Five days ago, Pulse reported the matter of a child marriage that supposedly took place in Ozubulu, Anambra State, between a man she claims to be 56-year-old Izuchukwu Igwilo of the popular and wealthy Igwilo family of Anambra State to a 16-year-old girl (now reported to actually be 15).
The initial report
The news was broken on Facebook by Nigerian entrepreneur, Vivian Queenstine Diora, who went on a rant and revealed that Izuchukwu, the groom suffers from mental illness and alcohol addiction.
Some videos from the supposed marriage, posted on social media;
For nuance, the Child’s Rights Act specifies the minimum age of for marriage to be 18. However, the madness of the Nigerian legal system and its history of contradicting itself means the Matrimonial Causes Act and Marriage Act specify different ages from the one provided by the Child’s Rights Act.
Before this period, Pulse has done two explainers on sex education and pedophilia, to discuss the matters at hand.
Prince Gwamnishu Emefiele Harrison
Immediately after the news dropped, Awka, Anambra State-based Nigerian Lawyer and human rights activist, Prince Gwamnishu Emefiele Harrison has been active, in trying to get the girl – since identified as Chinwe – away from the situation she has been forced into.
Through his Facebook timeline, we also discovered that the initial pictures circling the internet were from an introduction – not a wedding. Despite some reservations from certain members of the wealthy Igwilo family, they still scheduled a traditional wedding for Easter.
He made his interest public, but first, he did preliminary research on the matter – he also updated his Facebook page with findings as they came along after landed in Ozubulu, Anambra State on January 31, 2019.
