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Man with 86 wives to sue INEC

Posted by Paul "EFCC" Hawk Adams on February 6, 2011 at 9:57pm
The celebrated polygamist, Pa Abubakar Masaba, is heading for a showdown with the Independent National Electoral Commission and the police following allegations that members of his family, numbering over 5,000 were denied registration by suspected thugs in the just concluded voter registration exercise. Our correspondent gathered that suspected thugs allegedly thwarted efforts by members of the Masaba’s family to participate in the voter registration exercise at a registration unit in Bida Local Government Area of the state. Masaba is reported to have 86 wives. It was learnt that the thugs specifically prevented INEC officials from registering the Masaba family and that security operatives allegedly refused to come to his rescue. The lawyer to the family, Mr. Shehu Jubril, told our correspondent in Minna, Niger State, that over 10 hoodlums frustrated efforts of the Masabas to register. He alleged that the thugs, led by one Gimba, created pandemonium in a registration unit close to Masaba’s residence as they stormed the area beating and wounding members of the family who had queued up to register. He said the hoodlums overpowered officials of INEC and prevented them from registering Masaba’s family members. He claimed that about nine members of the family were wounded by the attackers, lamenting that despite complaints lodged by Masaba to the police area commander, nobody was arrested in connection with the incident. He accused the police of connivance and said Masaba had concluded plans to seek redress in court. He said the development amounted to a breach of fundamental human rights and assault. “The recent interview granted by the area commander in a local newspaper has however indicated that police have taken sides on the matter as he went on saying that the family has no business registering at their own Masaba ‘A’ polling unit”, he said. When our correspondent contacted the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Richard Oguche, he said he was yet to receive the report.. He said the district police officers would brief the command on developments in their various areas on Monday (today). Also, INEC state Public Relations Officer, Alhaji Abdulmalik Wase, claimed ignorance of the development and said he knew nothing about Masaba and his family.
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PDP denies man with 86 wives party membership

Posted by Paul "EFCC" Hawk Adams on April 12, 2010 at 6:54am
Masaba shut out: PDP denies man with 86 wives membership
From AKIN ALOFETEKUN, Minna

Masaba
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Alhaji Bello Masaba, remember him? The 87-year-old world renown polygamist, then married to 86 wives, may soon be back in the trenches with the Niger State Government over the refusal of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state to register him as a member of the party.

Masaba was for most part of last year engaged in legal battle with the state government which charged him under some curious provisions of the sharia law for marrying more than four wives prescribed by the Quran for Moslems. Government later withdrew from the case for want of evidence.
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This time, the battle may have moved from the legal turf to the political battle ground, where Masaba has vowed to engage both the state government and the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, in a battle of political supremacy.

Daily Sun reliably gathered that when the Islamic cleric appeared at the Etsu’s palace where the registration was taking place, he was turned back by the registration officials who claimed to be acting on orders from above.

Masaba was said to have stormed out of the palace in annoyance, vowing to make sure that no single vote from his Masaba ward will go to PDP in next year’s general election. A chieftain of the party in Bida, Alhaji Isah Lakpene, who confirmed Masaba’s denial of registration said the matter has become a source of concern to PDP members in the area, as no constitutionally sustainable reason has so far been adduced for the refusal to admit him into the PDP fold.

“I have to find a way of getting the governor to know about this. If we fail to register Masaba we stand the risk of losing about 1,500 of the 2,000 votes in the ward,” Lakpene lamented, stressing that he was sure Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu may not be aware of the development.

Meanwhile, the Islamic cleric last weekend gave five of his daughters in marriage in Bida. Family sources revealed to our correspondent in Minna that despite the hue and cry over Masaba’s perceived unislamic matrimonial status, two of his sons-in-law are said to be children of highly placed personalities in Bida. One is even said to be the son of a traditional title holder in the ancient city. Daily Sun can also authoritatively reveal that the number of Masaba’s wives has since risen to 100, and he is still counting
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