A popular match-maker in Kano in the 90s, known as Hajiya Gwoggo Mai Dalilin Aure, was acclaimed to have linked over 1m couples. Her match-making business transcended the Saudi Arabian kingdom, from where Northern men and women based in that country demanded to be linked up with unknown spouses for marriage.
It was a role Gwaggo played with relish through pictures of interested parties. She was reportedly, nominated by an international NGO, 'Youth Foundation for World Peace for her match-making prowess. That was then. Now, in Kano state, a much more sophisticated pattern of match-making, different from Gwaggo's is in the offing. Bala Nasir, examines the story of match-making via forms, screening and other presentations to facilitate mass marriage of 1000 divorced women and widows.
It has been posited that eligible bachelors are hard to find these days, the same way it is insinuated that women are in abundance and could be possessed at will. In Kano state, the issue is not lack of eligible bachelors or young women of marriageable age. Rather it is the worrisome issue of divorce which is on the increase. Reports indicate that there could be close to a million divorced women in the state. What is important however is that the state government under Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, is taking a hard look at the problem of incessant divorce and attempts are being made to curb the social menace through the HISBAH, command. Ever since the state government indicated intention to marry off 1000 divorced women by facilitating and sponsoring it, there have been unprecedented turn out of women who have shown interest to be part of the project.
Before now, there has been outcry on the high rate of divorce in the ancient city. However, the recent killing of hundreds of men during the bomb blast carried out by the Boko Haram, has compounded the problem as many more women became widows, making the number of women without husbands to soar.
Though the Kwankwaso administration had planned to marry out 100 women out of the 1000 divorced women to kick start the project, the unprecedented number of women that have so far indicated interest to be married has now made government to consider starting off with 200 women at the initial stage.
Hajiya Altine Abdullahi has been in the forefront of advancing the cause of women divorcees and widows in Kano state which led to floating an NGO, known as 'Voice of Women Divorcees and Orphans Association of Nigeria' (VOWAN). Under its umbrella, divorced women in Kano have been clamouring for their rights for more than ten years. For instance, in 2009, it had a grand plan to stage a one-million man match against increasing spate of divorce but the security agencies in the state including the police, State Security Service received series of petitions from elders and religious leaders who expressed fear that the protest may snowball into a huge crisis if allowed to take place.
At a meeting of the association of divorced women held at the Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs then, one million divorced women were drafted to go on the streets against the growing social menace bedeviling the commercial city of Kano. They were particular about the plight of teaming women sent packing from their matrimonial homes without recourse to laws binding the marriage institution and in accordance with Islam, the inability of the state House of Assembly to initiate laws against divorce rates as well as improving the lot of the women who were mostly abandoned with their children after the pronouncement of divorce by their husbands.
Chairperson of divorced women in Kano, Hajiya Altine Abdullahi, herself a beneficiary of the planned marriage, told our correspondent in an interview that since the incumbent government has seen wisdom in their agitation, and is strategizing to find lasting solution to problems of marriage in the state, her organisation has no option than to tow its line because that was it had always wanted.
She disclosed that as a victim of divorce about 12 years ago, she decided to devote her life to fighting the cause of women who have suffered the same fate like her.
Hajiya Altine regretted that in the quest to help women face the challenges of divorce, she has been ridiculed by members of the society and even chided by the same women she was trying to protect from humiliation meted by men who threw them out of their homes for flimsy reasons.
Now that government and even the society have come to terms with the problems of divorce, Altine is elated that the voice of the women has been heard and very soon something would be done about their plight and to set the ball rolling, she, and all the nine members of the executive council of the VOWAN, have agreed to marry the men who choose to take them in as their wives.
Speaking further with our correspondent, the chairperson of VOWAN said the rampant cases of divorce in Kano made her and her other colleagues to stand up to launch a campaign against it all these years despite advances by men who showed intention to marry them. She stated.
According to Altine, "If we had agreed to marry the men who approached us, we could have abandoned the cause and not reached this stage where government is now coming to take charge of the responsibility which originally was its own. We feel fulfilled, and for this we have decided to participate in the mass marriage which the state government has planned to conduct in the state".
Towards this end, Altine and her colleagues are to apply like other divorced women and widows seeking to be hooked up during the 1000 marriage project as currently; she does not have any male friend or suitor. Similarly, the other members of the executive of VOWAN do not know the men they would be entering into the marriage contract with. They however plan to show good example to the affected women believing that those who would seek their hands have been so ordained by God.
"We have been leading by example so we expect the teaming divorced women and widows as the case may be, to follow suit and with government handling the matter we are optimistic that the marriage institution will find a new lease of life in Kano, especially as the Kwankwaso administration has accepted to consider proposal for incorporating such project in the prospective law on marriage coming up in the state.
On the fate of the organization, VOWAN, after the marrital rite, Hajiya Altine opined that when she founded it she did not know that it would achieve such success. As such she is optimistic that even if new people come on board God will continue to take charge of the affairs of divorced women and orphans in the society even as she planned that the former leaders of the group would continue to counsel VOWAN by way of monitoring its activities and putting it on track for the benefit of the womenfolk in the state.
However, the Kano state Ministry of Women Affairs has said it is a mere onlooker in the new initiative as it has not been consulted over the 1000 marriage proposal.
The Commissioner in charge of the ministry, Barrister Saratu Yaro Umar, through the Public Relations Officer of the ministry, Malam Fatihu Isa said that the ministry is not party to the 1000 marriage.
Some people who have applied to marry
--At 72, I want to marry two wives
A cross section of prospective applicants interviewed have expressed willingness to abide by all the criteria laid down by the HISBAH board as regards the mass marriage to be contracted in Kano.
For instance, 72 year old Alhaji Ali Dankawu Dorayi, said since he lost his two wives, one, five years ago and the other eight months ago, he had resolved not to marry again. But with the recent pronouncement by the government, he felt the need to marry two wives to replace his dead wives.
Alhaji Ali who has 18 children, thirteen of them females and five males, said 11 of his female children are married while the remaining two are about to get married. He said he has great respect for the marriage institution that is why he plans to marry again through the HISBAH. He prefers a woman of about 50 to 55 years of age and is ready to abide by the conditions.
---I and my daughters are divorced
Also, Hajiya Amina told Peoples Daily Weekend that she collected one application form for herself and five for her children, all of them divorced by the husbands. Though she lost her husband ten years ago and her children whose names she refused to mention have been living with her after they were also divorced by their respective husbands, they have all applied to take advantage of the mass marriage. Aside from her children, Hajiya Amina who is an Islamic teacher has also picked forms for five other divorced women whom she teaches for them to be married to interested men in the society.
HISBAH Command
Preparations are in top gear for the ceremony, says HISBAH Commander
The Grand Commander of the state's HISBA Command, Sheikh Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa said the number of women seeking marriage is overwhelming. Speaking with Peoples Daily weekend in Kano, Daurawa said many women have so far picked application forms and preparations are in top gear by the command for the marriage ceremony. Giving an insight into the project he said the women have to be categorized into respective classes before screening could be commenced for the mass marriage with a view to streamlining their individual priorities.
For instance, it has been discovered that five women who were earlier divorced by their husbands, that the process was not in accordance with the laid down principles of Shariah law, they therefore, intervened and they made their husbands to take them back and they did. The four are now living with their respective husbands, he stated.
There are other four who left their matrimonial homes on grounds of impotence of their husbands and the HISBAH command took note of their grievances and is also going to do something about it.
There are three women who are HIV positive and have complained to the command to that effect. They said though they are HIV positive but they still want to get married and the command is taking the issue with all seriousness said Sheikh Daurawa. "We are going to consult medical experts on the possibility of finding men who are also HIV positive to marry them".
He emphasized that for the men who have shown interest, they will be subjected to screening so as to find out if they had ever divorced their wives. Their neighbours, village heads and relatives would be sought to help with facts to guide the process. Similarly, investigations would be conducted to know if women who had been divorced were at fault.
He said all these are geared towards ensuring a stable society and reducing rate of divorce in Kano as recent reports on the issue have been quite worrisome.
Daurawa observed that the marriage institution is sacred and should not be allowed to suffer desecration by people who toy with it at will. According to him, men marry and divorce at will without re-course to the principles enshrined in Islamic scriptures. That was the reason why the women clamouring for a change under the divorced women umbrella were asked to come forward with a view to incorporating them into the new initiative by the state government.
He confirmed that a law is being fashioned by the state government, which will put a stop to the desecration of the marriage institution in Kano and also protect women against evil men who would take advantage of their vulnerability to demean them.
Consequently, the state government is now consulting widely across the different strata of the society with a view to coming up with an acceptable legal frame work that will bring an end to the rampant divorce cases in the state.
On why the Ministry of Women Affairs, which apparently, has significant role to play in the mass marriage seemed excluded, Sheikh Daurawa said that the ministry is going to be involved fully in the process which is just in its incubation stage but when it comes to the delivery stage the ministry will be fully co-opted.
Already, he said, the HISBA command is talking with the ministry on the issue and the two government functionaries will soon fashion out ways in which both will contribute in achieving the goals of the state government.
Poverty is the cause of increased divorce- Sociologist
A sociologist and lecturer at the Kano State College of Arts and Science, Malam Ado Siro, has commended the HISBA initiative but posits that there is more than meets the eyes in the issue of increase in the rate of divorce in Kano state. According to Siro, the HISBAH has identified problems of miscreants or the anti social behaviours as products of broken homes.
He said, "I heard the HISBA Commander, Sheikh Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa saying that female children from broken homes take to promiscuity and prostitution, while the males indulge in drug abuse and theft". But said a research he conducted on the same issue showed that most of the young people indulging in these live with both parents.
He however, noted that divorce connotes negativity and should be abhorred and it is good that government was doing something to stem the tide because rampant divorce dents image of the state. In any case, the study he conducted showed that prevailing poverty in the society happens to be the major cause of rampant divorce which the ancient city has been contending with and cautioned, that while the state government and HISBAH initiative should be supported, a lot more needs to be done in the area of poverty eradication.
The lecturer recalled that when Nigeria got its independence, only 15 per cent of Nigerians were experiencing absolute poverty, but 50 years after independence, the reverse is now the case, that is, 85 per cent of Nigerians are now battling abject poverty.
Adding that, this problem among others are direct result of poverty which successive governments in the country have treated with kid's glove and now it is becoming a monster.
He suggested other ways which he thinks government should adopt in reducing rampant cases of divorce. In his opinion, people especially young adults should enter into marriage contract with knowledge of what marriage is all about. Also, educating potential couples prior to tying the knot would give them an idea of what marriage is all about and not the way we see it these days where most of them go into marriage without any knowledge of what it is all about.
