Ordinarily, men take certain actions that defy reason and logic; but
the man who argues that he has God on his side while embarking on the
weirdest of actions is the man to watch. Yesterday, the BBC carried a
piece of news that caused me considerable discomfort- Bello Masaba from
Bida in Niger State who is already “married” to some eighty-something
wives is planning to take the count to a hundred. His argument remains
that Allah told him in a dream to do so.
Again, ordinarily I would dismiss this Imam as a raving lunatic, but
when a man clings on to serious claims relating to a Divine plot, I
can’t help but get worried. According to Mr. Masaba, “a man with 10
wives would collapse and die, but my own power is given by
Allah”-really? As I always make clear, it would be wrong and impertinent
of me to doubt any man’s claims to having an unfettered access to God’s
court in his quest for salvation; however I will make haste to delve
into the morality of such claims as it affects the wider society of our
primate. I view Masaba’s claims as a sinful attempt to stretch the cords
of hyperbole a bit too far; it is a clear testimony that men with the
connivance of religion still treat women as chattels. This is immoral.
The male ego to me remains one of the most striking proofs that
religion is man-made. Across all religions of the world, we see coy
machinations introduced by deluded men to keep women perpetually
quartered as things to be possessed and romped with glee. I am yet to
see any religion that treats women as being in the same pedestal as men;
in Christianity, there is still that debate especially amongst the
traditional ones [Catholic and Anglican] on the roles of women. Islam
stands out as the religion that amongst other unsound practices treats
women as specie to be partially seen and not heard at all. This explains
why women of the Islamic faith are mandated to cover up always not
minding the vicious dictates of the weather, this is why countries like
Saudi Arabia forbids women from driving!
The male ego remains a part of us we males would rather not ditch
despite our achievements in many fields of human endeavors. Our African
society uses many obnoxious ploys to continue the practice of enslaving
women and denying them that right to an egalitarian existence. So many
traditional practices formulated by our stone-age ancestors are still
being used today by modern day Nigerians to relegate women to the
background. I may find it in my heart to pardon some of the excesses of
our traditional practices by arguing that they remain a dying part of
our dark and primitive past, but what do you say about the
institutionalized inferior status which our modern day religions have
assigned to our women? As primates, we are in an eternal pursuit of
excellence even though our achievements remains marred by
time-constraints; it makes one sad that the foreign religions calling
the shots in Nigeria remain culprits in the sin of enslaving women.
It is on this note that I find it somewhat comical that the Muslim
clerics that are engaging Bello Masaba only disagrees with him on the
number of women a man can keep as wives-Masaba is claiming that Islam
does not make it a “sin” to marry more than four wives whereas the
clerics are pointing out that it was only Prophet Mohammed that had the
right to marry more than four wives. Is this not a case of men being
allowed to decide on how best to demonstrate their randy nature while
cherishing their primitive acquisition tendency? Why does any sane man
need more than one wife if not immotarlize that “variety is the spice of
life” saying? To take the case of the mundane nature of religion a step
further, we observe with some tinge of shame that even the Christian
Bible treats women with scorn- it stipulates when a man can divorce his
wife but is conveniently silent on when a woman can divorce her husband.
Religion is really the handiwork of some smart men at work. There must
be something in we males that pushes us to go the extra mile to amass as
much property as possible [especially women] while being stern in
matters that would someday call us to give an account of our actions
[like evading the EFCC].
The BBC news item on Bello Masaba ended on a comical note-some of the
wives of that randy old hand took turns to debunk those suggestions
that there could be some strong dose of rancor amongst them. Without any
trace of shame, they all echoed that Masaba makes use of an unwritten
time-table in consorting with them; this keeps mischief at bay while
giving each and every one of them a periodic feeling of being
consummated. To the glory of men and their tall ego, there are millions
of women in the mold of Mr. Masaba’s harem who have been seduced by
societal dictates [skillfully designed by men] to accept a life of
mediocre existence; needless, to point out that women in Africa and
elsewhere appear to be engaged in a deadly game of “self-destruct”.
Summarily, while saluting the monstrous energy and stamina of Mr.
Masaba and his ilk, I find it too curious that his God chose to
demonstrate some sense of humour in endowing him thus. “Allah gives me
the strength…” is a wonderful boast which I am sure many randy men will
be wishing to be making in this regard too. Well, women should once
again come together in another “Beijing Conference” type and start
formulating their own plots too- maybe then, we will start seeing lovely
cases of women being able to marry up to four husbands and an
occasional burst of a deranged female specie shouting that God enjoined
her to marry up to a hundred husbands. Until such a time comes, there
will remain randy lunatics like Bello Masaba and similar buffoons armed
with some religious creeds and warped ideas rubbishing women and all
that they stand for.
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