Only virgins deserve bride price, says ex-presidential aide Reno Omokri

Former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has declared that only virgins should be considered brides, arguing that any money demanded for a non-virgin under the guise of bride price amounts to extortion.

Omokri made this known on Sunday, in a lengthy post shared via his official X handle.

According to him, many Africans have misunderstood and misapplied the concepts of dowry and bride price, insisting that they are not interchangeable and have different origins and meanings.

“There is a huge difference between a dowry and a bride price.

“However, in this part of the world (Sub-Saharan Africa), we often use the terms interchangeably — but they are not the same.

“A dowry is the money and property given to a female child on her wedding day by her parents, which she takes to her husband’s home. It becomes the joint property of both the husband and the wife.

“Dowry is practised in parts of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. This practice aligns with the Biblical injunction that a wife is a helper to her husband, not a burden — Genesis 2:18”, his post partly read.

He contrasted this with the practice of bride price, which he said is rooted in both African culture and Jewish law, and historically applies only to virgins.

“A bride price, on the other hand, is different. In African culture, as well as in Jewish tradition and law, a bride price is the money or property given by a man to the family of a virgin woman to marry her. This is backed by Exodus 22:17, which states: ‘If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins.’ Similarly, among the Lukumi Yoruba, if the bride’s virginity is not confirmed on the white cloth (aso funfun) after the marriage is consummated, the marriage is not considered valid, and the bride price is returned,” he continued.

He condemned the monetisation of marriage rites, especially in cases where the woman in question is no longer a virgin, stating, “The excessive demand for money and property by some Sub-Saharan African ethnicities for a woman who is not a virgin is neither legally nor technically a bride price — it is extortion.”

Omokri, known for his deeply religious worldview, went further to claim that in biblicaly, the term “bride” is reserved only for virgins — citing multiple biblical references to back his claim.

“Scripturally, the term ‘bride’ is never used for a woman who is not a virgin. For example, Isaiah 62:5 says: ‘For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons shall marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you.’

“Also, Jeremiah 2:32 reads: ‘Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire?’ These verses show that bridehood is synonymous with virginity. Song of Solomon 4:12 is even more explicit: ‘A locked up garden is my sister, my bride; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain’”, he clarified.

The former aide also drew a comparison from biblical figures, asserting that paying a bride price for non-virgins is unscriptural.

He argued, “By African tradition and Scriptural law, a man may marry a woman who is not a virgin — but such a woman is not a bride, and no bride price should be paid for her. For instance, 1 Samuel 18:20-27 records that David paid a bride price for King Saul’s daughter, Michal. However, he did not pay any bride price for Abigail, as seen in 1 Samuel 25:40-42.”

He warned that if African societies do not return to what he described as traditional and scriptural norms, they would continue to suffer the consequences of moral decay.

“If we in Africa do not return to these time-honoured traditions and continue the moral decline in our society — where sex and sensuality are left unchecked — we will remain at the bottom rung of global development, plagued by high rates of sexually transmitted diseases and broken homes”, Omokri added.

Concluding his post, Omokri rejected the white wedding tradition as un-African, claiming that even its original European form has been misrepresented in Africa.

He said, “Lastly, the White wedding is not African culture, and it is not a Christian wedding. It is a European traditional wedding. If we must adopt that tradition, then we should follow it accurately. In Europe, where the custom originates, it is not the groom or his family that pays for the wedding. It is traditionally the bride’s father who foots the bill. Industrial Money Obtainers, I hope you have heard?”