Reno Omokri claims Bride price only applicable to virgins

Reno Omokri, a Former Nigerian presidential aide, has claimed that the practice of paying bride price should only be applicable to virgins.

He stated that only virgins should be regarded as true brides. Taking to his X handle on Sunday, Reno stated that requesting bride price for a non-virgin is extortion.

“There is a huge difference between a dowry and a bride price. But in this part of the world (Sub-Saharan Africa), we use them interchangeably. But they are not interchangeable. A dowry is the money and property given to a female child on her wedding day, by her parents, to take to her husband’s home to become the joint property of both her and her husband. It is practised in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. This is in line with the Biblical injunction that a wife is a helper to her husband, not a burden-Genesis 2:18,” he wrote.

Reno also referenced he Bible, and traditional practices, using them as the base of his claims.

“A bride price, however, is different. In African culture, and Jewish traditions and law, it 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…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,” he wrote.

He also emphasised the need for Africans to return to their cultural practices. He also claimed that there is no such things as a white wedding in the African culture.

“If we in Africa do not return to these traditions and continue the moral decadence in our society, where sex and sensuality are not curtailed, we will continue to be the dregs of the world, with high rates of sexually transmitted diseases. Finally, a White wedding is not our culture in Africa, and it is not a Christian wedding. It is purely a European traditional wedding….Industrial Money Obtainers, I hope you’ve heard?,” he wrote.