Former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has warned men to stop paying bride price for women who are not virgins.
Naijaonpoint reports that the social commentator, in a tweet on Sunday, said that the tradition was initially reserved for brides who kept their virginity.
Omokri stated that in both African culture and scriptural references, the bride price is tied to the woman’s virginity, and anything outside of that is not in line with the true meaning of the custom.
According to him, demanding money or property for a woman who is no longer a virgin is not bride price but extortion.
He backed his claims with examples from the Bible, pointing out that the term “bride” is explicitly used for virgins, and any payment made in that context should reflect the same standard.
He wrote: “In African culture, and Jewish traditions and law, bride price 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!”
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