•Let Us Tell You Why
+What The Law Says
In Nigeria, we have multiple tribes and diverse religious beliefs, therefore our legal system recognizes different types of marriages. The law that controls marriages is called the Marriage Act.
This Act sets out the different types of Marriages recognized in Nigeria. We will examine these different types of marriages in series so today’s article will be Part one of the Marriage series. We will take a look at what it means to be lawfully married under our Laws. The legality of your marriage may not be a source of concern to you now, but issues such as inheritance, child custody, wills, death and burial, international travel and employment, annuity, right and privileges, divorce, child custody, guardianship and insurance etc. can arise at any time. A Marriage is begun by a process, it is also ended by a process. The legality or otherwise of both processes is too important to be ignored. It is therefore important to ensure that you are indeed married in the eyes of the Nigerian law.
Also I hope this article will clear up the different myths surrounding celebration of marriages in Nigeria. Issues such as whether there is such a thing as a “Legal Wife” or if “Court marriage” is “superior” to the other types of Nigerian marriages will be thoroughly examined.
Now what are the ingredients of a lawful marriage under our laws? If I move in with the LOML (Love of my life) we begin to have beautiful Children over a period of many years, can I refer to him as my Husband? Can I just get pregnant and move in with the father of the baby and claim we are married? Does the naming ceremony where we picked Aso-ebi from kota in Lagos Island, and got featured in City People stand as a Marriage? Am I as a Man allowed to marry more than one wife? Can I as a man decide to marry another man?
Let’s get right to it. For starters, Our Marriage Act recognizes ONLY two types of marriages, and these are: (1) Customary Marriage (Includes Islamic and Traditional Marriage)
(2) Statutory Marriage; i.e. Marriage under the Act or what we popularly refer to as Court/ Registry Marriage and Marriages celebrated in a LICENSED place of celebration
CUSTOMARY MARRIAGE
Like I mentioned earlier, we have various ethnic communities in Nigeria with their own marriage customs. However, a valid and lawful Customary Marriage must follow these essentials rules These rules generally cut across most Nigerian ethnic groups.
(1) BETROTHAL
This is the formal engagement of the prospective bride and groom. It is what we typically refer to as “Introduction and Engagement. The essence of this ceremony is to get both families acquainted with each other, Yorubas call it “momi nmo e” literally know me, i know you. At the betrothal, matters like the bride price, the bride list issued, and even the wedding dates are discussed.
(2) PAYMENT OF BRIDE PRICE
Payment of bride price by the groom to the Bride and her family is a key ingredient to sealing a customary marriage. Although in recent times, some parents of the bride reject bride pride, but it must be offered nonetheless. Bride price is whatever the bride’s family asks from the groom’s family. They can even ask for a Cowrie.
(3) CONSENT OF THE PARTIES AND PARENTS
Parental consent is a MUST for a CU marriage to be valid, the parties also must mutually agree to the marriage. In fact, it is an offence punishable with seven years’ imprisonment to marry off a female person of any age without her consent or against her will. This legislation was supposed to stem the incidence of child marriage, it remains to be seen whether it has worked. Also, it is meant to reduce situations where a woman is married off forcefully against her will. This used to happen a lot in the olden days.
(4) SOLEMNIZATION OF THE MARRIAGE
A customary marriage under the Yoruba Native Law and Custom for example, is only VALID where the bride is handed over to the bridegroom and his family. Kola must be broken and shared, and libation must be poured in accordance with the custom. The 1985 case of Omoga v. Badejo is instructive on this The Court ruled that the bride must be formally handed to the groom in the presence of both families and their witnesses. The new family must accept her and take her away to her husband’s house, in fact water must be poured on her leg before she enters her new home (Wonderful).
(5) CONSUMMATION OF THE MARRIAGE
Consummation simply means you must have sex with your spouse and it is VERY compulsory, it is what makes the marriage complete. In traditional societies, that night of marriage is highly anticipated by the groom’s family because he (the groom) is expected to show that indeed he won the prize i.e. He met his Wife as a virgin and his pride is intact (How Interesting).
A person married under Customary law CANNOT celebrate another subsequent marriage under the Marriage Act unless you marry that same person you married under customary Law. It is an offence and such parties if found guilty are liable to five years in Prison.
What I mean is you cannot marry A under Customary Law, then marry B at the Registry, the marriage to B is null, void and of no effect, i.e. there is no marriage between the so-called Groom and B. And you will go to Prison See Section 46 of the Marriage Act.
Also, it is an offence for a couple to first marry according to the English law i.e. the Marriage referred to as Court Wedding and then subsequently marry themselves according to the traditional/customary law. Let me break it down
You marry A at the Registry this morning, in the afternoon, you and the same A marry under customary Law. This is illegal and punishable with five years imprisonment as prescribed in section 46 of the Marriage Act.
A lot of couples in a bid to maximise time, minimise cost and avoid waste will do white wedding in the Morning, then Traditional in the Afternoon, this is ILLEGAL and IS a punishable offence.
The proper and legitimate way to marry is to first celebrate a customary marriage and if you so wish, follow it up with the Court Marriage, this is LEGAL.
Please note also Customary Law is largely polygamous meaning that one man marrying under Customary law is allowed to marry several wives. There is no limit to the number of wives he can marry under customary law. (The more, the merrier). But once he follows that up with a statutory marriage, He cannot have more than one wife.
Now let us talk about Islamic Marriage. It is categorized under customary law because in parts of the North, the culture is already subsumed into Islam, more so, a divorce from an Islamic Marriage is done at the Customary/Sharia Court. So, this categorization is more of convenience than any other thing.
ISLAMIC LAW MARRIAGE
Just like customary marriage, Islamic marriage is polygamous, a man can marry up to four wives if he so desires. Many of the features of customary law marriage that we talked about above are also essential for a valid Islamic law marriage Consent of the parties.
1. : Generally, parties to an Islamic law marriage must give consent to the union. Under the Maliki School of Islamic Law however, a father has the right to conclude a marriage on behalf of his infant sons and virgin girls. The ceremony is called the Ijbar. Where the father allows his daughter to choose a husband from her suitors, he loses his right of Ijbar. Also, the Child can refuse this marriage when he or she gets to puberty. Note under Islamic law, parents must consent to the Union for the marriage to be valid.
(2) PAYMENT OF THE SADUQUAT (BRIDE PRICE)
Just like in customary marriage, bride price (Saduquat (Sadaki) or dower) must be paid to the parents of the bride to be. However, this bride price belongs to the bride and not her parents, though it is paid through the parents.
(3) SOLEMNIZATION
The marriage also called a Nikkai needs to be solemnized by a Mallam in the presence of at least two upright Moslem witnesses.
This brings us to the end of part one of the law on Marriages, the question is with all the above
You marry so?
we will conclude this next week with Statutory Marriages. Comments and questions are welcome. Thank you for reading
Omotoyosi Bibire Salihu
0803-477-0177
