Society must rethink this issue of pretentious monogamy vis-à-vis polygamy so that in the not-too-distant future we do not end up with millions of unmarried women whose life style would be worse than prostitutes’ and millions of children whose fathers would be nowhere to be found.
The article is designed to expose the hypocrisy and pain associated with embracing false notions, which are really not observed by any culture in the world, and to advise those who erroneously sentence themselves to a life of sadness and emptiness because they were deceived to believe that there is some utopia somewhere called monogamy.
I am very much aware that this article will generate a lot of controversy, especially from those who live holier-than-thou life and have continued to deceive the world that they are upholders of a doctrine that is not supported by true and enlightened interpretation of any religious doctrine.
My Greek, Italian, Russian, British, American and other Caucasian friends routinely visit their other wives (called by other names) with whom they have children. But back in the homes shared with the one carrying the ring, they are monogamists!
A well-known Nigerian journalist hid his other wives from his wife because his religion would not permit of it and his wife, living in monogamy, should not hear of it. At his funeral, nine funeral service programmes by his nine wives surfaced and the woman parading the ring collapsed
If God had wanted humanity to be monogamous, he or she would not have made the pigeon the only monogamous creature. The cultures that practise polygamy had always known that at any given time, the number of available marriageable women far outnumber available men, plus the fact that an 80-year-old man, if he has money, is still very much in the market, whereas, a 60-year-old woman may not be that lucky. The biological limitation to a woman’s productive age is also a factor.
Why should a woman, therefore, remain on the shelf till age 45 when she could jolly well get married as second or sixth wife to a man who can afford to share life’s responsibilities with her?
Why should a woman leave a man with whom she is Number 1, simply because he took a second wife and end up being numberless in the hands of several men with whom she naturally shares bed just because of some doctrine she hardly understands?
All the women who should go and marry but are saying they do not want to share their man with another woman in a polygamous setting, are sharing current boyfriends with several other women. Where is the logic?
The argument that children in a polygamous house are always at each other’s throat does not hold water. Many siblings of monogamous families are sometimes known to have had worse and irresolvable or irreconcilable squabbles with dirty bitterness over inheritance or even other matters than children from different mothers.
The agony suffered by both men and women in the hand of unnatural laws and doctrines is too stifling for comfort. In 2002, 502 reverend mothers were reported to have died while procuring abortion in Rome (alone). Nigerian Tribune wrote an editorial on the unfortunate incident. And stories of reverend fathers having children and sodomising young men in their care are legion! Why the hypocrisy? Why should the world continue to live the life of the ostrich?
A well-known Nigerian journalist hid his other wives from his wife because his religion would not permit of it and his wife, living in monogamy, should not hear of it. At his funeral, nine funeral service programmes by his nine wives surfaced and the woman parading
the ring collapsed. It was the grace of God that prevented double internment that day!
The Western world, which had not learnt the art of living amicably with more than one partner under the same roof, has indulged in multiple serial marriages. Divorcing innocent wives under flimsy excuses so that another woman can move in should not be a measure of standard for the world. Thank God, Mrs Hillary
Clinton in the US and Mrs. Cook in England were very much wiser. They refused to allow some indiscretion on the part of their husbands to ruin their marriages.
There was also a well-known American actor who passed on about a decade ago and all his 11 ex-wives with their numerous children attended his funeral. To ridicule
the lie of their hypocritical existence, all the women were recognised and addressed as wives. As far as records show, the man had 11
wives!
So, over to those whose opinion is hinged on whatever reason to rethink. This is becoming a wild fire that will leave no home in no distant time.
*An abridged version of an article by Chief Adeniyi, former Managing Director of Daily Times Newspapers.
