By Bashir Mohammed
Kano
Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, has vowed to take punitive legal action against those allegedly responsible for the mutilation of the sex organ of a 14-year-old teenage wife, Kaltume Ibrahim, of Mailayi Village in Doguwa local government area of Kano, who was forcefully married, leading to the sad episode seeking to ruin her life
Kaltume, who was brought to the palace reeling in the rope of the genital operation conducted on her by local barbers, popularly known in the Hausa Language as Wanzamai, almost held the monarch spell bound upon hearing her disastrous ordeal in the hands of the barbers, who on the prodding of her parents, conducted the operation in the name of paving the way for her groom to have a sexual contact.
As Kaltume’s ordeal was narrated in the presence of the emir, District Heads, prominent traditional title holders and the public, the emir was quickly swayed by emotional frenzy, bursting into tears, cursing the parents, barbers and the groom himself by callously allowing the operation to be conducted, a result of which he vowed to ensure that the culprits were bring to justice.
He said: “I still stood my ground that I am vehemently opposed to early marriage. Allah will never forgive anyone who contributed in the persecution of a teenager married against her will to an adult .the practice is callous, barbaric and despicable.
“I am sparing no one in my condemnation in as much as one agreed to be part of the grand conspiracy. All the clerics supporting early marriage or forced a teenager to marry a husband she is not willing, Allah will made him to account for his crude, wicked and despicable action in the hereafter.
“I want to inform the Ward Head of the Village that he stands suspended for his gross negligence I am ready to pursue justice on behalf of Kaltume to a logical conclusion. Even if the Commissioner of Police failed to take decisive action on this, I would take the matter up with the Inspector-General for prompt action.”
Kaltume’s sex organ, according to doctors’ findings, was disfigured to the point that she could no longer urinate through the normal process, unless with the use of a rubber carefully strapped to her vagina.
