TheCable

Mohammed Masaba, the controversial Islamic preacher who married 86 wives, is dead.

Mutairu Bello, his personal assistant, confirmed Masaba’s death, saying the preacher died in his residence in Bida, Niger state, after a brief illness on Saturday.

Bello said the deceased was 93, and that he would be buried at 10am on Sunday.

Masaba came to limelight in mid-2008 when he was accused of going contrary to the Islamic law which provides that a man can only marry a maximum of four wives.

At a meeting at the palace of Yahaya Abubakar, Etsu of Nupe,  Masaba was ordered to divorce 82 of the wives, but he rejected the directive.

The Etsu of Nupe later gave him 48 hours to leave the Nupe kingdom, saying that his safety could not be guaranteed.

However, the cleric refused to leave and sued the Emirate for “violating his fundamental human rights”.

Masaba was later arrested and arraigned before a Shariah court, but before his trial commenced, the police said that they did not find anything incriminating when they searched his house.

He was, however, detained in the prison on the orders of the Sharia’h court.

The court later transferred the case to a chief magistrate’s court in Minna after declaring that it lacked jurisdiction to try him.

A federal high court in Abuja later ordered Masaba’s release from prison and asked the inspector -general of police to ensure the protection of his fundamental human rights.

Masaba was said to have fathered 180 children.

He claimed that he never wooed any of his wives, that they sought him out due to his reputation as a healer.

Many of his wives were much younger than he was, and a few were younger than some of his children.

In separate interviews, some of the wives described him as a good husband who met all their needs.