Back into problems
By IKENNA EMEWU (ikeroyal@yahoo.co.uk)
Saturday, June
11 , 2005
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•Amina,
Wasila and extra burden, baby Maryam
•Photo:
Sun News Publishing |
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Three years ago, the conviction of a lady by the Sharia Court
in Katsina State for adultery (getting pregnant out of wedlock)
was one of the most celebrated cases and media issue all over
the world. That lady, Amina Lawal and her little baby, Wasila,
who the courts were waiting to be weaned before Amina would
be stoned to death, graced the pages of all newspapers, magazines
and television screens.
NGOs and women rights pressure groups made meat out of the
problem. The echoes of the Amina Lawal case defied boundaries,
exploited the infotech advantage and constituted a rich oil
block or goldmine to many who sincerely and fraudulently claimed
to be protecting the interest of that poor lady and her pity-inducing
baby girl.
But many never know that Amina has remained a milking cow
for hordes of NGOs, especially some in Abuja that have always
brandished her case before foreign donor agencies to make
money for themselves - with the purport of securing a future
for Amina. It would be true to group WRAPA, one of the many
NGOs, into the category of the fraudulent but that group that
caters for the rights of violated women and other such cases
is in the thick of what is currently happening to the hapless
woman from Katsina.
WRAPA had arranged what seemed a mock marriage (but which
turned out to be real) for Amina. Today, that marriage has
just succeeded in sinking her deeper into the abyss of worse
trouble.
Today, the arrangee marriage has crashed like the WTC towers,
and yet Amina’s life burden is heavier with a three-month-old
baby girl she caters for alone. She has no job, hope for the
next meal and her future looks bleaker than before. It was
pitiable listening to Amina as Saturday Sun spotted her in
Abuja with now three-year-old Wasilat and her excess load,
the three-month-old Maryam.
One year, one mess
It took extra efforts to wrest Amina Lawal from the wrench
of the stones of death already decreed to silence her. They
might had been piled to the high heavens waiting for the day
to unleash them on Amina after her baby would have been weaned
when the Sharia Court of Appeal was swayed by the legal magic
of Hauwa Ibrahim, the workaholic, hard-fighting counsel to
Amina, who in conjunction with WRAPA, BAOBAB and other groups
rallied support and stayed the hands of the executors. Before
Amina could sing Allahu akbar, in praise to Allah for his
saving grace, an NGO that played a role in the prosecution
thought it wise for reasons best known to it to arrange and
get Amina quickly married to a certain Lawal Abubakar from
Bauchi and lives in Abuja. Abubakar, is was chosen out of
seven others chosen and lined up for Amina by WRAPA.
‘What is not yours is never yours’
This the short philosophy that Amina has couched to console
herself over the failure of the marriage. Yes, the marriage
lasted eight months and has crashed irretrievably. On the
day Saturday Sun spotted Amina in Abuja, she was there to
collect her letter of divorce from WRAPA to enable her have
access to Abubakar’s home and take her belongings back
to her native Katsina where she has been residing. The 33-year-old
woman and mother of five from Kurami, Katsina State is taking
care of Maryam, the three-month-old baby girl, a product of
that arrangee marriage alone. Abubakar, according to her claims,
has just seen the child once, when she was born. Yet Amina
has no means of sustenance other than dependence.
I was advertised to him
Amina recalled that the marriage crashed “because I
was advertised to him (Abubakar). Problem started when I fell
sick and he showed no concern as a husband. I experienced
total disregard from him in the eight months of the marriage.
I know he treated me the way he did because he felt he was
compelled to have me or he was just doing me a favour and
never actually wanted me. Some people advertised me to him,
and I had hoped it was going to work. But I have found out
that what is not yours will never be yours’. That ‘advertisement’
to him as explained by Amina, was in reference to the arrangement
by WRAPA. It seems from the story by Amina that WRAPA failed
in wrapping-up Amina with real rehabilitation via marriage.
WRAPA’s ‘settlement’
From Amina’s account, it seems WRAPA never just left
her totally unWRAPped. She admitted to Saturday Sun that before
she left to live with the arrangee husband, WRAPA gave her
N100,000 by way of settlement. Out of this, Amina said she
celebrated Sallah, procured some domestic needs, but never
invested any of it in a money-yielding pursuit. The money
took flight and she reverted to dependence. Now her concern
is what would ensue between her and Abubakar when she goes
to pick her personal effects from Abubakar’s home after
securing the divorce document. It gives her serious worry,
but said she leaves everything in the hands of Allah.
Her present burden
The real problem Amina faces today is how to start life all
over again. She lives in her village at the mercy of relations,
but admitted she suffers no stigma or discrimination by reason
of her past travails. But she is worried about what to do
and how to get means of livelihood to “feed my two children.
The other three children I had from my previous marriage live
with their father. And I would not like to talk about the
man that put me in family way that caused me all the problems
as you request me to comment on. Since the court exonerated
him of any blame, I leave the whole matter in the hands of
Allah”, she quipped intelligently.
Relationship with her lawyers
She recalled that she had not been seeing the lawyers, or
any of the groups that had interest in her case with the exception
of Hauwa Ibrahim, the Abuja-based lawyer who had in the past
been assisting her. ‘I don’t always go to her
save for sometime when I feel ill. I sought her assistance,
and she readily obliged me that. You know she was my lawyer
and stood behind me during the trial. Even when the marriage
was arranged by WRAPA, Hauwa never knew because she was out
of the country. I can’t remarry - not until my baby
is weaned. Amina learnt a big lesson – not to dare the
Sharia system, and for that reason she bluntly refused to
comment on how the system affects people found in her type
of peculiar circumstances. Brilliant answer for a person saved
from the jaws of the lion.
At the time Amina was pulled from the sharia stones of death,
she expressed one wish. The wish was that she would like her
baby, Wasila to have education, know her rights and live above
the travails she suffered, but given her present helpless
situation, who knows how realizable that dream could be.
Divorce, no big deal
Saturday Sun contacted WRAPA chief executive at Abuja on phone
and asked for the role the group played in the arrangee marriage,
and she said it was not a matter to be discussed on the phone.
“I wont like us to discuss this matter on the phone.
I would rather be happy if you make out time and come to Abuja,
lets sit down and discuss the matter. I am ready to answer
any question you would raise”.
The Executive of WRAPA who felt reluctant to disclose her
name even on request, and after the reporter had disclosed
his identity interjected in respect of the crash of the marriage
that “marriage and divorce are compatible. Whenever
a marriage could not be sustained, divorce is the only thing
left. So there is nothing so special about the divorce just
because Amina is involved. She also admitted that WRAPA had
given Amina her divorce papers, and advised her (Amina) to
rather lie low and avoid discussing her matter with the public
“in order not to expose herself to danger and further
embarrassment”, with a firm promise to grant Saturday
Sun audience whenever the need arises.
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