wedding which, they said has the blessing of the religious and traditional leaders.
“The planned weddings have the blessing of all the religious and traditional leaders from the area. The sponsor of the wedding consulted widely before accepting to take the responsibility and we are strongly behind him.
“The girls are not underage and they are not being forced into the marriage as the minister has made the public believe. This is what the minister failed to investigate,” the council added.
It urged all other well-meaning individuals in the society to emulate the “kind gesture” of the Speaker and render similar assistance to other intending couples in the area.
Sarkindaji, on Tuesday, said he was pulling out of the arrangement following the opposition by the minister who had gone to court to seek an injunction to stop the Speaker from organising the mass weddings.
Addressing journalists on Tuesday, the Niger Speaker fumed that the minister was dabbling into an issue that she has no knowledge of, insisting that his gesture is humanitarian, and not a violation of the Child Rights Act, as claimed by the minister.
