The issue of child marriage has been a growing concern and major challenge most governments, especially in developing countries have had to contend with.
Although many have argued that getting married at a young age is not bad in itself, but the complications that are inherent in such relationship make it an option not so encouraging which one should settle for.
These complications often arise due to the fact that many of the girls are married off in coercion by their parents as they consent to say ‘yes’ under duress.
The aftermath of such force marriage is that many of the girls are left in a relationship characterized with abuses and frustration, leaving the victims in perpetual emotional and psychological trauma.
Statistics show that each year, approximately 15 million girls are married before the age of 18, and when these girls are married they often drop out of school. Some of the challenges that are faced by such girls are greater risk of HIV infection and intimate partner violence, serious health complications and even death from early pregnancy and childbearing, amongst other things.
The narrative of a 17-year-old girl, who was forced into marriage by her parents in Nigeria, is one of the many cases of child marriage in the country enmeshed in domestic violence.
The case of this young girl has since been drawing attentions from the government, social workers and rights activists following alleged abuse in the hand of her husband.
Aishat Ali, a native of Borno State, northeast Nigeria, has been a victim of sexual and domestic, an assault that began two months after she tied the knot with her husband.
She alleged that her husband, Issa Hussein, 43, is in the habit of abusing her and on several accounts had threatened to kill her.
The teenager said her parents forced her into the marriage, adding that she never knew her husband and had never met him before.
According to her, an uncle to her husband, who was a friend to her parents, introduced the 43-year-old to her parents and they accepted to give her away to him in marriage with a bride price of N150,000.
The couple live at Mile 2 area of Lagos, with the husband working at a company in the area.
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Aishat lamented that since she in May last year, married her husband their marriage has been characterized by several abuses.
She noted that in October last, Hussein bit her to coma, adding that one of her arms was fractured.
“I was coming from a neighbour’s place when he (Hussein) started beating me. He bit me so badly that I went into coma with my arm broken. He later rushed me to the hospital. I told him I don’t love him.
“My marriage has been very bad. He always beat me. If I don’t want to sleep with him he would beat me or threaten with a knife; if I go to visit my neighbour he would beat me. He does not want me to do anything with people or with my family.
“At a point when he tried to force me to sleep with me I threatened him with a knife and he did not go further. I don’t love him; I want to run away.”
Following the alleged assault that left her in coma, Aishat absconded from her matrimonial home to join her parents at Sango area of Ogun state.
However her parents compelled her to go back to her husband, adding that she should endure the marriage.
Mother of the victim, Mrs Hapshat Mohamed when contacted said “my daughter had been complaining about the marriage. She said her husband beats her a lot and that she does not want to marry him again. She wants a divorce but our culture and religion does not support it.
“We want her to endure with her husband. It won’t continue forever,” she told our correspondent.
When contacted, uncle to Hussein, Ahmed Mohammed, said: “The husband didn’t do anything bad to her. Although they fought but the matter has been settled. He gave the mother money and the matter is being resolved by the family.
“She shouldn’t have run away; she has left home for the past three days. That is not good at all. And because she didn’t want to stay in her marriage that does not mean she should start saying what the husband did not do to her by lying that he beats her and threatens her,” Mohammed stressed.
Efforts to reach Hussein to comment on the allegation were abortive as his mobile line was not reachable and the text sent to him was not responded to as at the time of filing this report.
