At some point yesterday, word hit Twitter that the Emir of Kano took an 18-year-old as a fourth wife.

The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has finally tied the knot with his rumoured heartthrob, Sa’adatu Barkindo-Musdafa, the daughter of the Lamido of Adamawa, Muhammadu Barkindo-Musdafa.

“Heartthrob”

The 18-year old becomes the emir’s fourth wife. She recently completed secondary school and is been enrolled for advanced level studies.

Can we all agree this this whole deal is at best weird and at worst very disturbing. I saw a bunch of you arguing about it on Twitter and tossing out straw man arguments. I refuse to believe you’re all that disingenuous and/or obtuse. There’s something very “somehow” about a sixty-something taking a barely legal girl as a fourth wife. It’s not question of legality because marrying an 18-year-old obviously legal, but that doesn’t make it any less “somehow”. They’re not mutually exclusive.

A social commentator, Dan’Almajiri Ibrahim, argued that in ancient times, links between empires were tightened by marriages among royals and nobles across boundaries.

“So, the engagement of the Adamawa princess to Emir Sanusi II may also be a move to deepen royal bond between Adamawa and Kano.

“You see, historically, both emirates have similar origins in the 19th Century Uthman Bn Fodio’s jihad,’’ he concluded.

Maybe it’s a political thing like the occasionally brilliant @Chxta pointed out:

As usual, we attack the symptoms. Sanusi's marriage is clearly a political marriage. The question should be, "why do we still have those?"

— Chxta (@Chxta) September 26, 2015

The Emir of Kano, marrying the daughter of the Lamido Adamawa is meant to seal some sort of alliance, which will affect political outcomes

— Chxta (@Chxta) September 26, 2015

So, how do we prevent this unsavoury influences of men who are accountable to no one but God in our politics? That's the issue at stake.

— Chxta (@Chxta) September 26, 2015

One more thing: as long as we keep focusing on the symptom, and haranguing the Northerners over early marriage, we'll keep going in circles

— Chxta (@Chxta) September 26, 2015

It's simple: they have the worst education rates around these parts. The more educated they become, the less you'll have child marriages

— Chxta (@Chxta) September 26, 2015

But isn’t this the same Emir Sanusi that was our CBN Governor? Last time I checked, homeboy is/was ridiculously educated. Maybe when he became Emir, he morphed into his final uneducated form.

Anyway, in the middle of this almost rational debate on Twitter, #GoAndMarry Twitter reared their ugly head again.

As always, the misogyny was so quick to come out. It’s like when you play Need For Speed and hit your nitro as soon as you get passed up. As soon as a woman expresses a contrary opinion on a “traditional” matter, the topic marriage comes up to silence her. She gets called ugly or fat or a feminist.

By the way, when did “feminist” become an insult?

We need to focus on rape and the victims. We cannot afford to be distracted by those who prefer the conversation focuses on them!

— JJ. Omojuwa (@Omojuwa) September 9, 2015

You can't limit your understanding of feminism to what your friends tweet. And if you do, avoid letting out such ignorance publicly

— JJ. Omojuwa (@Omojuwa) April 22, 2015

You package a human being as a "wife gift" to another human being. See, we have to deal with these human rights abuses once & for all o

— JJ. Omojuwa (@Omojuwa) March 1, 2015

People like Robert Alai are the reason women cannot afford to give up on fighting got equal rights. Let women decide for women.

— JJ. Omojuwa (@Omojuwa) November 17, 2014

Aww darling, you thought he was an “ally” too?