Kano prosecutors start trial of 14 year old girl forced into marriage to 35 year old man

PROSECUTORS in Kano State have commenced the trial of 14-year old Wasila Tasi’u who was accused of poisoning the 35-
year-old man she was forced to marry in April this year.

In a case which once again highlighted the issue of forced marriages under Sharia law across northern Nigeria, Wasila killed her husband by feeding him rat poison because she did not love him. After he and three other friends ate the meal of rice she served them, they died, ending her marriage to Umaru Sani, who she was forced to wed at his village of Ungwar Yansoro, located 100km from Kano.

Wasila had made it clear that she had no feeling for her husband but was given away as his bride after a traditional ceremony which her parents consented to.

Police say she confessed to poisoning Sani and his guests at a wedding party in the village and she is now facing trial for murder.

Kano state police spokesman Musa Magaji Majia, said: “She did it because she was forced by her parents to marry a man she
did not love.”
However, her lawyer Hussaina Aliyu, rejects claims that her client made a legally valid confession, adding that Wasila was
questioned by police without a parent or lawyer present and so any comments she may have made are inadmissible in court.

Ms Aliyu, who works with the International Federation of Women Lawyers, has sought to have the case transferred to a juvenile
court but this bid was rejected by justice officials in Kano State.

Ms Aliyu said: “All we are saying is do justice to her. Treat the case as it is and treat her as a child.”

Across northern Nigeria, the marriage of teenage girls to much older men is rampant in the deeply conservative, mainly Muslim
region, especially in poorer rural areas.

Since 2000, most of northern Nigeria been under Sharia Islamic law, which does not
prohibit the marriage of underage girls.
This vexed issue of child marriage has been fiercely debated in Nigeria over recent years, sparked by a proposal from a northern lawmaker that any girl, regardless of her age, should be legally considered an adult once she is married.

Senator Ahmed Yerima of Zamfara State who proposed the law, himself has married two teenage brides.

However, Nigeria’s federal, secular laws also apply in the north, creating a confusing hybrid legal system where Sharia police
try to work with government authorities to enforce criminal justice. Human rights activists, say Nigeria should not permit
any application of Sharia, even in the north.
According to Ms Aliyu, however, this case is not a referendum on youth marriage in a Muslim society. Rather, she argued, the
primary issue is that criminal charges filed against a minor should be handled by a juvenile court.