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Muhammadu Sanusi II, the 54-year-old Emir of Kano, has come under harsh criticism after he married the 18-year-old daughter of the Lamido of Adamawa. After the news about the non-publicised wedding broke last Friday, Nigerians took to social media, having introduced the hashtag #ChildNotBride. People characterised the decision as unwise indirectly referring to him as a “sugar daddy”.

Sanusi has finally decided to explain his point via a written piece. In his writing the Emir speaks about his fourth wife and sheds light on their decision to get married. “I am sure NC members all have their views and have kept quiet out of (appropriate) deference to our right to make our individual choice. Obviously I do not need to explain anything to anyone in a purely personal matter but a few points are worthy of note:

 “The lady in question is 18 and therefore legally of age to marry under all laws and certainly under Muslim law. She is proceeding for her undergraduate education in the UK in January. She had an “A” in computer science in her “O” levels and plans to get a degree in computer science. Each and every one of my wives is a university graduate and some have worked and then stopped and in each case the choice was purely theirs.

“It is a tradition in Kano that emirs and princes in choosing wives consider issues beyond the individual. The family is in every sense a social unit. My predecessor was married to princesses from Ilorin, Katsina and Sokoto. The relationship between the late Lamido of Adamawa Aliyu Musdafa, the father of the current Lamido is well known. Lamido Aliyu was the first emir turbaned after emir Sanusi I and they remained close until Sanusi’s death. My own relationship with the current Lamido dates back to 1981 when he was Ciroma and commissioner for works. By the way the Lamido and I are not illiterates we know what we are doing and he does have a PhD in Engineering.

“My own mother was married in Adamawa and lived there for more than two decades and I have eight younger brothers and sisters from there. It is therefore natural that if I choose to marry from another kingdom Adamawa would be the first choice for me and I am extremely happy to strengthen these long historical bonds. The young lady in question gave her free consent and even after the contract the wedding will not happen for a few years. By then she may be 21. If she freely consents to this I do not know on what moral grounds anyone has a grouse. She is an adult, she gave her consent, and her education is not being in anyway interrupted.

“The real issue is that people do not accept cultural difference. And you can see it in the approach to these issues. I am supposed to be urbane and western educated. Yes but I am not European. I am a northern Nigerian Fulani Muslim brought up in a setting exactly like the one my children are being brought up in."