Woman allegedly assaulted for refusing to marry polygamist

By Chi kingly Tung 

A Douala-based woman, aged 28 whose name is withheld for safety, has reportedly lodged a complaint with the police in nation’s economic capital, accusing a certain Alhadji Bouba, of molesting and assaulting her after the latter failed to convince her get married to him.

Mr. Alhadji, a polygamist and cattle dealer, resident in the neighborhood of New Town Aeroport, is said to have met her’s parents and secretly arranged to marry their daughter who was then staying with him. 

The molested woman  had considered the  elderly man as an uncle who offered  to assist her learn some trade, not knowing she had been betrothed to him by her  seemingly poor parents.

 When it dawned on her that her parents wanted her to marry the aged but wealthy cattle dealer, she bitterly protested against such an arrangement, describing it as an expensive joke any mature lady cannot take in modern-day Cameroon.

By rejecting Mr.Alhadji’s love advances, the purportedly betrothed was rough handled on several occasions by the supposed suitor.

 The supposed suitor is alleged to have violated his presumed spouse, pushing her to lodge a formal complaint with the view to seeking a legal remedy

It is not clear how the complainant’s parents reacted to their daughter’s legal action especially if truly they had negotiated and collected her bride-price.  The accused could not be reached for reaction to the accusations leveled against him.

Reports said Mr. Alhadji had before, on several occasions, been dragged by others to the police because of similar allegations but he always returned home without being charged. He would boast that he was practicing his tradition and customs.

Although polygamy is legal in Cameroon, the country’s Civil Status Registration Ordinance, states that spouses-to-be must consent before their marriage is legalized.

According to Article 52(4) of the Civil Status Registration Ordinance, “No marriage may be celebrated if the spouses- to- be don’t consent”

Even the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Cameroon is a signatory, states in its Article 16(2), “Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of intending spouses”

But it is public knowledge  that,  in the Northern parts of Cameroon, contrary to the laws , child, early and  forced marriages are common, encouraged by traditional and religious norms of the natives  there.  

We gathered several rights lawyers have already approached the complainant, offering to defend her rights, conscious that the said Alhadji is not only a wealthy business man but also a political heavy weight.