Veteran comedian Atunyota Akpobome, popularly known as Ali Baba, has shared his thoughts on polygamy, suggesting that men may find it simpler to marry women who live separately rather than in the same household.
Speaking on The Clarity Zone podcast, Ali Baba explained that keeping wives in separate homes can help reduce domestic tensions.
“It’s easier to marry women who don’t live in your house with you. Those ones don’t come to disturb the Iyale,” he said.
He illustrated his point with an anecdote from a wealthy acquaintance, highlighting the difficulties of managing multiple households:
“This man has four wives, all four wives but one don’t work. The one that works is a medical doctor and she has a thriving business, makes good money, takes what she wants and gives the rest to Oga. Oga then distributes to the other ones. The man still adds his own to it, but everybody is okay.
“Then one day the woman says, ‘Oh, my son wants to go to Canada, that’s where he wants to go to school.’ And the other women say, ‘My son is not going to Canada, your own is not going to Canada as well.’ So she calls the man and says, ‘I don’t understand what these people are saying, that my son will not go to Canada.’ She said ‘okay,’ then she stopped giving money to the man, and all the other women started fighting. Two left. When the two left, the other two that were remaining…”
Ali Baba also compared the situation to Nigeria’s economic reality, using the Niger Delta as an analogy:
“That’s the thing that’s happening to Nigeria now. The Niger Delta is the one bringing the money. You take the money and share it to everybody. And when Niger Delta says, ‘We need three bridges,’ you say, ‘No, we have to distribute the bridges around everybody. We can’t give you three bridges yet.’”
He concluded by stressing the need for fairness in polygamous marriages.
“Which is why they said that if you decide to marry more than one wife, you must treat everybody equally.”
Ali Baba’s reflections combine humor with insight, highlighting how equitable treatment is essential not only for harmonious polygamous households but also as a metaphor for fairness in broader societal and economic systems.
