Marriage Of 4-Year-Old Girl To 54-Year-Old Causes Outrage

Outrage has been triggered by the marriage ceremony of a 54-year-old man and a 4-year-old girl in the Akeddei hamlet of Sagbama Local Government Area, Bayelsa State.

On Thursday, December 28, advocacy groups for children’s rights in Bayelsa State protested against the custom of a child marrying a middle-aged man.

The marriage was characterised by child rights advocacy groups, such as the Do Foundation, as unlawful, criminal, and in violation of both the Child Rights Act and the Constitution.

The child and the 54-year-old man, known as Elder Akpos, were married on Tuesday, December 26, allegedly at the girl’s parents’ request.

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Community sources stated that the girl claimed the man was her husband, who had inexplicably died in their prior life. She claimed that over the years, she had been living under different parents’ care while looking for her former husband.

The source said, “The little bride said if she was not allowed to marry her husband, she would have no other business in the Akeddei community, and that she was going to die peacefully and go her way.

“To avoid losing the girl to death, the people of Akeddei decided to organize a glamorous wedding ceremony to mark the union of the two previous life lovers.”

In a statement signed by Elvis Mannie Esq., Chairperson, DO FOUNDATION Bayelsa State, one of the child rights advocacy groups, the Do Foundation, verified the development and insisted that the foundation has opened an investigation into the development in the hopes of protecting the child.

According to Elvis Mannie, in his official statement, “The Foundation described the said child marriage as horrendous and despicable, and also a criminal activity, capable of retarding the giant strides made by the government and people of Bayelsa State in the area of protection of child rights.”

He mentioned that Bayelsa State still abides by the Child’s Rights Law, which was domesticated in 2016 and which makes child marriage and child betrothals illegal under the threat of jail time and hefty penalties.

The Foundation demanded that the Bayelsa State government, the Gender Response Initiative Team, and all other parties involved in the Gender Response system, including the security agencies, conduct a comprehensive investigation into this regrettable incident. The goal is to protect the child from being sexually exploited and to apprehend and prosecute anyone found responsible for this heinous incident.