CHIJIOKE IREMEKA FROM THE GUARDIAN
Despite institutional and individual efforts at reducing the cost of traditional marriage rites in some parts of the South East geo-political zone, especially Imo State, to foster timely marriage among young men and women of marriageable ages in the region, the desired result has remained a mirage; no thanks to greedy parents and kinsmen who see marriage as transactional instead of cultural relationship between the families involved. CHIJIOKE IREMEKA writes about the noiseless protests of young women in Igbo land who are questioning the situation that reduces them to mere objects in the hands of their husbands.
Recently, a story of a young man from Bayelsa State, Biobelemoye David, who abandoned her fiancée during the marriage rites in her community in Imo State when what happened during the ceremony was considered as extortion by the kinsmen of her wife to be, went viral on social media.
Biobelemoye walked out on his fiancée and her people due to his alleged extortion.
According to the report, he was made to pay N1.5million to cater for food and hiring of tents, chairs and a public address system cum musical sound system. He was also made to set aside N100, 000 as the bride price, which the both families had agreed upon.
It was also learnt that Biobelemoye was coerced to add N50, 000 to the bride price (totaling N150, 000) as a penalty for putting the bride in a family way before officially asking for her hand in marriage, and was further fined N10, 000 for making a diversion to the wrong path and ending up in a different homestead instead of the bride’s.
Biobelemoye was also asked to pay N15, 000 to appease the elders who were said to have become tired of waiting for his arrival. The young man was said to have started losing his well-stretched temper when the whole scenario started, especially when he was fined N15, 000 thrice for unveiling wrong ladies instead of his bride. Twelve ladies were covered in loose robes from head to the toe and were paraded before Biobelemoye, who was asked to unveil his fiancée, but uncovered the wrong person.
He finally lost his temper when the elders demanded for a refund of the N850, 000 meant to be the amount spent as the bride’s school fees and upkeep since she started primary school. […]
