Maryam Garba Hassan, a 34-year-old graduate of Education from Bayero University Kano, is the Executive Director Centre for Advocacy Gender and Social Inclusive; which is a gender based Non Governmental Organisation (NGO). In this interview with ALIYU ASKIRA, she said it is anti-Islam for the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, to propose one wife to any man.
Tell us about your NGO, what motivated you to start such?
The Centre for Advocacy Gender and Social Inclusive is an NGO I established in partnership with the Kano state government and other local and international donor agencies, to enlighten people on gender issues.
Initially, I was not serious with the NGO issue until 2015 when I met with some Germans in Abuja who were looking for an NGO from the North that is led by a woman so that they will use her platform and assist the less privilege or create awareness on gender issues in the North, particularly issues to do with broken marriage, prostitution, girl child education among others.
After the declaration of 2015 presidential elections I became serious with the NGO especially as we partner Kano state government to assist in implementing the zero budget policy at the local government level.
This has put us in a position to be a technical partner to the state government where on the other hand, we liaise and visit local government in other to monitor their budget implementation.
How do you cope with the NGO as a married Muslim woman whose society expects her to be in purdah?
Basically, these are some of the reasons why I decided to venture into NGO so that I can assist women to make successes of their marriages.
In Kano, we have more than one million divorcees, my marriage broke up in 2008 after having one daughter with my husband named Nasmah. Our people in the North especially Muslims I am sorry to say have little respect for marriage institution.
When you are into courtship, they will promise you paradise on earth some will tell you unbelievable but once the fatiha was administered, by the presiding Mallam and you packed into his house as his wife, you will start noticing that the man you married is not the man who was ready to donate his kidney to you during your courtship, in fact, if care is not taking, you will fend for yourself including feeding, clothing, and paying rent for where you stay in some cases.
Are you also a politician why are you advocating for the ‘’not too young to run’’ bill?
My campaigning for the Not too young to run bill to be passed into law was not actually my main reason of setting up an NGO because I am not a politician and I don’t intend to be one.
I set up my NGO because of the frustration I went through as a married woman. I want to be a resource person in educating women on the advantages and disadvantages of marriage using my experience as a case study, Kano is a state predominantly occupied my Muslims but it is unfortunate that you hear marriages collapsing on daily basis, I did all I could to make success of my marriage but it didn’t work. Thank God I am just 34years old and I am a graduate and can stand on my own but the truth is I still want to get married and bear more children.
Do you support the proposed bill by the Emir of Kano which will compel the poor to marry only one wife?
I am not happy that he is proposing that, instead of sponsoring a bill for people to marry more than one wife, the Emir with due respect is sponsoring a bill that will compel the poor to marry only one wife.
This means that we will have women in surplus with nobody to marry them, the Kano state Hisbah Board is working hard to eliminate cases of prostitution, drug consumption and other bad social vices by the youths and most times when Hisbah arrested this group of commercial sex workers, they will say that they decided to take to prostitution, because they were married at tender age, they were forcefully married to somebody that they don’t love by their parents or that they have reach an age that they are suppose to be married but nobody has come over to marry them as such, they have decided to take to drugs and prostitution.
This to my believe is what the proposed bill by the Emir should address including a provision that will compel rich ones in the society to marry more wives, maximum of four minimum of three.
We have rich people in their millions in Kano, we have rich political office holders, like members of state Houses of Assembly, serving and former commissioners, serving members of House of Representatives and Senators that can afford four wives, we have club of serving and former Governors, we have club of retired Generals and serving ones.
These group of Nigerians can afford four wives at a time but you will discover that most of them have built expensive houses in GRA’s with several security guards including dogs guarding them and their family with most of them having only one wife.
The proposed bill by the Emir should target these group of Nigerians, left to me though the Emir is highly educated in both western and Islamic education but this bill is anti-islamic there is no where that our religion provides for the poor to marry only one wife, to marry more wives and have plenty children is the reason the North today are in majority, this is putting us in an advantage when it comes to sharing of National Cake, winning Presidential Elections and Quota system as such, I see no reason why those who are beneficiaries of marrying more than one wife should now move against the same exercise which has being in practice since the coming of man on this earth, people should talk to their members in Kano state house of assembly to reject this bill whenever it is tabled before them because most of them have grown up daughters in their homes that they want them to get married.
