ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI, Bauchi –
Wife of the Bauchi State Governor, Mrs. Aisha Mohammed has lamented that many men see marriage and divorce as a way of pleasure.
She stated this while hosting school girls selected from Adamawa, Yobe, Niger and Bauchi states in a “one thousand girls march to school” programme organised by the United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF),to mark this year’s International Day of the Girl Child.
She said: “In our religion, marriage is a huge responsibility and that is why he (Allah) didn’t make it compulsory for everyone (to marry) but said it is a choice.
“Some men feel that they have the liberty to marry as many women as possible, but they have forgotten that they must love and care for them all equally. If these are to be followed, most men wouldn’t have be doing all sort of things.
“Some of them feel it’s a pleasure, that’s why we are facing some of these problems. You see a man beating, abusing, cursing and putting too much pressure on his wife before his son; what lesson is he passing? His son will do exactly the same thing to another person’s daughter because he will feel that is the right thing to do and that is exactly what is happening in our society today, we are facing a lot of problems in marriages.
“Some of them feel they can marry today and divorce tomorrow and nobody will say anything about it. They know that their neighbours will still give their daughters out to them in marriage.
“They don’t even care because they think every girl is a leisure; they feel that girl child is like a cloth that can be used and thrown out and nobody can say anything. Our Ulamas and those of us in government, these are things that we should be reminding ourselves.
“Marriage is the institute and fundamental place where we bring people to our society without stressing ourselves. If everyone knows the obligation of marriage and child upbringing, we won’t have to stress ourselves.”
Mrs. Mohammed lamented that most parents in her local government area (Alkaleri LGA) do not believe in educating the girl child, saying that “my local government is the least in terms of girl child enrollment in education.”
She pointed out that the girl child right is enshrined in both Holy Qur’an and Holy Bible and urged parents to ensure that they provide for welfare of their children and wards.
“Apologies, (to UNICEF) this demand for girl child, to me, should be directed to parents and not the government. Government can only ensure that the parents provide these welfare,” she stated.
Speaking on violence against the girl child and rape of women, Aisha said that “we all have to come out with one voice.”
She said that most of the victims’ parents have no formal education who believe that women should be a woman without proper knowledge of being a mother.
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