Glitz on Kano’s day of 100 brides

About 100 out of an estimated 1,000 widows and divorcees due for the marriage tied the knot in a grand ceremony that was witnessed by a phenomenal gathering of guests and spectators from Kano and beyond. The event which was held at the Kano Central Mosque located in the vicinity of the Emirate Council was […]

About 100 out of an estimated 1,000 widows and divorcees due for the marriage tied the knot in a grand ceremony that was witnessed by a phenomenal gathering of guests and spectators from Kano and beyond. The event which was held at the Kano Central Mosque located in the vicinity of the Emirate Council was blessed by the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero.

Friends and relatives of the brides and grooms besieged the venue in overwhelming numbers, making entry into the packed chambers a tedious one. Dozens of grooms were seen donning well-embroidered robes with matching red caps symbolizing their solidarity with the ‘Kwankwassiya’ political doctrine.

Groups of praise singers stormed the venue and waylaid top government officials and other prominent guests just as pickpockets had a field day dispossessing unsuspecting guests of their money, phones and other valuables.

Weekly Trust learnt that though the scheme was meant to assist widows and divorcees, some young women who had never married before also took advantage of the government’s assistance to get married through the scheme.

Shafa’atu Ibrahim Gaida, 17, one of the spinsters, told Weekly Trust that  “we got the opportunity because of my fiancé was divorced. When the scheme was introduced,  he obtained the marriage forms from the Hisbah Board and filled it for us. We went for the screening, passed and got enlisted into the first batch of the programme. That was how we wedded,” she said.

Shafa’atu’s husband told Weekly Trust that his reason for involving the Hisbah board in his marriage was to get them to mediate should a problem arise from it, because he had trouble with his first marriage.

“I had a bad experience in the past which led to the failure of my first marriage. That is why I planned to get married through this scheme, as the board promised to mediate in all disputes that could spring up after the planned wedding. They asked us to inform them if anything goes wrong between us,” he said.

Suwaiba Abubakar Hotoro is another young woman who got married through the scheme.  Explaining how she became a bride at the event, she said “after we heard that the government was planning to assist the brides with some money to furnish their matrimonial homes, we rushed to the board and obtained the form. Eventually we have now gotten married through the scheme. Alhamdulillah.”

Fourteen-year-old Fatima Mohammed, also a bride said she benefited from the scheme as a result of her relationship with a friend who worked at the board. “He brought the forms and guided me through the application, up to the screening and eventual wedding. He has really been of great help to me,” she said.

One of the grooms, Malam Adamu Sa’idu from Adamawa State, who claimed to be the first man to acquire the marriage forms at the Hisbah board, said he was impressed by what he described as “the sincere determination of the government to discourage divorce. I was attracted to the mass wedding programme after I learnt of the government’s warning that nobody could divorce his spouse without consulting it. It shows that the government is committed to regulating the marriage institution. I call on other men who had doubts on the exercise to give it a try,” he remarked.

Musa Idris, another groom from Nassarawa local government area, Kano State who called on other men to join the exercise, expressed confidence that the marriage would reduce social vices like prostitution and drug abuse by youths which he blamed on broken homes.

“With your family intact, you will have the opportunity to affect your children’s lives positively, so they can be of benefit to you in your old age and the society in general,” he observed.

A blind woman, Fadila Umar who was also among the women who were married off said she met her blind husband, Adamu Fadila through the planned marriage. “Today is the happiest day for all of us. We pray the Almighty Allah to bless our union,” she exclaimed excitedly.

Despite the widespread commendation of the exercise, investigations by Weekly Trust however reveal that some of the couples who met through the government wedding scheme chose to get married privately instead of taking part in the group wedding, because their parents were skeptical of the exercise.

Lawisa Balarabe, a bride from Madobi local government area of Kano State told Weekly Trust that she got married to her spouse at her parent’s house just a day before the mass wedding.

“Even though I met my husband through the government’s marriage initiative, our parents decided to organize our marriage privately, because they were skeptical of the procedure involved in the mass wedding,” she explained.

Director General of the Hisbah Board, Malam Abba Sa’idu Sufi described the mass marriage as   “highly successful which has enjoyed the support of the government, members of the public and the media.”

He said the government gave the board N15 million to fund the mass wedding while famous business magnate and cleric Sheik Isyaku Rabiu donating N1 million to the grooms to pay the dowries of their spouses which was pegged at N10,000 each.

According to him, “of the N15 million naira that was given by the government, the N20,000 would be given to each of the 100women for empowerment. The money would also be used to train women on skill acquisition in order to make them more self-reliant”.

He said   the first batch of the mass marriage has given the board an opportunity to assess the exercise and make some amendments so that subsequent batches of the programme could be successfully implemented.

Sufi also dismissed speculations that some of the grooms who did not attend the event at the mosque could have absconded at the last minute, saying there were no such occurrence.

“Most of the grooms who were unable to present themselves at the mosque were merely  delayed by traffic hold-ups while they were on their way to the event because they were coming from villages, but they had their marriages at the Hisbah headquarters moments after they arrived,” he said.

Hajiya Zahra’u Mohammed Umar the Assistant Commander General, women’s wing of the Hisbah Board, told Weekly Trust that the government-sponsored marriage will work, because the beneficiaries had been enlightened sufficiently on the issue.

“Before the marriages were conducted, the board had organized several lectures and workshops for the 100 brides on how to run a successful family and have an enduring marriage life”, she argued.

“Our reports have shown that the high rate of the collapsed marriages in the state was based on poor understanding of what marriage means.  So, we organized a one-week workshop for the brides on how to take good care of themselves and their husbands. We also trained them how to become very obedient and humble to their husbands”.

The top official further noted that  “apart from the workshops organized by the board, we also distributed  perfumes for the brides.  We made sure that every one of them designed her feet and hands with henna in order to look more attractive to their husbands”

Responding on when the brides would report to their matrimonial homes since it was a mass ceremony; Malama Zahara’u said it depends on the individual’s arrangement.

“Though the state government has assisted the brides with sets of bed, carpets and other things, it is the responsibility of their partners to provide shelter. This is the reason why we cannot tell them to take in their wives at the same time as we did during the wedding,” she explained

“The only thing is that whenever they are ready, they should inform us as we have resolved to monitor them closely.”