[b]Right groups mobilise 86 lawyers for man with 86 wives[/b]

IN a humorous and dramatic play on number, a coalition of Nigerian human rights groups has said it has mobilised 86 lawyers to defend the man with 86 wives who is currently being detained for unlawful marriages.



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A human rights activist and playwright Shehu Sani said: "The coalition of 27 human rights groups in the north has mobilised 86 lawyers to defend Bello Masaba against the charges brought against him and the threat of banishment."

Sani who spoke yesterday in an interview said: "It is our determination to protect his fundamental human rights as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution and international law."

Sani, the director of Civil Rights Congress, a rights group based in Kaduna is a member of the coalition.

He said the identities of the defence lawyers would not be disclosed for fear of blackmail and intimidation, adding that the coalition "will go to any length to defend Masaba whom we believe is a political prisoner and prisoner of conscience."

Masaba, 84, was whisked away from his home town Bidda in Niger State by police and arraigned before an Upper Sharia court in the state capital Minna "for incendiary contempt of religious laws and contracting unlawful marriage to 86 wives", a court clerk told AFP.

Masaba came to the limelight two months ago when he admitted in the media to having 86 wives and 170 children, insisting that his marriages did not contravene Islam which allows a man to get married to up to four wives.

The news attracted sharp criticism and indignation from all over the north, particularly from Islamic clerics, with the Jama'atu Nasril Islam (JNI), the Nigerian Muslim umbrella body slamming a fatwa or death sentence on Masaba.

Two weeks ago, Masama agreed to divorce 82 of the wives and keep four, the maximum Islam allows, following a two-day ultimatum issued to him by the influential traditional chief of Bidda to either choose four of the 86 wives or leave the town.

"The choice of 86 lawyers is deliberate. For each wife, Masaba will have a lawyer," Sani said.


http://odili.net/news/source/2008/sep/18/24.html

poor guy .

lets see how it unravels

First I don't support polygamy because of the way children are being wasted. The parents, especially the fathers often get away with their carelessness while the mothers suffer to raise the kids.

Second, I am the nature of this case is delicate. And in truth, only Shariah court can adjudicate upon it. Human right groups are blind in their assumption that that the man is being victimise. All in all, the case does not attract capital punishment. In fact, the right groups are misplacing their priority. Many people are in jails standing trial for offence they never committed. Most of them forgotten in maximum security prisons. Condemned to death. Sadly, the right groups were just talking on newspapers instead of helping them.

Here is a man who committed what many of the right groups detested. An offence that is purely religious in nature and delicate, even in that religion. And then, the right groups are out to ensure the case is killed.

There were indication that Masaba charmed his victims before marrying them. There is a fact that his forthy something wife is related to the Emir. And many more.

While we should not condemn the man for being a moses who "hears" from God, we must be wary of encouraging "evil" to promote "Good".

I personally am keen to know the outcome of this case. It is a classical study for those of us that know little about the polygamy laws