A timely intervention by the Aflao Police last Friday halted a ceremony by the Malian community at Aflao to marry off a 15- year-old basic school girl to her 35-year-old cousin at Aflao.
This followed a hint by a member of the Malian community to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
The girl, a pupil at An-Nadwatu Islamic primary school was unaware of the proposed marriage and expressed her determination to continue with her education.
The police said large quantities of items including food were mobilized for the occasion which was to take place in the house of the girl�s maternal aunt, Nuretu Shabu, her prospective mother-in-law.
Yusif Ousman son of Nuretu Shabu had arrived from Saudi Arabia for the marriage ceremony. Ousman and his mother, Nuretu Shabu said to be brain behind the botched marriage have gone into hiding.
Some opinion leaders in the Aflao Malian community pleaded with the Police and promised to cancel the marriage after the Police had educated them on the country�s laws against forced marriage and the rights of juveniles.
A police source told the GNA that the girl, whose parents are Malian, had lived with her aunt, Shabu at Aflao, since her infancy.
The source said about three years ago the girl�s father accepted Shabu�s proposal that her son and niece, who was 12 years then be married.
<<Print>>