Maimuna
Abdullahi was sold into marriage by her parents for £120 and abused by
her new husband, who locked her away and forced hard labour on her.
When she ran home
she was beaten, first by her father, then her husband, and was summarily
divorced by her husband for daring to flee – and she is still just 14
years old.
She
is one of thousands in Nigeria with similar stories – and, shockingly,
her husband blames his beaten former bride for her ordeal, saying she
was disobedient and over-educated.
After fleeing her
husband Mahammadu Saidu, who locked her away for days at a time, she was
whipped by her family for daring to come home, then attacked by her
furious husband as well.
Her battered face swelled so much that
doctors feared her husband had dislocated her jaw. Her back and arms
bristled with angry welts from the whipping her father gave her.
She was gaunt from hunger, dressed in filthy rags. And barely a year after her wedding, she was divorced.
It would be a tragic story for a woman of any age. But for Maimuna Abdullahi, it all happened by the time she was 14.
‘I’m
too scared to go back home,’ she whispers, a frown crinkling her brow
as she fiddles nervously with her hands. ‘I know they will force me to
go back to my husband.’
Maimuna is one of
thousands of divorced girls in Nigeria, children who were forced into
marriage and have since run away or been thrown out by their husbands.
They are victims
of a belief that girls should get wed rather than educated, which drew
the world’s attention after Boko Haram terrorists abducted more than 200
schoolgirls two months ago and threatened to marry them off. Most are
still missing.
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