By Folake Sokoya
Child marriage, an unlawful act by law has taken place on 30th of August in Mushin area of Lagos State.
The marriage which is currently an issue of concern to human rights groups and stakeholders in the state, was between a 15 year old girl and a 52-year-old Bishop Stephanos Lucky Enofe, who was said to be a father of four children from his wife.
The bishop is the founder of the Spirit Of Grace (SOG) Ministry, located at 8 Makinde street, at Idi-oro axis in Mushin.
The man of God was said to have allegedly asked for the teenager’s hand in marriage after his first wife had packed out of his house.
The wife, it was gathered packed out of his house on allegation of infidelity and fetishness.
It was also learned that the self acclaimed man of God had defiled the teenager when she was 13 years old before finally marrying her last week.
“I learned that both the traditional and church wedding had taken place and the girl had moved into the man’s house to live with him.
“The little girl who is an ardent member of the cleric’s church is his second wife and this cleric went for an underage child after his first wife; mother of four children packed out of his house and had refused every reconciliatory advance for over three years”, a source hinted.
When Bishop Enofe was contacted by a member of Advocate for Children and Vulnerable Persons Network, (ACVPN) on the matter, he claimed he had the right to marry the teenager since her family had agreed.
He also warned the group to desist from interfering in the matter.
The advocate group has taken steps to save the teenager from being violated further by the Bishop.
UNICEF data had revealed that 44% of girls in Nigeria are married before their 18th birthday and 18% are married before the age of 15.
The international organization had rated Nigeria with the third highest absolute number of child brides in the world – 3,538,000 – and the 11th highest prevalence rate of child marriage globally.
The organization observed that child marriage is most common in the North West and North East of Nigeria, where 68% and 57% of women aged 20-49 were married before their 18th birthday.
A 2017 World Bank study estimates that child marriage costs Nigeria USD7.6 billion in lost earnings and productivity every year.
