A business man, Mohammed Yakubu Jacob, yesterday married off another set of 50 less privileged girls in Gashua town, Yobe State. This is coming a month after he married off 40 internally displaced girls, which attracted thousands of well-wishers.
The ceremony was held under the guardianship of Emir of Gashua, Alhaji Abubakar Umar Sulaiman, at his palace mosque in Gashua. The girls were mostly daughters of internally displaced parents, orphans, and less privileged people who had suitors but could not have the means to marry them off.
Speaking at the event, the Emir of Gashua said all the couples had undergone genotype, HIV, and pregnancy tests. He said the brides and grooms had been screened religiously to avert any chance that would invalidate their marriages.
“We went to the extent of training these girls in different trades to make them self-reliant. That is why we came up with a council that would settle dispute between the couples, if any, because we would not tolerate divorce until necessary.”
He thanked the businessman for relieving the parents of a ‘huge’ burden, while appealing to the well-to-do to extend similar gesture. “Because these girls are due for marriage, they have suitors, but the parents have no money. This man did all the necessary things needed,” he said.
Fielding question from Daily Trust, the businessman said he had received endless calls from girls to help them get married after he married off the first batch few months ago.
“These girls will call me crying for help that their parents have no means to marry them off. I know how it feels for a father to have a grown up daughter that is due for marriage but he does not have money to do that. .
Some of the girls even lost their parents and I don’t want their dream to remain unfulfilled,” he said. One of the brides, Aisha Muhammad, thanked the businessman for making her dream come true.