By Ismail Shuaib
ABUJA: Social Media influencer, Reno Omokri has declared that only female virgins are deserving of bride price, saying demanding such for non-virgins is simply an extortion.
He said; “As a man, by African tradition and Scriptural law, you can marry a woman who is not a virgin. But such a woman is not a bride. And you should not pay any bride price for her.
“For example, you will notice that David paid a bride price for King Saul’s daughter in 1 Samuel 18:20-27. However, he did not pay a bride price for Abigail- 1 Samuel 25:40-42.
“If we in Africa do not return to these traditions and continue the moral decadence in our society, where sex and sensuality are not curtailed, we will continue to be the dregs of the world, with high rates of sexually transmitted diseases”.
In a Facebook post titled, “Difference Between Dowry and Bride Price and Bride and Wife”, the former presidential aide noted that a dowry is the money and property given to a female child on her wedding day, by her parents, to take to her husband’s home to become the joint property of both her and her husband.
“It is practised in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. This is in line with the Biblical injunction that a wife is a helper to her husband, not a burden-Genesis 2:18”, he said.
Omokri said a bride price, however, is different, noting that in African culture, and Jewish traditions and law, it is the property or money demanded by a bride’s family to give her away in marriage to her intended husband, on the grounds that she is a virgin.
“Please see Exodus 22:17, and the aso asa Ibale custom of the Lukumi Yoruba.
“Exodus 22:17 says: If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins.
“And according to the Lukumi Yoruba, if the bride’s virginity is not proven by the aso funfun (white cloth on which the marriage is consummated on the bridal night), being stained, the marriage is not valid and the bride price will be returned.
“The exorbitant demand for property and money by some Sub-Saharan African ethnicities, who I will not identify, for a woman who is not a virgin is not legally and technically a bride price. It is extortion!
“If you read Scripture, the term ‘bride’ is never used for a woman who is not a virgin.
“For example, Isaiah 62:5 is very clear on the matter. That verse says: For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons shall marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you.
“Also, Jeremiah 2:32 says: Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire?
“These verses prove that bridehood is synonymous with virginity.
“Songs of Solomon 4:12 is even more explicit. That verse says: A locked up garden is my sister, my bride; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain”, he added.
