by JUDE IGBANOI
The age long tradition of a woman marrying a wife for her husband existed and was approved in many communities in Nigeria until a few decades ago. It is said to be still practised in some communities in the Eastern and Midwestern parts of Nigeria.
Under the custom, according to Igbos for instance, a woman who has been married for several years without a child is permitted to choose a young fertile bride, pay her bride price and ‘marry’ her with the full compliments of a properly traditional wedding. The new bride would then do the bidding of her female ‘husband’, which is essentially to procreate through her husband. This is said to be common amongst the Onitsha people of Anambra State.
Another form of this kind of marriage is when a man has all female children and he gets old, his wife is allowed to ‘marry’ another woman. But in this situation, the woman may start bearing children by other close relations of the family and not necessarily the aged husband.
Amongst the Ishans in Edo State a similar custom existed until recently where a wife, beyond child bearing age is allowed to ‘marry’ a wife who will then bear children in perpetuation of the family name. Evidence abounds that these types of ‘marriages’ are fairly common amongst several ethnic groups in the Southern parts of Nigeria.
In all such situations, the woman approaches a family and asks for the hand of their daughter in ‘marriage’. A full traditional wedding ceremony takes place with the female ‘husband’ performing all the related traditional marriage rights.
The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Humanist Movement, Mr. Leo Igwe, wrote recently that ‘One of the contentious issues in the debate over homosexuality and same sex marriage is whether a marriage between persons of the same gender is totally alien to African culture and tradition. Those opposing same sex marriage have continued to argue that same gender union is foreign to Africa. On the contrary, I have tried to draw their attention to the fact that there is a strain of the same gender marriage in African tradition particularly in Igbo land. That we should not rush to deny this, or pretend it does not exist or just sweep it under the carpet in the quest to establish that same gender marriage is alien to the African continent, and must be banned.
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