No more free wives for poor men – Emir Lamido

Forced marriage and poor men marrying multiple wives would soon be outlawed in Kano state, says Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II.

The emir says an amendment is in the works to make the state’s family law stricter on marriage issues.

“The palace in Kano a sub-committee of scholars, which I set up and has been working for about a year, is finalising the final sections of a family law we intend to introduce in Kano”, the emir said at the 50th anniversary of the death of Ambasador Isa Wali, a former Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana, in Abuja.

“Those of us in the North have all seen the economic consequences of men who are not capable of maintaining one wife, marrying four. They end up producing 20 children, not educating them, leaving them on the streets, and they end up as thugs and terrorists.

“The law will address what Islam says on marriage, it will outlaw forced marriages, it will make domestic violence illegal, it will put in conditions that you need to fulfil before you can marry a second wife, it will spell out the responsibilities of a father beyond producing a child.

“It is a big law which covers a whole range of issues from consent to marriage, to maintenance to divorce, to maintenance of children and inheritance. It will be the first time in northern Nigeria that a Muslim law on personal status will be codified.”

The emir, a polygamist himself, said while he had no qualms with polygamy, it should be practised properly.

The event was also attended by Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, former military head of state, Yakubu Gowon and former minister Maitama Sule, among others.