A Nigerian man has sparked a debate on social media after declaring that paying a woman’s bride price does not constitute marriage.
He made this assertion while advising a lady who inquired on a Facebook group whether it was morally right to be intimate with her partner who had paid her bride price but they had not yet officially tied the knot.
In response, the man urged her to wait until their union was solemnized before engaging in intercourse.
According to him, the payment of bride price does not make the man her husband yet.
“It’s wrong. The payment of bride price is not marriage. Wait until the marriage is solemnized, and you are pronounced husband and wife. It’s all yours. No need to rush,” he wrote.
His statement has, however, elicited varying reactions. While some agreed with him, others disagreed, noting that bride price is what establishes the man as her husband and that a church wedding is a borrowed culture.
“You are already married. Paying of bride price is what the Bible recognizes. Church wedding is a borrowed culture of the whites that we now imitate,” a Facebook user wrote.
One Ekwueme Ify added, “A Christian marriage starts after the church wedding, so wait until after your wedding, that is if you are a Christian.”
See more reactions below,