The member representing Ondo Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, wept before members of his constituency in Akure on Monday as he apologised to them that he voted in error to support the senate resolution backing marriage of underage girls.
Akinyelure was summoned by his constituents to explain his role in the controversial passage of a resolution to retain the provision of Section 29 (4) (b) of the 1999 Constitution, which states that a married underage girl is deemed to be an adult.
Politicians, women groups and students
had besieged the Adegbemile Hall, venue of the meeting, with placards to
protest against what they described as the legalisation of sexual abuse
of young girls, which their representative had supported.
But Akinyelure burst into tears as he
laboured to convince the obviously enraged crowd at the tension-soaked
session that he mistakenly pressed the wrong button during the
electronic voting exercise thinking that he was voting against child
marriage.
The Senator said he had aligned his
thought with that of other senators, who supported the resolution that
the provision should be expunged from the constitution.
He added that the resolution was
paraphrased again in a way that confused him to mean that pressing the
‘No’ button would mean voting against the resolution that the resolution
should be retained in the constitution.
He said, “I am very sorry for this
costly mistake. I actually voted in error. I pressed the ‘No’ button
during the electronic voting session, thinking that I was kicking
against the early marriage. I can never support such barbaric and wicked
bill.”
Culled from Punch
No comments:
Post a Comment