bukatyne:



Whether legal or not,

I am satisfied with my baby

HFOG:

Na government laws we dey live by?

LordReed:


LoL, just answer na.

Ozin:

By Davidson Iriekpen and Jaiyeola Andrews

You want to marry two or more wives? You can relocate to Lagos State to fulfil your heart’s desire as bigamy is no longer a criminal offence there. There is no chance that you would be jailed again.

THISDAY can report today that the state House of Assembly has silently amended the Lagos State Criminal Code and expunged bigamy from its statutes.

When next the clerk tells you at the Marriage Registry that you risk seven years in jail if you get married to someone else, you can smile and tell her she’s behind the news.

The old Criminal Code of Lagos State Cap C17, section 370 stated: “Any person who having a husband or a wife leaving, marries in any case in which such marriage is void by reason of its taking place during the life of such husband or wife is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.

“This section does not extend to any person whose marriage with such husband or wife has been dissolved or declared void by court of competent jurisdiction, nor to any person who contracts a marriage during the life of a former husband of wife, if such husband or wife, at the time of the subsequent marriage, shall have been absent from such person for the space of seven years and shall not have been heard of by such person as being alive within that time.”

The state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeola Ipaye, confirmed the development, saying the old law was no longer useful.

Ipaye said it became necessary to remove bigamy because the state government found out that there was no need to criminalise the offence.

He nevertheless said bigamy would now be treated as a civil offence and such a marriage would simply be dissolved without any criminal proceedings being instituted against the offender.

Ipaye did not however say under what law such marriage would be dissolved since bigamy, technically, no longer exists and there is no prescription for remedy.

“Yes, bigamy was expunged from the amended criminal code. It was necessitated by the need to decriminalise it. What this means is that it is no longer a criminal offence when a man or woman who is legally married to contract another marriage. Instead, the marriage remains null and void,” he said.

But speaking to THISDAY last night, a legal practitioner and Chairperson, Women Empowerment & Legal Aid, Mrs Funmi Falana, said the organisation was already in court to challenge the decriminalisation of bigamy.

“In any case, bigamy is still in the federal law. So if Lagos fails to prosecute you, the Federal Government can take it up,” she told THISDAY on phone.

Prof. Konyinsola Ajayi (SAN) said it became necessary for the state to remove bigamy from the criminal code because in the last 40 years, nobody had been charged with the offence.

He said what the lawmakers simply did by removing the act from the law books is to decriminalise the act.

Human rights lawyer Ebun Adegboruwa said if it was true that the state House of Assembly had expunged bigamy from the state criminal code, it was long overdue.

Adegboruwa noted that for over 10 years now, there had been pressure on the state government to expunge the act because it was not enforceable because of the peculiar nature of the Nigerian society.

Bigamy was introduced into the Nigerian law books by the British during the colonisation of the country and Nigeria is not ripe to fully practise the act, he said.

Adegboruwa said: “These days, because of the cost implication of prosecuting divorce and the time it takes, couples prefer to quietly go their separate ways and remarry and this weakened the law and made it ineffective and unenforceable.”

Also, Dr. Joseph Nwobike (SAN) commended the state lawmakers for expunging the act from the state criminal code, saying that since 1914 when the law came into force, it had not recorded any conviction.

He argued that since the law is inconsistent with the country’s values, the best thing to do is to discard it.

Nwobike said though the act is no longer a crime, it is an offence under the Marriage Act which is one of the laws of the federation, but wondered where the offender would be the prosecuted.

Though some Lagos lawmakers chose not to comment on the issue, but a member of the House representing Eti Osa 1 constituency, Hon. Yishawu Gholahan, told THISDAY that “bigamy, to be frank with you, is a way of life among Muslims. There is nothing government can do about it. We should just let it be.”

Nevertheless, bigamy only applied to those who married under the Marriage Act. Those who choose to marry under customary and religious laws are excluded from prosecution.


http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/in-lagos-bigamy-is-no-longer-a-crime/105094/

HFOG:

if I wasn't converted the one I for do for pass polyandry abi wetin dem dey call am?

LordReed:


LoL! Haaa HFOG o! Laugh wan kill me LoL!

HFOG:

You ma know say na true talk I talk. Tk God for salvation

cococandy:
person go run for that WOMAN for this nairaland

EnlightenedSoul:
= Chaos

But really, so long as the participants are fine with whatever their arrangement, it's not my headache.

LordReed:


Why chaos?

EnlightenedSoul:


Most people are territorial, jealous, and needy etc. Even the one who chances to fall in love with two, will want to be the only love of those beloved to him/her.

LordReed:


Exactly, which was why I proposed the thread title.

EnlightenedSoul:


Lol somehow I don't think that'll help matters. Most people also happen to be greedy

LordReed:


Unfortunately true which is why there different forms of polygamous in the first place. More widely known to be the preserve of men but what happens if women also have the right to accumulate multiple spouses? Won't the greediness cancel itself out?

EnlightenedSoul:


Gosh, why not? Sharing is caring, right?

LordReed:


LoL! I don't know if that extends to spouses.

EnlightenedSoul:


What's this? Are you contradicting yourself?

LordReed:


Not at all. I personally don't hold with polygamy but I know others do. I keep wondering if the sharing doesn't get to them.

EnlightenedSoul:


I would imagine that it probably does. For most people, at least.

However, I have two contradictory observations to draw from. There was a polygamous family that lived right across the street from us. Night or day, and almost w/o fail, that house would broadcast the loudest non-stop fighting you could possibly imagine. I think at some point people on the block started expecting the showdowns at a certain time of day. They would expectantly prepare their tea, and sit outside their balconies listening bemusedly, just waiting for it pour out into the street (as it often did).

There was another polygamous man we got to know quite well who used to operate a boat on the Nile. He introduced us to his two wives, and as we got to know them, inevitable questions popped up. They alluded to being in harmony, and they always seemed it.

LordReed:


Yes I know that there would be successful polygamous families but I still worry there is lingering resentment somewhere in that harmony enough to be explosive.

EnlightenedSoul:


Perhaps so. Sometimes it'll show itself in news stories we've all read.

I can't fathom it myself, but then who are we to judge another's choice?

LordReed:


Indeed.

EnlightenedSoul:


Lol are you kinda hoping that the mentality of near the 100+ societies that engaged in polyandry in the past will resurface to wreak havoc on the concept of polygyny?

LordReed:


In a way. Some men are entirely too comfortable with thinking polygyny is a "natural order". If the tables were turned I wonder how they would feel. Would they throw hissy fits like they accuse women of when caught out in multiple relationships? Would they be jealous of their co-husbands? Or would they " man-up" and take it like "champions"? LoL

EnlightenedSoul:


Lolll let's not pretend. I think we all know exactly how the "men are naturally polygamous" crowd would feel.

Do you think men more treacherously jealous than women? I know some who has the crime channel on 24/7, and I honestly can't tell from having watched it.

Check this out tho...

LordReed:


From my experience men take a more "action" filled response to issues like this which isn't much different from the accusations of "hissy fits" leveled against women. Not to even talk of the "damage" to their egos, oh lordy lord, sambarry gon die today! LoL

EnlightenedSoul:


I don't think women are as action-filled as they could be, collectively speaking. And it would seem that quite a few women out there to their detriment also believe the "polygamous by nature" soundbite.

Ahh, the ego. Of course. Well, happy recruiting lol.

LordReed:


LoL @ recruiting.

For the females who believe that sound bite, I don't blame them much. Society has both subtly and overtly drummed it into the subconscious. When I was a kid James Bond was my role model, I loved the suave way he always got the different girls; that is a subtle way of telling men that they were made to be kings of harems. Not until I began to see the pain women felt did I understand. Maybe for the accepting woman there is no pain.

LordReed:


Not until I began to see the pain women felt did I understand.

EnlightenedSoul:


Pain has it's limits. I think some just become dead to it. There was this thread recently wherein a girl asked for suggestions and help on how to "show love". She started off by described the cheating in her first relationship and some similar models she was seeing around her. She then explained that felt withdrawn and cold in her current relationship, and that she's been having difficulty displaying love and emotion to someone she actually "loves". It was eerie because it was the strange title that drew me in, but I quickly realized that it was the same cold withdrawal I felt for so long as a result of a death that devastated me. I felt really sad for her at that point.