ABUJA – A 92, year-old man from Nigeria, who says he is on a ‘divine’ mission, has ninety-seven wives and has outlived many of his 185 children.
In 2008, Mohammed Bello Abubakar had fallen foul of clerics who accused him of breaking religious rules by marrying dozens of women.
The maximum a man should have, they said, was four, and in 2008 he was ordered by a Nigerian court to divorce 82 of his 86 wives within 48 hours or face a punishment.
But Mr Bello sees his matrimonial crusade as ‘divine’, and instead of heeding the ruling, opted instead to add to his nuptial tally.
He has now tied the knot 107 times – although 10 of his marriages ended in divorce.
“What I am doing is divine. It is an assignment and I will keep doing it till the end,” Mr Bello told Nigerian newspaper Vanguard.
Nevertheless, he said, had Allah not instructed him to marry so many women, he would probably have settled for a more modest two wives.
“My large number of wives? I only have 97 wives.
“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 told the newspaper.
At the time of his arrest, he was described by his family as a good husband and father.
But he urged others not to follow in his footsteps, as he is only able to cope with having nearly 100 wives because of the divine mission he has been given.
“I just want to advise those fighting against the number of my wives to stop because such people are waging war against God, their creator.”
