The police in Bida, Niger State, yesterday arrested Alhaji Bello Masaba, the man who says he has 86 wives, arraigned him before an upper Sharia court sitting in Minna, which ordered that he should be remanded in prison custody.Masaba was arrested in the early hours of yesterday in Bida and whisked to the state police headquarters in Minna where he was interrogated. He was subsequently arraigned before an upper Sharia court at about 3.15pm on charges of inciting and insulting contempt of a religious creed and for deceptive and inducing unlawful marriages, contrary to sections 210, 383 and 386 of the penal code. In the first information report read in the court, Masaba was accused of unlawfully keeping 86 wives in his house against Islamic law and, as such, had committed an abominable act.
Masaba pleaded not guilty to the charges. His counsel, Barrister Shehu Jibril, in his application for bail, said all the charges raised against his client were mere allegations which could be refuted. He averred that since the police was yet to conclude its investigation on the allegations, it would amount to a miscarriage of justice to deny him bail. According to Jibril, since the allegations leveled against his client have not been established or proved, it is in the best interest of justice to presume that he is innocent. Jibril, while praying the court to admit Masaba on bail because of old age and his enormous responsibility of catering for the daily needs of his over 100 children, assured the court that Masaba would not jump bail or interfere with police investigation.
The state Attorney- General and Commissioner for Justice, Barrister Adamu Usman, who led a team of other state counsel, opposed the bail application. Usman told the court that the charges leveled against Masaba are serious ones, which attract between seven to 10 years imprisonment without an option of fine on conviction. He said in view of the serious nature of the offence, the police require sufficient time to conclude its investigation. According to him, the state Sharia Commission, which is the custodian of Islamic law and jurisprudence, is the complainant in the suit. Usman stated that he was opposing the bail application in the interest of public peace, public order, public morality, public health and, above all, in the interest of the accused person.
The presiding Khadi, Alhaji Abdulkadir I. Imam, in his ruling, rejected the bail application and ordered that the accused be remanded in Minna prison till October 6, 2008 for further mention. Earlier, the Police Public Relations Officer in Minna, Assistant Superintendent Richard Ogwuche, explained that Masaba was arrested following a court order but did not name the court that gave the directive.
Masaba came to the limelight recently when he claimed in an interview that he had 86 wives. Following the interview, the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, asked him to divorce 82 of them or be banished from Bida. The Etsu's directive was based on the Islamic injunction that allows a Muslim only four wives.
At a meeting held at the palace of the Etsu Nupe, with Masaba in attendance, the acting Chief Imam of Bida, Malam Yakatu Adamu, read the relevant verses of the Quran on marriage. Adamu made references to Masaba's various interviews and said that having 86 wives was an offence in Islam.
In his response, the 84-year-old Masaba said he stopped reading the Quran many years ago and sought to know why the Holy Book should limit a Muslim to only four wives. After a heated argument, the Etsu, who presided over the meeting, pronounced that Masaba was not a Muslim. ''From the facts available to us, you are not a Muslim and you are hereby given two days to divorce 82 of your 86 wives. If you fail to do so, we cannot guarantee your safety in Bida and the entire Nupe kingdom and as such, you should pack your load and leave," he said.
Subsequently, Masaba has denied reports in the media that he was planning to divorce 82 of his wives. He said there was no such plan. Rather, he said, he would take more wives if the need arose.