A Federal high court sitting in Abuja has stopped the planned marriage of 100 female orphans in Niger State.
The controversial mass marriage is being sponsored by the Speaker of Niger State House of Assembly, Abdulmalik Sarkin-Daji.
The planned marriage was scheduled to hold on Friday, May 24 until the judiciary intervened.
Sarkin-Daji had decided to sponsor the marriage of the girls who had lost their parents to banditry in his constituency and those whose parents could afford to foot the marriage expenses of children.
But, the Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye dragged him to court, asking him to stop the planned wedding, alleging the girls were being married off against their will.
She, however, secured the injunction stopping the planned wedding.
The minister has been at the forefront of opposition to the marriage arrangement.
