Malam Muhammad Abubakar Bello Masaba was a scholar who passed away at the age of 93. He left behind 130 wives and 203 children. Among the wives, seven were pregnant, and one was nursing a one-year-old child.
Muhammadu Bello Abubakar Masaba Bida, born in January 1924 and died on January 28, 2017, was best known as Muhammad Bello Abubakar, a Nigerian man. Masaba drew public attention in his hometown of Bida, Niger State, due to his excessive number of marriages. He was charged in an Islamic court and imprisoned in 2008 for refusing to reduce his wives to the limit prescribed by Islam, which allows a Muslim man to marry up to four wives. He married 130 women, divorced 10, and fathered 203 children. At the time of his death in 2017, it was believed that some of his wives were pregnant.
While he was in detention, some of his wives and children staged protests. One of the children who protested, Moroof Bello, described their father as a God-fearing man.
Masaba was a teacher and an imam. He lived in a large house with his family. He claimed that he never sought to marry any of the women; rather, they sought him out because of his status as a healer and teacher. Most of his wives were under 30 years old. In an interview with Al Jazeera English, his wives stated that he was a good husband and father.
On November 12, 2008, a Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja, ordered Masaba’s immediate release from Minna prison. The presiding judge, Justice G.O. Kolawole, granted him bail. The judge also ordered the Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, to ensure the protection of Masaba’s rights to life, dignity, and privacy as guaranteed by the 1999 Nigerian Constitution. Masaba returned to his hometown, Bida, on November 13, 2008.
In July 2011, the governor of Niger State, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, stated, "Although we have implemented Sharia law in Niger State, we have no law to punish him." The state government’s efforts to prosecute Masaba failed due to the absence of a legal provision. The spokesperson for the Niger State House of Assembly, Adamu Usman, explained that the attempt to bring Masaba to court faced obstacles because there was no clause in state law that could penalize him.