There is a man in Uganda with a dozen wives. He has 102 children and 568 grandchildren. All of them are still living in the same compound. The man’s name is Musa Hasahya Kasera. There was also a man named Muhammadu Bello Abubakar Masaba. He was a Muslim cleric in Bida, Niger State, Nigeria. He married 120 wives, out of whom he divorced 10. He was then left with just 110 wives to himself. Masaba fathered 203 children and when he died in 2017 at the age of 93, some of his wives were pregnant. There was also a man called Alloys Nweke. Honourable Nweke was a member of the 4th Rivers State House of Assembly. By Nigerian standards, he was a successful politician. He represented Etche Constituency II from 1999 to 2003 in the Assembly. He told how his father had so many wives and children that their community was referred to as Umunweke (literally the children of Nweke). Professor Don Baridam was a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt. He told a story similar to that of the honourable Alloys Nweke. Prof. Baridam said his father identified some of his numerous children through their answer to the question: What is the name of your own mother? That should remind some people of a certain popular billionaire, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola.
Each of those people was the champion of their respective eras. They reigned and flourished when they could. Today, the current champion is in Ebonyi State. He is Ezekiel Nwifuru Nwankpu. He has only 30 wives and the number of his children was put at 108. As it is with such a less understood and less travelled way of life, Nwifuru›s was reported to have also stirred so many heads in his community. In addition to the looks and the squirms, Nwankpu also reportedly curried so much disdain among those who do not understand his mega-polygamous way of life.
Ezekiel Nwifuru now has two jewels on his crown. He was recently crowned the traditional ruler of his native Oferekpe Agbaja Autonomous Community in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. Secondly, the man who conferred the traditional title on Eze Ezekiel Nwifuru, and handed him the symbol of authority as the number one citizen of the state, Governor Francis Nwifuru, his son.
Culture, tradition and religion raced unfettered through my head as I read the story of Eze Ezekiel Nwifuru Nwankpu. My thoughts went beyond the fact that today, one of his sons is the governor of Ebonyi State, and that he is atop the traditional pecking order of his town as its traditional ruler. Culture, tradition and persona have a lot to do with the way of life he had chosen, but there might be more. What exactly is at the root of marriage to so many women? Could it simply be for companionship or the fulfilment of desires, or both? Could it be for balance?
One of the most talented Yoruba language rappers is a man named Sodiq Abubakar Yusuf by his parents. He has renamed himself, and is now known as CDQ. In a song entitled ‹Soft› which he did with Mr. Eazi, he sang about his woman whom he said gives him “balance like the front tyre of the Keke Marwa (tricycle).” It would of course be the common thought that Governor Nwifuru would easily be assumed to be like the front tyre of a Keke Marwa or Keke NAPEP (tricycle) in the Eze Nwifuru’s nascent dynasty. Governor Nwifuru, to all of us watching from the outside, would presumably be the backbone of what we have come to know about his father and his family. But, this should not be the case because the senior Nwifuru, from the things said about him by his son, is the marsh which was already sodden even before the rain fell.
The position by the younger Nwifuru has answered some of the frequently asked questions. It has also explained the contention of CDQ in the issue. Ezeogo Nwifuru needed his women to serve as his Keke’s front tyre, and from the postulations of his only son who has spoken so far, their family is not like that of Oloye Ajere in the epic Yoruba TV series: Bata Wahala. In Bata Wahala (Troublous Shoes) the man married seven wives of different hues and lived on the edge daily with their hues of troubles. Oloye Ajere the husband, who is wearing the troublous shoes, has not got not as many wives as Eze Nwifuru yet the Eze is said to be a loving husband and father. However, the wives, according to the junior Nwifuru, are the ones responsible for the education of their children.
Ezeogo Nwifuru’s life, in its interesting twists and turns, needs a look-in and his illustrious son from his fourth wife, gave sketchy illustrations of what it was before now. He told the audience at his father›s coronation so much without saying much. He said his family suffered rejection, intimidation and molestation from their own people, so much that they killed his uncle in the village square and confiscated their land on which the primary school which hosted his father’s coronation – Oferekpe Agbaja Primary School II was held. Governor Nwifuru was quoted by a report to have said his father was “humiliated by his relatives, neighbours and the entire community as he was excelling above his equals due to his prospering farming business.” The report quoted Governor Nwifuru further: “It was the villagers› maltreatment and intimidation that isolated his father. This led him into marrying many wives for companionship and help in the pursuit of his dreams as a wealthy farmer.” The wives were 30 in all, he added but said some of them left the marriage because of childlessness, and that the king now has just 17 queens in his palace.
The stories of the other mega-women men are not traditionally rooted in their wealth. Not many of them were derived from the life of their successful sons or daughters either. Nwifuru’s is different. His son is a one-man pool of power, authority, influence and wealth through whom their father has become a celebrity. The governor will have a lot of cousins, nephews, nieces, acquaintances and innumerable ‘friends of the governor’s brother or sister’. Then think of the potential number of in-laws the Nwifurus would have. There would be favourites, shuffles and other such family feuds. Is this wealth or not? When it is agreed that your humans provide better cover than the duvet? Kasera the Ugandan maestro is already crying under the weight of economic crunch and has voiced his inability to conveniently cater for members of the vast enclave he has created.
The case of the Nwifuru family might be different. The others do not have what the family has: a governor. With the governor’s influence and clout, there might not be a noticeable relapse of the family into the unsubstantiated ugly situation he said his father came from. They would also not ordinarily lack money. Yes, a state governor in Nigeria is that powerful and influential. How much the influence and power of Francis Nwifuru reflects on his 107 siblings is another kettle of fish.
That Ezeogo Nwifuru clambered to the pinnacle of his town by becoming the king must have a basis. Francis said his father was a successful and wealthy farmer. When you are enthroned as a king, you are expected to cease from seeking divination for good fortune. So, this coronation as the Ezeogo of Oferekpe Agbaja Autonomous community should be music to the ears of Eze Ezekiel Nwifuru. It should also sound sweet to the ears of members of his immediate massive family who suffered what Governor Nwifuru described, and his admirers. His uncle who was murdered in the village square must have something to be remembered for too.
But to those people who persecuted, maltreated, humiliated, hounded and tortured the Nwifurus, and had called them names and described their father in chauvinistic diatribes, this might be one royal dynasty they would wish never came to be.
and then