By ADESOLA AYO-ADERELE
I needed to get some work done, and I needed some guidance. I opened my browsers to Grok, Gemini, Copilot, and ChatGPT and fed in my instructions. Within seconds, more than enough suggestions beamed back at me to choose from. I thanked God for the gift of technology and plunged into my work.
But while the world works hard at making life and work easier and enjoyable through technological advancement, Nigerian media and our social media space are full of inanities.
For starters, His Excellency was reported to have described how he spent his Independence Day taking the best breakfast of his life after a good night’s rest, the unrelenting economic hardship being experienced by well over 70% of the population notwithstanding.
As if that wasn’t enough insult on Nigerians’ psyche, the early morning radio discussion gradually shifted to Nollywood actress Bimbo Akintola’s admonition that Nigerian women should embrace polygamy.
Her reason: Men are scarce because women are more than men—a lie, by the way, considering that since 2020, at least, the population of males in Nigeria has always been slightly higher than females, and currently, it is 50.6% male compared to 49.4% female.
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In recent times, Shade Okoya has become the social media postal girl for successful polygamy, and I laugh. I laugh because her admirers fail to see that the then 22-yo Shade came into the then 59-yo Baba Eleganza’s life after he had gotten his fingers burnt several times with polygamy.
The way their relationship has unravelled leaves no one in doubt that Baba is almost in a monogamous marriage with Shade, despite the presence of his aged first wife. Even his Wiki entry managed to list the young lady as the only wife!
But it’s still a developing story. What happens if Shade outlives Baba will drive home the lesson about the insanity of —or wisdom in—polygamy.
Those who advocate polygamy also cite the alleged adulteries of married men as the main reason, as if married women don’t commit adultery. So, if adultery is enough reason to advocate polygamy, we should expect women to also have more than one husband if that will take care of whatever propels anyone to unfaithfulness in marriage.
Yet, sociologists agree that one of the main reasons young males refuse to marry is because of unhindered access to sex. Take this out of the bargain, and most virile males will settle down to marriage.
As for unmarried ladies who freelance with married men, it’s mostly for pecuniary reasons. Same for married women who maintain clandestine relationships with males other than their husbands.
These being the case, proponents of polygamy will need convincing reasons for their advocacy.
Make I go back to my work, abeg!
