The Senate Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has discarded the suggestion that under-18 married girls should have the right to vote in Nigeria.
The committee chairman, Senator Kabiru Gaya, said this while fielding a question on Tuesday in Abuja at the NAN Forum.
He said that the suggestion was made at the public hearing on electoral reforms.
Gaya said the ongoing amendment to the Electoral Act No 6 of 2010 wouldn’t confer voting right on underage, but married girls referred to as child-wives.
He explained that the issue raised a lot of dust when it was presented in a memorandum submitted to a technical committee set up on the reforms.
“One of the people who came to the public hearing submitted the memorandum and argued that the word underage wasn’t right, but that any woman or man that is married should be considered as an adult.
“That was his reason. Our own resolve is that if a woman is at the age of 16 and she gets married, she shouldn’t be allowed to vote.
“Generally there was a lot of noise about. It was in a memorandum submitted by a group of people, and they’ve their rights as Nigerians.
“But when we came to the committee, we discussed a lot on that, and at the end of the day, we felt we could not go along with that suggestion, and it was dropped,” Gaya said.
He added, “If we move elections to Fridays, some people will say it is their worship day; if we move it to Sundays, some other people will say it is also their worship day.
“So, that suggestion was also thrown out.”
