Mohammed Bello
Abubakar is one of the most controversial figures in Nigeria. Despite having no
discernible income, the 92-year-old man somehow convinced 107 women to marry
him throughout his life, 97 of which are still his wives. He claims that
marrying as many women as possible is a divine assignment he has received from
God.
Mr Bello first shot
to fame in 2008, when a series of articles revealed that he had 86 wives and
around 150 children, either living with him on his compound in Bida, Niger
state, or in his house in Lagos.
Muslim clerics accused him of breaking
religious rules, which most scholars agree allow a man to marry up to four
women, as long as he can provide for all of them and treat them equally. He was
given a very simple choice, either divorce 82 of his wives or face the
consequences.
He refused, arguing that there was no punishment stated in the
Koran for having more than four wives, and that every man should be free to
marry as many women as he can support. He was arrested at the request of
the local Shariah Court, but subsequently released, on the condition that he
only keep four of his wives.
Not only did the
‘superpolygamist’ ignore this requirement, but he has since married other women
as well. In total, he married 107 women so far, divorced 10 of them, which
brings the total wife count to a whopping 97. And despite his ripe old
age, Abubakar says he plans on marrying even more. “What I am doing is
divine. It is an assignment and I will keep doing it till the end,”
“My large number of
wives? I only have 97 wives,” he added in an interview with The Nation. “I am still
going to marry more. I will keep marrying them for as long I am alive. If it
was up to me, I would have married maybe two wives, but what I am doing is
divine.”
He advises men not to
follow his example, as a normal husband could not even cope with 10 wives, let
alone 97. Bello claims that he has been able to control all of them only with
the power bestowed on him by Allah.
What’s really strange
about Mohammed Bello Abubakar and his incredibly large family is that none
of them have an official income. He doesn’t work and doesn’t allow his
wives to work either. READ MORE
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