SENATOR Ayo Akinyelure Apologises in Tears, Says He Voted for Child Marriage Bill in Error

As massive protests continue to greet the Senate’s passage of a resolution to retain the provision of Section 29 (4) (b) of the 1999 Constitution, the people of Mr Akinyelure’s Senatorial District, Ondo Central Senatorial District, on Monday staged a peaceful protest in Akure, the State Capital, against the voting of the lawmaker representing them in the Senate for supporting the child marriage bill.

Under the section, a married underage girl is deemed to be an adult.

Senator Ayo Akinyelure was summoned by the constituents to a meeting held at the Cultural Centre

Auditorium, Akure, which is also the Senatorial headquarters.

The Women Leaders of Labour Party in the six local government areas in the senatorial zone who spoke on behalf of the women condemned the support of the bill which she described barbaric.

But Akinyelure was in tears as he laboured to convince the obviously enraged crowd at the tension-soaked session that he mistakenly pressed the wrong button during the electronic voting exercise thinking that he was voting against child marriage.

“I am very sorry for this costly mistake. I actually voted in error. I pressed the ‘No’ button during the electronic voting session, thinking that I was kicking against the early marriage. I can never support such barbaric and wicked bill.”

Being the only Yoruba Senator that voted for the Bill, he emphasized that as a true Yoruba man, he wouldn’t have intentionally voted in support of child marriage.

The Senator said he had aligned his thought with that of other senators, who supported the resolution that the provision should be expunged from the constitution.

He added that the resolution was paraphrased again in a way that confused him to mean that pressing the ‘No’ button would mean voting against the resolution that the resolution should be retained in the constitution.

He said there is still hope in correcting the situation as the bill will still be passed at the House of Representatives and the States Houses of Assembly.

As fallout of the tension, supporters of the embattled senator and the protesters clashed at the premises of the meeting, while a photojournalist with the Hope newspapers, Mr. Abayomi Adefolalu, who tried to take their shot was beaten while his camera was damaged.