Please take time to read the comments on a Facebook post in support of Emir of Kano Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s marriage to an 18-year-old. (See image gallery at bottom of this article.)
In my view, I always say that there is no way I, at 45 would date a teenager. Just NO WAY!
Because the law allows me to do so is no excuse for it either.
While, I am not against relationships with wide age barriers, I do believe that an eighteen-year-old is not equipped to handle a 28-year-old man, talk less of a man almost in his 60’s.
You see, it is not the age difference that is the issue… it is the level of development.
At eighteen a young lady if she is smart is probably just in the university. She is naive and just about to experience the world… in minute ways.
I have daughters. If one of my daughters came to me and told me she wanted to marry. Though it is legal, I would be honest with her and tell her to know that I would prefer her to grow up some more. If she insisted, I would tell her I preferred she married a man closer to her age, not some expired wrinkled papa like myself.
Has the Emir given out any of his teenage daughters in marriage? How many of the men we see marrying children give their own children out in marriage to fellow old men?
It is always convenient for the lazy thinkers to hide behind religion. But, there is the issue of morality too.
That Islam permits stoning to death does not mean that in this modern age a Muslim man in the US or UK would try it without serious consequences.
As a person I think it is Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s right to choose his a woman of legal age, but as a respected and educated leader, I think the Emir has goofed on this one.
I am a 45-year-old man… and when I think of an 18-year-old girl, I think of my son, Jide and I think that that’s his age grade.
This marriage of an educated 54-year-old Emir to a barely legal bride of 18 years is ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING.
I say this without the possibility of ever regretting it or offering an apology.
Sola Kuti (SK) is a new age politician, a serial entrepreneur and social justice crusader with a passion for children. He has been a member of the PDP for 12 years. Connect with him on Facebook.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
