NIGERIA: MAN WITH 86 WIVES APPEALS DEATH SENTENCE

Alhaji Bello Masaba, the Nigerian man with 86 wives, invoked the original jurisdiction of the Federal high court sitting in Abuja seeking its order nullifying the death sentence (Fatwa) passed on him by the highest Islamic body in Northern Nigeria, Jamatu Nasril Islam. Masaba is also begging the court to declare the order of banishment issued against him by the Bida Emirate Council illegal and unconstitutional. In the application for the enforcement of his fundamental human rights lodged at the registry of the Federal high court by his lawyer, Masaba is inviting the court to hold that notwithstanding the provisions of Islamic laws, the provisions of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria must take precedence. He is of the view that by the provision of the 1999 constitution, he enjoys freedom of movement and that his choice to marry 86 wives does not constitute a legally punishable offence at the time the marriages took place and that the order of "Fatwa" passed on him is unknown to law. The Administrative Judge of the Federal high court, Abuja is yet to assign the case to any judge.