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Kano State government sponsors the re-marriage of 1000 divorced women  in the state as part of efforts to encourage family values and social harmony

When Atine  Abdullahi, a princess from a royal family in Kano municipal council of Kano State got married to her husband in 1989, she had hoped to enjoy blissful and lasting marriage like other married couples. The union was blessed with her four children. But her hope of raising the children with her husband was shattered in 1999 when the marriage collapsed.  Abdullahi was divorced by her husband 10 years after their marriage. Since then, she has remained a divorcee. But there appears to be a glimmer of hope for her and about 1,000 other divorced women in Kano State as government is making arrangement to reduce the scourge of divorce in the state through a mass wedding next month. Going by its culture, Kano, like every other Muslim-dominated community, is patriarchal. Men always have the upper hand, particularly on issues concerning marriage. A  Muslim in Kano can easily send his wife packing by merely writing her a note or by simply pronouncing: “I divorce you” four consecutive times. Women scarcely sue for divorce. In fact, religion and tradition forbid them from doing so.

Worried that over one million women divorcees and widows were suffering due to failed marriages and death of their spouses, Abdullahi has been fighting for the rights of these women and drawing the attention of government and the general public to their plights. On January 19, 2009, Abdullahi led over 45,000 divorced women on a protest to register their grievances to the government. The protest march was later stopped by security agents following series of petitions from religious leaders and elders in the state that such protest could lead to crisis if it was allowed to hold.

In fighting this cause, she founded the Voice of Widows, Orphans and Divorcees Association of Nigeria, VOWODAN.  Abdullahi, who is the president of VOWODAN, said her aim of setting up the non-governmental organisation was to champion the cause of her fellow divorcees who were unjustly kicked out of their matrimonial homes. According to her, many women thrown out of their matrimonial homes by their spouses are never given any form of compensation. She said divorce comes easily to husbands, because they are not obliged to do anything for the women they send packing.   “These women are exposed to danger and hardship, their suffering is terrible, they have no money to eat and cannot just resume their normal lives without help of the society,” she said.

On the gains of the mass marriage, Abudullahi said it will reduce the number of unmarried women. She said the women have been properly educated on how to handle marriages. “We have given our own conditions to the government before we agreed to participate in the mass marriage. If a man married you with N10, 000, when he is going to divorce you, he will pay N250, 000 before he will give you a divorce letter. So, we want government to make it a law, we want the certificate of marriage issued to the woman before marriage, we want that money paid before the marriage,” she said.

Aisha Ahmed, one of the divorcees, told Newswatch that in most cases men in Kano divorce their wives for selfish reasons without recourse to Islamic principles.

It was the relentless campaign by Abdullahi and other members of VOWODAN that compelled the Kano State government to devise a strategy to curb the problems created by the high rate of divorce in the state.  Worried by the high rate of divorce and the pitiable situation of many of the divorced women, the Kano State government has concluded arrangements to sponsor a mass wedding for the first 100 couples out of the 1000 applicants. The group marriage will take place in Kano in April 2012.

Interestingly, the VOWODAN president and 47-year -old Ruquayatu Abdullahi, an indigene of Imo State, whose Igbo name was Amaka before she changed from Christianity to Islam, are among the first set of 100 divorcees that would participate in the wedding. Ruquayattu would be joined in marriage with 45-year -old Suleiman Mohammed while the VOWODAN president would get hooked to a new husband whose identity she was still keeping to herself.

Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, governor of Kano State, would stand in for the 100 grooms to seek the hands of their selected brides in marriage. Abba Saidu Sufi, director-general of Kano State Hisbah Board, said the governor would be assisted by Ado Bayero, the Emir of Kano in performing the marriage rituals during the planned mass wedding which will take place at the Emir’s Palace. “This would be the first time that such mass weeding is going to take place in the state.” Ado Bayero is also expected to talk to the couples on the new life  and status.

Asked how the couples made their choices, Sufi explained that each of the applicants stated the kind of man or woman she wanted to marry in their application forms, including height, complexion and standing in the society. Other conditions attached to the marriage contract are that both parties must accept to resolve misunderstandings between them after the marriage contract through the board; the groom must also not divorce his wife without permission from the board, and the wife too cannot do  so without the board’s permission. The couples are expected to show some love.  

Newswatch gathered that 100 divorcees already pencilled down for the mass wedding are aged between  18 and 47 years, while the grooms are between 25 and 42. Some of the grooms are younger than their brides- to -be. Almost all the selected brides have had children for their former husbands. Some of them are living with these children. Though many of them refused to speak to Newswatch, an official of the board said the selected brides were delighted that they were going to re-marry while the grooms were glad to have their hands in marriage.

Sufi promised that the state government would provide them money for trading so as to make them self-reliant. “We announced that we were going to issue forms at the Hisbah board. So, we issued forms, we said we were going to issue out 1000 forms, and so far we have 1,300 applications now. The applicants had to go for a medical checks to ascertain that they are alright. The medical officer signed their forms that they are okay, that they are HIV- free. They also had to go for mental and fertility tests. I think we have now about 10 batches that are qualified for the marriage.”

Sufi explained that the board was working with lawyers, medical doctors and sociologists in the marriage arrangement committee. He gave more details on why the board was involved in the arrangement for the mass wedding. “We are going to start with 100. After that, we shall continue with the rest. It is the first of its kind in Nigeria, but it is being practised in many Arab countries, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Algeria. It is in accordance with Islamic injunction.  It is a modern way of doing things. It doesn’t cost much money to organise. The social vices in the state are too many. Most of the children involved in alcohol taking and drugs are children whose parents are no longer together. The problem is lack of parental care. And most of the prostitutes we have in the state, who are into taking hard drugs are frustrated. They were maltreated by their former husbands, so they take to hard drugs. “ We want to correct that trend.”

Sufi said the state government will pay the brides’ dowry and also provide household items including beddings that would make the couples comfortable after their marriage. Besides, they would also be given some amount of money to enable them to establish a business that would sustain them in future.