What was your first thought when you saw this picture?

You probably thought it was a man and his granddaughter, right? Or, in the spirit of generosity, and judging by the way they are dressed, you might have thought it was a man, his wife of old age, and their daughter.

Let me quickly stop you right there and tell you that you are a 100% wrong. The girl in the middle is the grandpa’s new wife, while the woman beside them may be the outgoing junior wife, judging by what we now know of the man and his penchant for young brides.

The outrage all over the internet when the story came out is still burning strong. People are very angry as they rightly should. As can be gleaned from the caption in the post above, the girl is 15 years while the grandpa is 70.

Just looking at the picture again and imagining the quality of life the girl will now have for the rest of her life makes me want to throw up. How can a country that says a person is an adult at 18 years of age allow a paedophile get away with marriage to a 15-year-old?

So what if her parents consented to it? If a parent were to allow their 15-year-old daughter to be raped by a 3rd party, does that make the rape acceptable? Wouldn’t we all have called for the arrest and persecution of such a parent? Why then are we making excuses for this barbaric act simply because the rape is going to take place within the confines of forced marriage?

Because it is rape, and not consensual sex that will take place in whatever it is we are calling this arrangement. The grandpa would demand his ‘conjugal rights’ and would definitely take it by force even if the girl were to plead and beg him to wait.

For those who say that 15-year-olds are already having sex and that we are outraged for nothing, there are really no words for you. How can you, with your brains intact and functioning, justify one with the other? It is tantamount to saying that because a man goes off on himself, then he should be raped. Does evil cancel out wrong?

Some other supporters of this barbaric act of girl-child marriage state that many of these girls are being saved from the immoral and indecent acts they may commit later on if they are not herded off into marriage. To you, again, I say there are no words. Is it not indecent and immoral to rape a child who has not started to make informed decisions about their lives and who does not fully understand the concepts of love and sex?

I know this is no longer news, but it is worth repeating. We live in a country where the right laws do not exist, and the ones that do exist are not obeyed. Till date, the Nigerian government has refused to take a definite stand against girl-child marriages. The Child Right Act of 2003 gives the minimum age of marriage as 18 years, and yet, there are states in this Federation who do not abide by this law and who are not punished.

While it is true that the North employs the Sharia laws as its major guiding force, are they not still states in Nigeria that should be subject to the laws of the land? Why can’t the government at the federal level use the law to bring an end to this madness?

We cannot continue to keep quiet and say that it is the problem of the North or the fault of the government. We must decry this injustice against our female children until something is done. If Tanzania can do it, we can too.

Tanzanian girls' rights activist Rebeca Gyumi won the UN Human Rights Prize. She helped overturn a law on child marriage that allowed girls as young as 14 to marry: https://t.co/Ju7epWrbvG pic.twitter.com/a8UUHUHl9D — CNN International (@cnni) December 12, 2018

Qwenu! is an opinion publishing platform inspired by Africa, powered by the world. Join others in publishing your thoughts, commentary, experiences & opinions. Go to our home page to read articles from our staff writers & global contributors. Support us by sharing this post using the Whatsapp/social media icons above or below. Email editor@qwenu.com if you have something to get published. Follow us on social media @qwenu_media