Sani Yerima, a former governor of Zamfara State and presidential hopeful on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has said he didn’t commit any crime by marrying a 13-year-old girl.
Yerima who married a 13-year-old Egyptian girl in 2009, a move that generated outrage, justified the decision when he appeared on Channels TV on Tuesday.
He said NAPTIP wanted to take up the case but dropped it when they realized that he didn’t do anything wrong according to the law.
“If I had done anything wrong, I would have been tried in court. NAPTIP wanted to try the case and they dropped the matter because I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said.
He added that “there is no law in Nigeria that determines when and how you get married. Muslims have Sharia, the Christians I don’t know what their doctrines say.”
A two term governor of Zamfara State between 1999-2007, Mr Yerima, was the first governor to introduce Sharia Law later enforced in 12 northern states of Nigeria.