Thirty-five women
were, yesterday,
disqualified by the
Kano State Hisbah
Board from
participating in the mass wedding
organised and
sponsored by the state
government. Those disqualified
included 19 divorcees said
to have tested positive to
HIV and 16 others said to
be pregnant. Altogether, at least 1, 111
divorcees and widows
from the 44 local
government areas in the
state were joined in
matrimony at the City Central Mosque during a
brief but colourful
ceremony. It is another round of
mass wedding conducted
by the Chief Imam of Kano
Central Mosque, Professor
Muhammad Zaharadeen. The event was attended
by the state Deputy
Governor, Dr Umar
Ganduje, along with top
Islamic clerics across the
state. However, each of the
grooms signed an
undertaking not to
divorce their spouses
without recourse to the
board, as contravention will attract a N50,000 fine. Addressing the couples
shortly after the
ceremony, Commandant,
Kano Hisbah Board, Sheik
Daurawa explained that
the measure was adopted to check rising cases of
divorce in the state. He said: "We cannot fold
our arms and watch our
heritage destroyed. What
we have done remains the
best in the light of several
cases of divorce among couples in the state, to
halt the destruction and
bastardization of our
heritage," Daurawa said. Governor Rabiu Musa
Kwankwaso of Kano
State hosted the couples
to a grand reception at
the Government House,
beamed live on radio and television stations across
the country.