Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi has called for the arrest of fathers who send out their children as almajiris.
Speaking at a conference organized by the Future Assured Initiative, a
non-governmental organisation of First Lady Aisha Buhari, in
collaboration with the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) on
Thursday February 20, the Kano monarch said there is no law that backs a
man to marry, have children and abandon them without living up to his
responsibility to them.
Emir Sanusi told men who are too poor to take care of their family,
to go out themselves and beg instead of sending their children.
He said;
“Every day, wives are complaining about their husbands who claim
their rights but abandon their responsibilities of marriage, women being
divorced with their husbands not taking care of the children and those
children ending up on the streets, drugs, political thuggery, violent
extremism,” he said.“No law that talks about consent in marriage, the rights of wives and
husbands, domestic violence , rights of women divorced , the
responsibilities of husbands under divorce situations, if a child is
found on the streets, is the father that is responsible and can the
state hold him accountable?“Do you just marry and have children without any responsibilities?
The reason Allah send His Prophets is that there should be justice in
this world. Justice in our relationship with our maker and in our
relationship with our fellow human beings.“Justice means that everyone is given his rights. If a man takes the
privilege of being the head of the family, he takes the responsibilities
of being the provider of the family. You cannot take that privilege and
a band the responsibilities.“Is it a fact that a father has the right to force his daughter into a
loveless marriage? that you have the rights to batter you wife? You
have the right to have children and push them to the streets to beg?
That when you divorce your wife, you ask her and her children to pack
and go back to her father’s house and that is the end?“I can spend 100 years saying that it is wrong and un-Islamic for a
man to beat his wife, but it is the Governor and the state house of
assembly that should pass the law, it is the courts and the police that
will make sure that the woman gets justice. The Scholars and Emirs
cannot do that.“So, the problem is these groups of human beings are those who will stand to answer to Allah if there is no justice.
“The traditional and religious leaders have an obligation to ask for
justice, but those with the political powers have an obligation to put
in place the processes that will make sure that these justices are
complied with.”