She Will Not Be Remembered For Marrying 8 Times (From Daily Times Nigeria)
8 times! 7 guys! Forget the glamour, beauty, fame and money. The diehard moralist market woman will call her an ashewo. To marry two men in a lifetime is enough crime but to now count, Conrad, Michael, Todd, Eddie, Richard, John and Larry! Ah! Were they clothes that ought to be thrown away once dirty? Well, Todd died and Richard was worn twice.
Millions of women in Nigeria stay with their first husbands even if it means paying the prices of swollen eyes, broken teeth, high blood pressure, perpetual headaches and sudden grip of fear when the warrior knocks. Once a child seals wedlock, they are bound by honour to stay, abuses notwithstanding.
It is strange really. Such marriages are bad partnerships, assuming marriage is a business. No savvy partner continues in a hurtful partnership. She opts out. It will only be asset sharing after the dissolution; but what assets?
Marriage is no business partnership; it is an institution people get into easily but must go through excruciating and sometimes humiliating processes to get out of. Often on the local TV station, the customary court heads will demand all the rotten nitty-gritty of dead marriages that ought to be buried eternally to ears, to decide whether or not to grant the complainants’ wish. Continue reading
