Former presidential aide and social commentator, Reno Omokri, has stirred debate online after stating that paying bride price for women who are not virgins goes against traditional and biblical principles.
In a tweet shared on Sunday, Omokri argued that the custom of bride price, both in African culture and biblical law, was originally reserved for virgins. Anything outside of that, he said, should not be considered a legitimate bride price.
“In African culture, and Jewish traditions and law, bride price is the property or money demanded by a bride’s family to give her away in marriage… on the grounds that she is a virgin,” Omokri wrote. “Demanding it for someone who is not a virgin is not bride price. It is extortion.”
He cited Exodus 22:17 as a biblical reference and pointed to the aso asa Ibale custom of the Lukumi Yoruba, where a bride’s virginity is traditionally verified through the use of a white cloth (aso funfun) on the wedding night. If the cloth is unstained, the marriage is considered invalid and the bride price is returned.
Omokri criticized what he described as “exorbitant demands” by certain Sub-Saharan African ethnic groups for non-virgin brides, labeling such practices as exploitative and culturally inconsistent.
His comments have since sparked widespread discussion on social media, with users divided over the relevance and fairness of virginity-based traditions in modern society.
