Police have said that the child bride used rat poison in the food because she was forced to marry a man she did not love.
14-year-old Wasila Umaru was forced into marriage last week but, when the 35-year-old groom invited a dozen friends to celebrate at his village over the weekend, she decided to take action.
A spokesman for the Kano State Police Command, Musa Magaji Majiya, told the Web site CKNnigeria that the little girl bought rat poison at a village market for less than a penny.
She then prepared a deadly meal for her husband, Umaru Sani, and his guests.
CHILD BRIDE, 8, DIES FROM INTERNAL INJURIES ON WEDDING NIGHT TO 40-YEAR-OLD GROOM
The groom and a friend died the same day, and two other victims died later in the hospital.
The teenager confessed to the crime, saying that she did what she had to do after she was forced to marry an older man she wanted no part of.
The police spokesman said: “The suspect confessed to the act and claimed that because she does not love her husband, she resorted to taking this option. Corpses were taken to hospital for examination. Investigation is on top gear.”
Apparently the child bride is fully cooperating with police; they expect her to be charged with culpable homicide.
According to the UN Children's Agency, a whopping 50% of Nigerian girls living in rural areas are married before they turn 18 - which, when you consider this is a country of some 170 million people of whom half are under 18 - is a lot of child brides.
The underage wives often suffer difficult pregnancies — the leading cause of death worldwide for girls aged 15 to 19 — and are much more likely to contract AIDS and be subjected to domestic violence, according to the International Centre for Research on Women.