Alhaji Bello Masaba: When they wanted to conduct the registration exercise, INEC officials said they will bring a registration centre here. By the time the exercise commenced on the 21st we expected them but they failed to fulfill their promise.
When we inquired about the promise, INEC made to bring the registration centre to our place, there was no response. After two weeks, we inquired again because time was running out. They said they will make provision. Seven days to the end of the exercise, they wrote to inform us that they cannot do anything about the new centre since our request was not submitted earlier.
The INEC commissioner stated that they had no right to provide us with the voter’s registration machines or a registration unit unless they get directives from Abuja. He told us that he had to write to the head office but they also turned down the request on the grounds of late submission of application. INEC told us that if only they knew that there were a lot of people living with me, they would have made available a polling unit on my premises.
WT: Do you have problems with your neighbours or family members?
Masaba: I think that my life is under threat, especially with people within my own family and persons in leadership positions in the emirate council in Bida. Already they have threatened to disown me from the Masaba royal family, that I am not one of them.
What they are not telling the world is that I belong to the royal home of Masaba and as such, I am entitled to be accorded that respect and not to be dragged to the mud as one who does not know his family background.
It is in an effort to actualise their threats that they started to make trouble, claiming that since I am not a member of the Masaba family, I should not be allowed to register at the ward, insisting they will deal ruthlessly with anybody from my family who comes near the place. To implement their threats, they beat up my wives when they presented themselves for registration for no reasons and as a law-abiding citizen of Nigeria. I have not done any wrong to deserve such treatment.
WT: But your family members will not just rise against you without reason. Do you recall having any face-off with them at any point?
Masaba: Yes, in August 2008, my relatives began to complain that I have married so many wives exceeding the normal four wives required of a Muslim and asked me to divorce most, leaving only four. Following the call that I divorce eighty-two out of my eighty-six wives, I refused based on the fact that looking at the Qur’an and the Nigerian constitution, and I did not find any point where it is written that I cannot marry more than four wives. The issue became so serious that it was brought before the Emir of Bida, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar who did not handle it properly.
WT: When was it that you were banished from Bida?
Masaba: I was summarily banished by the Etsu Nupe who had already tried me even before hearing from me. After that, I decided to take my case to the High Court to get justice.
I have always had a wonderful relationship with the Emir until they decided to make trouble with me for marrying eighty-six wives. I even married his niece before the quarrel. He later ordered her to divorce me, so when she presented the letter of divorce to me, I duly signed it and set her free according to the wishes of her uncle.
WT: What was your relationship with the Emir before the on-going fracas?
Masaba: We had earlier in the past enjoyed an excellent relationship, even before he passed out of the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1977. This relationship continued even at the time he wanted to become Emir. I cannot explain how the relationship went sour but the problem did not come from me.
WT: How many children do you presently have?
Masaba: I thank God for his mercies, as he has blessed me with 130 children. It is God who takes care of us all, as He is responsible for the provision of money, clothing and finance to run certain expenses in the household. I cannot tell you how much I am spending on my family on a daily basis as I have no records or have no reason to quantify God’s blessings by tabulating them.
WT: Since you are alleging threats to your life, what have you done about them?
Masaba: When the INEC issues started, I called the Police Area Commander to intimate him of my plight but he did not respond. I reported that people are beating up my family members and he never mediated properly. I have asked my lawyer to write a statement insisting that the right thing be done and those behind the disturbance are addressed according to the law.
The police pleaded that the issue will not occur again, pledging that they will provide me with security, as they gave me eight police officers to protect members of my family.
But shortly after the policemen who were supposed to protect me left the scene, hoodlums beat up my wives and other family members.
weekly Trust
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