PA MASABA BIDA: STRETCHES POLYGAMOUS TO ITS LIMIT... 86 WIVES AND 170 CHILDREN

 Pa Muhammadu Bello Abubakar Masaba Bida,aka Muhammadu Bello Masaba, 90, a Nigerian man who stirred up controversy in his hometown of Bida, Niger State, when he married 86 wives, and fathered 170 children.  This Islamic scholars stretches polygamous to its limit, according to Islamic teaching,  a Muslim man can marry up  to four wives, mandating they must be all treated equally.

 "If God permits me, I will marry more than 86 wives. A normal human being could not marry 86 – but I can only by the grace of God," a defiant Bello Masaba told The Christian Science Monitor during a recent prison interview. "I married 86 women and there is peace in the house – if there is peace, how can this be wrong?"  Pa Masaba boasted.

Bello who formerly worked as a teacher and Imam  lived with his family in an entire apartment block. Bello claims that he never pursued his wives, and claims that they sought him out due to his reputation as a healer. In interviews with Al Jazeera English, one of his wives, who  claimed to be the 3rd wife said, her husband  was a good husband and father.

After the death pronouncement on Masaba by an Islamic group, Jama'atu Nasiru-l Islam (JNI), the Bida Emirate Council and an assembly of Islamic leaders invited him (Masaba) for interrogation. At the end of their deliberations in Etsu Nupe's palace Bida, a verdict was read out by the Etsu Nupe of Bida himself, Alhaji Yahya Abubakar, that Masaba should divorce 82 out of the 86 wives within 48 hours or leave the entire Nupe Kingdom as his safety could not be guaranteed within the kingdom. However,at the expiration of the ultimatum, Pa Masaba refused to divorce any of his wives and denied ever promising to do so.

Despite this, Bello was arrested in late 2008 by Islamic authorities and tried before a Shariacourt. Before his trial at the Sharia court, Police in Niger State gave the super polygamist of Bida a clean bill, as the state command declared that nothing incriminating was found in the house of the controversial husband of 86 wives. The leader of the police team that arrested the Islamic cleric in Bida in the wee hours of that penultimate Monday before 27 September 2008,

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr John Olayemi declared:
"We found nothing incriminating in his house. There was no knife, no pistol or skull in his house when we went to invite him to the headquarters for a chat."

But when asked why the police went ahead to arrest Masaba, the police Boss explained that the command only acted on an instrument of Upper Sharia Court.
While in detention in Minna Prison, an Upper Sharia Court Judge in Minna, Alhaji Abdulmalik Imam, on 6 October 2008 transferred the case of Masaba to a Chief Magistrate's Court in Minna after admitting lacking jurisdiction but Masaba was still remanded in prison custody at the instance of the Sharia Court.

Following the case, Bello advised other men not to follow his example:
"A man with ten wives would collapse and die, but my own power is given by Allah. That is why I have been able to control 86 of them," he told the BBC.

Afterwards, on 12 November 2008, a Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja ordered the release of Masaba from detention in Minna Prison with immediate effect. The trial high court judge, Justice G.O. Kolawole attached no condition to his release. The judge also ordered the then Inspector General of Police, Mr Mike Okiro, to ensure the protection of Masaba's fundamental rights to life, liberty and privacy, as enshrined in the 1999 constitution of Nigeria, through theNiger State Commissioner of Police. Then, Masaba returned to his hometown, Bida, on 13 November 2008.
Contrary to some media reports, that Masaba divorced 82 out of his 86 wives, he refused to divorce any of his wives and denied ever agreeing to such.

In July 2011, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, the governor of Niger State, justified the position of Masaba's refusal to divorce any of his wives when he was quoted, "though we have Sharia in place in the state, but we have no law to pin him (Masaba) down".

The Speaker of Niger State House of Assembly, Barrister Adamu Usman, disclosed that various attempts to prosecute Masaba ran into hitches because there was no provision in the law of the state to effect his prosecution.

Barrister Adamu Usman ,Niger state Attorney General said:
"As Attorney General then I personally appeared before Sharia court, Minna, as prosecutor to prosecute the man but later discovered that Sharia courts in Niger State cannot deal with the case. No provision made in Penal code C.P.C or sharia administration of Justice law to deal with such cases."

Alhaji Muhammadu Bello Abubakar Masaba Bida, who is living peacefully as a law-abiding citizen of Nigeria in his hometown, Bida,said rhetorically that: "Large number of wives? I only have 97 wives. I am still going to marry more. I will keep marrying them for as long I am alive. Whoever is fighting me because of my wives or love life, such an individual has missed it. Left for me, I would have married maybe two wives, but what I am doing is divine. It is an assignment and I will keep marrying till the end of time. I just want to advise those fighting against the number of my wives to stop because such people are waging war against God, their creator.”

(Additional Story: Wikipedia)

NB: As far as am concern, this gentleman is a law abiding citizen, he never breach any law of the land, and hence he is enjoying his fundamental human right, period.

POLICE INSPECTOR DIES WHILE FIGHTING HIS WIFE

Inspector Danjuma Daniel, on Thursday afternoon died during a fight with his wife. It was gather that the scuffle between Daniel and his wife got so physical that the couple fell from the balcony of their apartment ─ a two-storey building at the Ijeh Police Barracks, Obalende, Lagos.

The police inspector’s wife, identified simply as Ada, had lived in the barracks for about 10 years, sustained grave injuries from the fall.

It was further gathered that when they were rushed to a nearby hospital, Daniel was said to have been confirmed dead by the medical personnel, while the wife was admitted for treatment.

 Emmanuel, 17, their first son said he was informed about his father’s death on the telephone. He explained that he was staying with an uncle in the Mile 2 area of the state.

He said, “I don’t know what could have caused the fight. I was not at home. Dad and mum have lived in this barracks for about 10 years now.

“We were formerly staying in Nasarawa State where dad initially served. In Lagos, I don’t stay with them, but my two sisters do. Mum has returned from the hospital, and she is back home now, but she cannot talk to anyone for now.”

However, it was learnt from a resident that Daniel, an Eggon man from Nasarawa State, had had clashes with his wife before but the fight on Thursday turned ugly and led to their falling off from the two-storey building.

PASTOR MICHAEL SHOBOWALE ADVISED CHRISTIANS TO RETURN TO THEIR CREATOR

''And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God that hath dealt wondrously with you; and my people shall never be ashamed'' (Joel 2:25 &26). These are the prophesy messages the man of God based his sermon on.

Pastor Michael Shobowale, in his sermon at the 12th Adult harvest / thanksgiving service of Covenant Parish, Celestial Church of Christ, Belgium  on Sunday 31st August 2014,urged the Christians all over the world to come together; wake-up from slumber, shake off the bad habits in them and pray for forgiveness of sins, so as to receive the blessing of God.

''The coming together of the churches is here now, all the members will come back to their LORD, that is the will of God.'' He said.

The man of God tongue lashed the ‘so called man of God’ that open-up parishes just because of unemployment or quarrelling  among their fold must desist from this act, he said ‘’this is foolishness, you don’t try to open a church when God is yet to call you.’’  

The Celestial leader, advised the Shepherds of Celestial Church worldwide to be spiritual in whatever they do in the church, to keep laws and tenets of the Celestial Church of Christ. He also urged the elders to be law abiding and respect each other so that their followers will emulate them, this is the will of God he said.

‘Shepherds must not do things on their own but must work in accordance with the words of God’, he quoted John.5:19 to buttressed his point thus: .’’...Verily, Verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do; for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise’’

NUHU RIBADU CLEARED TO TAKE PART IN PDP GOVERNORSHIP IN ADAMAWA STATE

The Governorship Screening Panel of the Peoples Democratic Party has cleared Nuhu Ribadu and twelve others while the Acting Governor of Adamawa State, Umar Fintiri, disqualified was from taking part in the forthcoming governorship primary which holds in Yola on September 6.

The Chairman of the screening panel, Sen. Ibrahim Mantu, in company with other members of the committee, said Fintiri was disqualified because of Section 191 (2), which he claimed did not allow an acting governor to transmit from that position to become a substantive governor.
He said, “Thirteen aspirants were cleared while one was disqualified. He was found to have fallen short of the guideline set by the party.

“Fintiri was not cleared because of Section 191(2) which does not allow him to transmit from acting capacity to the position of the governor.”
Section 191 (1) of the constitution reads, “The deputy governor of a state shall hold the office of governor of the state, if the office of Governor becomes vacant by reason of death, resignation, impeachment, permanent incapacity or removal of the governor from office for any other reason in accordance with section 188 or 189 of this constitution.

“(2) Where any vacancy occurs in the circumstances mentioned in subsection (1) of this section during a period when the office of deputy governor of the state is also vacant, the speaker of the House of Assembly of the state shall hold the office of governor of the state for a period of not more than three months, during which there shall be an election of a new governor of the state who shall hold office for the unexpired term of office of the last holder of the office.

“(3) Where the office of the deputy governor becomes vacant -
(a) by reason of death, resignation, impeachment, permanent incapacity or removal in accordance with section 188 or 189 of this Constitution;”

Mantu listed those who were cleared by his committee as a three-time gubernatorial aspirant, Dr. Umar Ardo; former Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu; Senator Abubakar Girei; former Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak; a former Military Administrator of Lagos and Borno states, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.); and a former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Aliyu Idi- Hong.

Nuhu Ribadu in his own statement after the clearance said, “I pray to God that for the good of the country; for the good people of Adamawa, what is going on today is probably a turning point and a change that is coming in Adamawa State and Nigeria.”

KISA GBEKLE :OFFER AN APOLOGY TO HER FANS FOR POSTING NUDE PICTURE

Kisa Gbekle,actress cum singer; Ghanaians’ ‘Maheeda’ who derives joy in exposing her body at random,  has vowed  to dump the dirty habit. She made the promise on her facebook page, apologising for posting her semi-nude and sexually suggestive photos on some social media platforms.

“Never again will I be a bad girl. I promise on my honor to be faithful and loyal to my people. No more bad pics .She wrote on facebook.

The actress-turned-musician, who is in her twenties, recently made headlines with her semi-nude photos in public domain. She attempted to offer explanations to justify the photos by comparing them to the ones posted by world acclaimed star, Rihanna.

Kisa had argued by then that if the Ghanaian entertainment media had no problems with semi-nude photos of American singer, Rihanna, then she had every right to take same photos and publish them without offending the media. Her explanation to justify the photos received serious attack from her fans!

Hence, she took to social media to apologise for publishing her half-naked photos and promised she would henceforth “be of a good behaviour.”

CRIME: GUY WHO CLAIMED HE GRADUATED FROM YAHOO TO ROBBERY

Ogun State Police Command, Special Anti Robbery Squad, has smashed armed robbery gang that using ‘’ hit from the rear by a motorcycle ‘’method to rob their victims. Their modus oprandi is that , they will hit you with their motorcycle from the back, once you alight to check the damages done to your vehicle or exchange words with them they attacked..

It was gathered that the armed gang stormed Agbara area of Ogun state last month, where they blocked their victim who slowed down on reaching a bad spot, with their operational motorcycle. They thereafter, ordered the fear stricken motorist to get down from the vehicle, pointing a gun at him and thereafter zoomed off with the Toyota Camry car.  Barely had they driven off than the vehicle reportedly stopped. While they were contemplating on the next move, a team of policemen reportedly stormed on them.

Three of them were said to have fled into the bush, leaving their partner in crime, Olalekan at the mercy of the policemen. Olalekan’s confessional statement reportedly led to the arrest of other members of the gang, including car dealer who resides in Ejigbo area of Lagos, who was alleged to be one of the gang’s receivers. Also, some stolen vehicles were reportedly recovered in his showroom at Abule-Egba area of Lagos.

The suspects identified as Isiaka Olalekan, Kazeem Abiodun, Rafiu Ojolowo and Ife, however, blamed their indulgence on unemployment. One of them, 24 year-old Abiodun, a Nigeria Certificate in Education, NCE holder, claimed that he had to join the ogboni confraternity in his frantic search for money but never had his desire met .

 Kazeem Abiodun, 25, who hails from Otto -Awori , Ojo Lagos said:: “ I am an NCE holder from Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education , Ijanikin, Lagos. I graduated in year 2011. I had several jobs but made no headway. I had to join Ogboni confraternity out of frustration. Yet, I did not make any headway.

‘I started with snatching handbags at bus-stops, from where I met Rafiu Ojolowo. Our major place of operation was Agabra bus-stop. We were into that until we met Isiaka who introduced us to real robbery where we used arms. I was given a pistol while Rafiu rode the okada”.

‘I graduated from yahoo to robbery. “I am a secondary school drop -out. I have tried my hands on many menial jobs without being able to feed myself. Several times, my family have suggested I got married. But no woman wanted to marry me because I have no money. I learnt tiling but could not get money to start a business of my own. I ventured into internet fraud . But because I am not educated, I could not make anything reasonable out of it.

Along the line, I met Ife who introduced me into robbery . I learnt how to snatch cars from where they were parked, using a metal key. Our choice car then was Toyota Camry because it is easy and faster to sell.

Anytime we succeeded in moving the vehicles from where they were packed, my job would be to drive them down to Lagos, from where we would hand them over to Major , our receiver. We were initially taking it to Alhaji Balogun who has a showroom, before we switched to ‘Major’ who paid higher. For every car I took to Major, I got N10,000 to N50,000, depending on the model. Isiaka said

NUHU RIBADU: WHY I WANT TO CONTEST THE GOVERNORSHIP PRIMARY

Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, former presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria and former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, has explained why he abandoned his presidential ambition to contest the governorship primary of the Peoples Democratic Party for the Adamawa State governorship poll.

Ribadu, said, “Everything in my life has been about public service. I’m prepared to serve in any capacity. “If you ask me to come and be a sweeper of any street in any part of the country, I’m ready to do that. I don’t even have power of my own in any part.”

He went further to say that:”I am not worried about the waiver. I have followed the rules. I am a law and order person. I have done my own bit and I will wait for the party to do their own. That part is not my responsibility,”

However, under the constitution of the party, new members and returnees are not qualified to seek elective positions until after two years, except they get a waiver.

Section 50 (9) of the PDP constitution says, “There shall be a minimum of two year membership span for a member to be eligible to stand for election into any public office, unless the appropriate executive committee gives a waiver or rules to the contrary.”

Meanwhile, other aspirants which included the former Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission, Alhaji Mohammed Modibbo; Acting Governor of the state, Ahmed Fintiri; former Presidential Adviser, Ahmed Gulak; and the former ACN governorship candidate in the state, Mr. Marcus Gundiri, former Lagos State Military Administrator, Buba Marwa; Dr. Umar Ardo, Senator Ahmed Girei, Gen. A.A.Kana (retd.), Awwal Tukur and Aliyu Idi-Hong .