Beat your wives and lose your title, Sanusi warns Kano traditional leaders

Muhammadu Sanusi, emir of Kano, has warned all Islamic title holders in Kano to desist from beating their wives if they want to retain their title.

According to Daily Trust, Sanusi said this at the recent mass wedding of 1,520 couples.

He reportedly called on all imams, district heads, village heads and ward heads to pay heed to the warning.

“You should all come back to your senses and stop these barbaric acts because we will not allow this to continue in Kano,” he was quoted to have said.

“I have warned all district heads, village heads, ward heads and imams to also desist from the bad habit of beating their wives and whoever among them is reported to me to have beaten up his wife, would out rightly lose his title.”

He vowed not to back down on the proposal to make laws against poor men seeking to marry more than one wife.

The monarch also said the law would not stop Muslim men from marrying up to four wives, but will ensure that the man treats his wives and children according to the tenets of Islam.

“We are going meet on Wednesday this week to review the over 80 pages of the law and make the necessary adjustment before presenting it to the state house of assembly for passage into law,” he said.

“Our people are facing serious challenges in their family affairs. We have heard series of complaints where a father forced his daughter to marry someone against her wish.

“We have heard so many cases where people marry additional wives while they could not feed them well, clothe them well or give them good shelter even though they have the means to do so.

“In this case, the proposed law provides that, a court of law would take something out of the man’s wealth to feed his family, give them shelter and clothes.

“In the event the man makes any attempt to resist the court’s directives, then the law takes necessary action against him. If you know, your salary cannot take care of more than one wife, you should not get an additional wife.”

Aminu Daurawa, Kano state commandant of Hisbah, a religious police outfit, had opposed Sanusi’s proposal.

In an interview with BBC, Daurawa said the position of God on marriage has been stated in the Quran and any means of regulation would be seen as an act of “infringement”.

He advised the monarch to focus on enlightening the people on the intricacies of polygamy.