86 wives of Nigerian 'Baba' plead for his release

The wives of the most married man in Nigeria staged a protest demanding the release of their husband who is being detained for unlawful marriages and contempt of Islamic religious laws, a justice ministry official said Friday. The 86 wives of 84-year-old Muhammadu Bello Masaba stormed the Niger state justice ministry Thursday, accompanied by 20 of their 170 children and called for the immediate release of their husband, describing his detention as illegal.

"They arrived at the justice ministry premises in three buses and engaged in rowdy protest against the arrest and detention of their husband," Habibu Lukman, a ministry official said.Lukman said the women and children carried placards some of which read "what Allah has joined together let no man put asunder" and "we are legally married to Baba (the old man Masaba) and we are not complaining". The protesters condemned the decision of the Minna Upper Sharia Court and the traditional chief of Masaba's hometown Bidda that he divorce 82 wives and keep four, the maximum Islam allows, Lukman said. No ministry official received the women, and they left after giving vent to their feelings, he said. Masaba was arraigned before the Upper Sharia Court in Minna "for incendiary contempt of religious laws and contracting unlawful marriage to 86 wives," a court clerk said. Masaba came to the limelight two months ago when he admitted to having 86 wives in interviews to the media. In those interviews he insisted that his marriages did not contravene Islam which allows a man to marry up to four wives.

The news attracted sharp criticism and indignation from all over the north, particularly from Islamic clerics with the Jama'atu Nasril Islam (JNI), the Nigerian Muslim umbrella body that slammed a fatwa or death sentence on Masaba. Two weeks ago, Masaba agreed to divorce 82 of the wives and keep four, following a two-day ultimatum issued to him by the influential traditional chief of Bida to either choose four among the 86 wives or leave the town. He then reneged on the undertaking

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