ALHASSAN Ado-Doguwa is the majority leader of the House of Representatives who has boasted of having four wives, 27 children and still counting.
Ado-Doguwa, who was on Wednesday sworn-in as the lawmaker representing Tudun Wada/Doguwa federal constituency in Kano State retained his place as the majority leader of the House after a re-run election.
While on the floor, Ado-Doguwa had explained why he was referred to as the ‘powerful man’. He told the House, the presence of his four wives while asking that they stood up for recognition.
https://youtu.be/iq8bcwJzJpI
“Mr Speaker, I would like to let you know that with me today here, are my four respected wives, I have asked them to rise here to respect the House on behalf of my family and one of the reasons to let you know that when members call me a powerful man; I am not only powerful on the floor of the House, but I’m also powerful at home.
“Mr Speaker, what I meant by asking them to rise up is to demonstrate to members of the house, that when you call me ‘a powerful parliamentarian’ I’m not just powerful on the floor but at home, because I deal with four wives.
“These four wives you are seeing Mr Speaker have produced 27 children for me and I’m still counting,” the lawmaker boasted.
This declaration, however, contradicts the position of Muhammad Sanusi II, the emir of Kano who attributed the poverty level in the north to the polygamous nature of men in the region.
The monarch who was represented by Usman Bugaji during a paper presentation session on ‘the role of universities in nation-building’ at the maiden convocation of the Federal University, Gusau, in Zamfara state on January 25, noted that such nature should be avoided or poverty would remain a norm.
He said by polygamy, some people who cannot afford to feed one wife, still marry three wives and have more children than they can feed, whereby their welfare becomes an issue.
“The poverty level of the north is 80 per cent, while in the south, the percentage is 20 per cent, simply because of the culture of marrying many wives and producing many children who, in the end, are left on the streets to beg for what to eat,” he said.
Ado-Doguwa, a member o the ruling party, APC is the oldest member of the House and his recent electoral victory makes his fifth term in the House.
Ado-Doguwa was first elected in the Fourth Republic in 1993 and, also first elected to the House of Representatives under the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1991.
He also served as the Chief Whip in the eighth Assembly led by Yakubu Dogara.