‘Why I sponsored mass wedding of 50 Boko Haram orphans’

Daily Trust: What part of the country are you from? Alhaji Mohammed Yakubu Jacob: I’m from Gashua town in Yobe State, but my great-grand parents were from Kebbi State. During their time, people travelled by road to Saudi Arabia for the hajj and therefore, while on their way, our grandparents stopped by in Gashua to […]

Daily Trust: What part of the country are you from?

Alhaji Mohammed Yakubu Jacob: I’m from Gashua town in Yobe State, but my great-grand parents were from Kebbi State. During their time, people travelled by road to Saudi Arabia for the hajj and therefore, while on their way, our grandparents stopped by in Gashua to get additional money through farming and fishing. In the process, they finally settled there. That was how we were born and became natives overtime.

DT: How old are you now?

Jacob: I’m roughly 51 because I was born a day after the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello who was killed in 1966.

DT: We heard that you sponsored a mass wedding of orphans. Can you shed more light on what actually happened?

Jacob: Actually, I went to Gashua not quite long ago with the intention of distributing food and other relief materials to our people when I heard the story that hundreds of girls, whose parents were killed as a result of the Boko Haram crisis, are ripe for marriage, but have no means to facilitate the wedding. I was deeply touched and therefore prayed to Almighty Allah to give me the opportunity to sponsor the wedding of two or three of the girls.

I was really worried because most of the girls were between the ages of 18 and above, meaning if something urgent was not done, anything can happen, they can be deceived by men even though they already have suitors who were ready to marry them. 

You must have heard of cases of prostitution and unwanted pregnancies in IDPs camps. And of course, you know that if their parents were alive, they would do everything possible to get their daughters married. This was what actually inspired me to look forward to sponsoring the weddings and within a very short time, I realized that I can afford to sponsor 50 marriages at once.

DT: How did you go about it?

Jacob: I approached the Mai Bade (Emir of Bade in Gashua) and told him my mission. He was really pleased with the news and said it’s unprecedented. He, therefore, called some senior Islamic clerics in Gashua and they all welcomed the idea. 

They, however, told me that it would not be possible to carry out the mass wedding exercise in two weeks because the tradition in Gashua is that both the bride and bride groom must be subjected to HIV screening to ascertain their status. As such, they said I should give them time to compile the names and do all the necessary checking and that was it. 

DT: How long did it take them to carry out the HIV screening?

Jacob: After two months, they took the list of 42 set of couples to Mai Bade and told him all is well with them and the wedding can go on. The emir therefore told me that they were ready and set January 7 this year for the mass wedding and I agreed. 

Alhamdu Lillah, the plan coincided with the opening of the house I built in Gashua and therefore, I invited Sheikh Saidu Hassan Jingir and Malam Yahuza Bauchi for a grand preaching on Friday, 6th January. The next day, which was a Saturday, the mass wedding was conducted at the emir’s palace in Gashua.

DT: How were the brides selected?

Jacob: The clerics actually did a thorough and wonderful job in selecting the girls.  You know, we have hundreds of displaced persons from parts of Borno and Yobe states who are taking refuge in Gashua. 

Some of the girls lost all their parents and others are still with their mothers who are too poor to sponsor their marriages. Therefore, announcements were made in mosques directing that any orphan who has a suitor should come forward. That was how the names were compiled and the clerics ensured that they were really girls that were orphaned by the Boko Haram crisis.

DT: Who stood as the guardian of the girls?

Jacob: The Mai Bade was the guardian (Wali) of all the 42 girls and the wedding Fatiha and ceremony took place in his palace. Actually, the girls were 50 in number, but the screening results of eight was not ready at the time of the mass wedding. You know, what they normally do in Gashua is to do the HIV screening three times within in order to be sure of the result.

DT: How much did it cost you to sponsor the wedding?

Jacob: It was really a huge investment but I was not bothered by the monetary implication. I was only looking for the reward from Allah.  I bought a set of beds, mattresses, drawers, chairs, rugs and other things for each of the girls, including the remaining eight, whose wedding would be commissioned as soon as their results are out.

DT: Are there more girls in Gashua waiting for this kind of opportunity?

Jacob: Of course, hundreds of orphaned girls are there; they have suitors but there is no means for the marriage to hold. I’m therefore using this opportunity to call on well-to-do individuals to invest in this kind of endeavour because there is huge reward in helping the orphans.