PHOTO: How Protesters Forced Senator Akinyelure To Recant Vote On Child Marriage

A crowd of protesters yesterday stormed a town hall meeting in Akure, the capital city of Ondo State, where Senator Ayo Akinyelure (Ondo Central Senatorial District) spoke. Armed with placards with abusive inscriptions, the protesters demanded the senator’s removal following his vote for a widely condemned measure that approved early child marriage.

The protests drove Mr. Akinyelure to tears as he explained that his vote was misunderstood and also apologized to his constituents.

Among the protesters were elderly women, widows and clergymen. Many of the demonstrators were teenagers who chanted angry slogans and urged voters in the state to register displeasure with what they termed the “barbaric attitude” of Nigerian senators who endorsed the idea of marrying off teenage girls.

After a strenuous effort by the police to quell the chaos at the venue, Mr. Akinyelure managed to enter the hall. Popularly called “All Over,” the senator appeared rattled by the demonstrations against him. In a quivering voice, he stated that his stance on the issue of child marriage was widely misunderstood. Denying that he ever supported under-age marriage, the senator explained that he voted out of error.

“My voting ‘No’ was in clear error of misinterpretation and I had no opportunity to correct what is deemed to be my error now, because voting was done electronically. If voting were to be done by show of hands, I would have been able to correct my error before the voting was concluded by the Senate,” said the embattled senator.

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SAHARA