Child Marriage: "Senators Supporting Underage Blackmailed Us To Have Their Way"...David Mark

SENATE President, David Mark, yesterday, said proponents of Section 29 (4)(b) in the constitution hid under religious guise to get the section sail through during last week’s clause-by-clause voting in the on-going constitution amendment process.

Mark, who said but for religious sentiment that was injected into the voting period, the section in question which tends to give support to underage marriage, would have been completely deleted from the nation’s constitution.

He said it was time Nigerians shunned religion when dealing with sensitive issues if the country must forge ahead.

Already, the Christian Association of Nigerian, CAN, has concluded plans to mobilize Nigerians to protest the non-amendment of provisions of the Constitution, just as the Paediatric Association of Nigeria, PAN, has called for immediate reinstatement of the age of marriage to 18 years.