The Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly, Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, has responded to criticism over his decision to sponsor the wedding of 100 girls from his constituency in Mariga Local Government Area.
Sarkindaji had pledged to pay the dowries and provide necessary materials for the mass wedding but faced backlash from those who claimed the girls would be forced into marriage against their will.
In a statement, the Speaker’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Shamsudeen Binaira, clarified that the girls are not being married off against their wishes.
Instead, over 50% of them have suitors but lack the resources to meet traditional marriage expenses, while others are orphans who have lost their parents to insecurity and have no one to finance their weddings.
According to Binaira, the Speaker’s gesture is aimed at relieving the burden of marriage expenses from the parents and relatives of the girls, who have been postponing their weddings due to lack of resources.
“The other categories are those that have lost their parents to insecurity in the area and have nobody to finance their wedding even though they have their suitors.
“Majority of these girls are orphans who have lost their parents, including children of our gallant vigilantes who lost their lives to bandits and there is nobody to finance their wedding despite attaining marriage age with someone ready to marry them.
“These girls are not being carried out against their will or that their husbands are being forced on them. They have suitors of their choice but only that the parents and relatives do not have the means to marry them out,” he said.
Binaira explained further that “according to the Hausa tradition, you cannot marry out a girl without accompanying her with some essential items to make her comfortable in her husband’s house such as room furniture, kitchen utensils, among others.
“That is what these girls are lacking, and that is the responsibility the Speaker has agreed to shoulder and relieve the parents of such burden. Their parents have been postponing the marriage for lack of resources, and the Speaker decided to take it over,”.
The Speaker has consulted widely with his constituency, including parents, relations, religious leaders, and other stakeholders, before making the decision.
The mass wedding sponsorship includes providing essential items such as room furniture and kitchen utensils, as required by Hausa tradition.
The Speaker’s office emphasized that the gesture is one of many aimed at supporting the people of his constituency, who are in dire need.
