Salisu Ibrahim reports on the unprecedented mass wedding involving 100 widows in Kano last Tuesday, setting the stage for the marriage of 900 others under a strategic scheme designed by the state government to better the lots of the couples and check rising insecurity in the state.
Of all the events staged by the Kano State Government in recent times, none will receive the kind of attention drawn by the mass wedding it organized by the state last Tuesday. It was an unprecedented event, whose candour and relevance will continue to reverberate in the ancient city for years to come.
The mass wedding, which is to help marry off no fewer than 1000 widows in order to give them a new lease of life, was attended by the Emir of Kano, His Royal Highness, Ado Bayero and top public and business executives.
Even though it was a brief ceremony that lasted for an hour, its significance cannot be forgotten in a hurry. Those who came into the place as widows and widowers, quickly returned home as husbands and wives, beaming with broad smiles that brightened their day.
“I am a now a fulfilled man,” declared one of the lucky grooms, Kabiru Karaye, after? being joined with his new wife at the Emir’s Palace Mosque in Kano.
Indeed, it was s fulfillment of dream for many and a transformation of life for others, who shed tear of joy as they were declared husbands and wives, having waited for many months since the state government announced its intention to marry off the widows as part of a moral pitch to stem the tide of insecurity and hardship.
Thus, before a large crowd of witnesses made up of top government officials, Islamic scholars, friends and associates, the celebrants fulfilled the necessary rituals to be joined in wedlock and returned home with marriage certificates to show for their new status.
Standing before the Emir and other traditional chieftains, the excited men and women who were clad in special attires, pledged their devotion and commitment to their spouses as they received royal blessings from the emir as a confirmation of their wedding. The men were clad in immaculate white Agbada and red caps to match while the women spotted white veils upon blue wrappers.
Brandishing his certificate and smiling broadly, Karaye said, “Today is my happiest moment, since my dream has been realised and accomplished. I have a wife that I love so dearly and she is a very responsible partner that can make me happy.
“Today is the happiest day in my life and I will never forget this wonderful gift from God. I will never forget the Hisbah board and the NGO that initiated the process,” he said.
Karaye met his wife in his hometown of Karaye and they both decided to marry after six months of courtship. To be joined, they approached the Hisbah commission and completed the necessary papers to give each of them a sense of security.
Like Karaye, Hajia Zainab came all the way from Yobe State to be joined with his heartthrob, a serving police officer in Kano.
The man and woman had been friends for over 20 years and had completed plans to marry only for Zainab’s father to oppose the union on the grounds that the man was a student at the time.
“We loved each other but my father rejected my husband’s offer to marry me because he was then a student forgetting that there was love between us. My father gave my hand in marriage to another person whom we stayed together as husband and wife for good 20 years but later separated.
“While I was with my first husband, I devoted all my life to him since that was the decision of my parents and stayed with him for the sake of Allah.
But the opposition to her marriage to the police officer melted last Tuesday when Zainab was joined in marriage with the man she had been longing for in the past years. Although she has a 19-year-old son, who stood in for her as her representative, she nonetheless expressed satisfaction that she had at last fulfilled her dream of marrying the man of her choice.
Zainab said her love for the man was so strong that she always felt the urge to live with him even though her father had stopped her from going into marriage with him.
“We always feel that we live for each other and the best for us is to be husband and wife. I’m happy this has been accomplished,” she said.
An official of the hisbah board, Malam Aminu Muhammed, said he decided to partake in the scheme because he considered as a noble one. Aminu’s wife is a member of the hisbah board, which helped in organizing the marriage.
“We resolved to marry among ourselves as members of the board because we realized that the marriage scheme is a noble programme. It will help in overcoming our social problems,” he said.
MalamaHabiba an indigene of Nassarawa Local Government of Kano State, who was also joined in the wedding, met her husband, who hails from Katchako LGA of the state, at an informal ceremony about three months ago and started talking about marriage before they were formally joined along with others. They are happy that they have become husband and wife within a short time as a result of the marriage programme of the state government.
She said, “We met a few months ago and started talking about marriage and informed our parents that we would come to the Hisbah board to register and be part of the mass wedding, which they supported. “We are now married and thanks be to Allah and the organisers of this important event,” she said.
Adamu Maifada, who is virtually impaired and his wife, Batulu Umar came all the way from Garko LGA, a distance of over 80 kilometers away from Kano, to consummate their love.
Maifada said that as indigent persons they would not have had it easy to marry without the support of the state government and expressed their gratitude to the administration for the timely gesture.
The Director General, Hisbah Board, Malam Abba Sa’id Sufi, explained that the mass wedding was initiated following the concern raised by a Non-Government Organisation, Voice of Orphan, Widows and Divorcees that over 1,800 divorcees and widows were willing and eager to re-marry.
Malam Sufi said unlike in the past, marriage contract certificates were issued to the newly-wed couples, in accordance with Islamic injunctions under the supervision of Kano State Hisbah Board.
“We want to keep away from the past practice where marriages were contracted without anything to show for it. There were no contract agreement forms and no proper arrangement in marriage before couples entered into matrimony.
Beyond the contraction of the marriage, the state government released the sum of N15 million to the board to fund the activities of the mass wedding while Sheikh IsyakuRabi’u, a business mogul and cleric provided N1 million to the grooms to pay the dowry of their spouses which was pegged at N10,000 each.
But the money would be further split into many uses, according to Sufi.
“Out of the N15 million that was given by the government, the sum of N20,000 would be given to each of the 100 women for empowerment. The money would also be used to train women on skills acquisition in order to make them more self-reliant”.
The measure, according to the Hisbah Commander, Sheikh Aminu Daurawa , was aimed at tackling part of the social challenges facing the state and to mitigate the pains of the widows who were virtually rejected by the society for the simple fact they were either divorced or widowed.
Before the marriage contract, the Hisbah Board, had rolled out some guidelines for the would-be suitors that each couple must fulfill before partaking in the marriage arrangement.
Sheikh Daurawa expressed delight that all the men and women were tested for HIV/AIDs and were certified healthy to live happily as husbands and wives.
The Board has also categorically stated that all the conditions it set out for the new couples must be strictly adhered to avoid divorcing the women at will.
In the same vein, the board insists that the groom must be up and doing since it is not the responsibility of the state government to offer any job to them.
With the conclusion of the first batch of the marriage, the stage is set for the remaining 900 widows to be married off to make up the 1000 that the state government has in mind.
Despite the attraction and the accolades that have attended the measure, it is left to be seen how it would help in checking immorality, insecurity and poverty that have been the bane of society for some time. It is also left to be seen how far the couples would live happily with one another as husbands and wives.
The government has done its part by joining them in wedlock but the? tasks of living together and catering for the comfort, welfare and happiness of their respective families lie squarely with the newly wed. Will they make it as they have made history as the first in the history of the state to be joined in a mass wedding?
Why We Want Stringent Measures Against Divorce – Hajia Altine Abdullahi
The President of Voice of Orphans, Widows and Divorcees,HajiaAltineAbdullahi, whose organization’s pressure led to the mass wedding in Kano last Tuesday, spoke with Salisu Ibrahim, on why the group wants very stringent conditions for divorce.
It seems your organisation is shifting its struggle to the issue of stringent measures on divorce, why?
We have had enough of rejection and segregation in the history of our life time. Most of the widows in Kano are helpless; some have been divorced and left with a number of children to look after. Unfortunately our society is not the type that takes care of its less privileged.
Most of the widows and divorcees, who have nothing to live on, are therefore left without succor and care. We have come out to raise our voice to stand for those that need help. We are saying that divorcees and widows in Kano are too many and that we come out to air our views that widows and divorcees are tired of suffering in silence.
So far we have taken this matter to the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero that we want a law that will give protection to our widows and divorcees. We have equally taken this issue to the state governor who equally promises to ensure the enactment of a law that will give us the needed protection. We have kept our fingers crossed and God willing we will emerge victorious.
The rate of divorce in Kano is alarming. How will your NGO tackle the menace?
You see, hardly would you count few houses in Kano Municipality without having divorcees and widows. In the case of widows, they are separated as a result of death but the saddest aspect of it all is how women in Kano are divorced without regard to their sensibilities.
A very little thing that could be laughed over by the husband and his wife may lead to separation that is why we are saying there is apparent need to use our NGO to sensitise our people on the importance of marriage and the need on the part of couples to understand each other.
We have done that on some secondary school students because we want to catch them young; to give them the tutelage of how to keep a happy home and live a happy life. Regrettably divorce is so common that the rate at which it is being pronounced is so alarming. Our investigations reveal that cases of divorce are far higher than the rate at which marriages were contracted.
What type of law will your organisation like to see in respect of divorce?
The best way to tackle this problem is to make divorce much difficult than the process of contracting the marriage. In fact we will want the issue of alimony to be given adequate attention. Let the men know that having a woman as a wife does not give them the licence to send them away at will. A woman is a very important personality that requires a better management.
A husband must make necessary effort to understand his wife and treat her with every kindness, that is the teaching of our religion and that is how to solve this endemic problem. I hope in the very near future all these problems would become history and soon enough we will regenerate a happy society.
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