Edozie Udeojo,
Make A Difference (MAD) Initiative and Men Against Rape Foundation (MARF) have described members of the 9th National Assembly as enemies of the girl child for seeking to amend the Electoral Act to confer voting rights on underage married girls in breach of the 1999 constitution as amended. Recall that the Joint Committee of the National Assembly on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), led by Sen. Kabiru Gaya and Hon. Aisha Dukku, proposed that
“if a lady who is not up to 18 years is married, she should be considered to be mature enough and be eligible to vote.” But this proposal has drawn the ire of MAD and MARF, who described it as a self-serving, absurd and unconscionable attempt to allegedly satisfy pedophiles and enablers of pedophilia within the National Assembly and beyond.
In their statement signed by the Executive Director of Make A Difference Initiative of MAD, Lemmy Ughegbe and the Director of Strategy of Men Against Rape, Mr. Augustine Eigbe, they noted thus: “We have been working to bring an end to the epidemic of the girl child marriage which has led to devastating health consequences such as Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF). Unfortunately, instead of the National Assembly passing laws to put an end to this epidemic, these backward thinking and self serving lawmakers are taking steps to entrench the evil practice even further,” the groups said.