Tensions are rising in the Akeddei village in Bayelsa State’s Sagbama Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, following the “marriage” of a 54-year-old man named Elder Akpos and a four-year-old girl.
According to reports, the traditional wedding took place on Tuesday, December 26.
The four-year-old girl’s parents apparently agreed to the union.
According to community sources, the girl said that the man was her husband, who died suddenly in their prior lives, and that she had been going from place to place over the years looking for him.
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. In order to avoid losing the girl, the people of Akeddei decided to organise a glamorous wedding ceremony to mark the union of the two previous life lovers.”
Do Foundation, a child rights advocacy group, criticized the “marriage” between Akpos and the juvenile.
The advocacy organization called the marriage illegitimate and criminal, claiming it violated the Nigerian Constitution and the Child Rights Act.
The organization verified the situation in a statement issued by its chairperson in Bayelsa State, Elvis Mannie, adding that it had initiated an inquiry in the hopes of saving the kid.
“The foundation describes the said child marriage as horrendous and despicable, and 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,” Mannie said.
He stated that the Child’s Right Law was enacted in 2016 and is still in effect in Bayelsa State.
“This law criminalises child marriages and child betrothals,” it went on to say.
The foundation urged the Bayelsa State government, the Gender Response Initiative Team, and all stakeholders in the Gender Response system, including security agencies, to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident in order to protect the child from sexual exploitation, while also seeking the arrest and prosecution of all those found responsible for this heinous crime.
