Yobe APC chairman apologises, withdraws controversial marriage remark

The Yobe State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Mohammed Gadaka, has apologised and withdrawn his controversial comment asking married women to leave their husbands if they were prevented from voting for the party.

Gadaka made the remark on Thursday while receiving hundreds of defectors into the APC in Nangere, where he reportedly told women whose husbands opposed their support for the party to leave their marriages.

“If your husband won’t allow you to vote APC, leave the marriage. I will pay your bride price and marry you,” he said.

He also reportedly offered to pay the bride price of any woman who ended her marriage because of her political allegiance to the APC.

The comment attracted criticism from residents and Islamic scholars, who described it as provocative and inappropriate, warning that such statements could negatively affect family values.

Following the backlash, Gadaka issued an apology and withdrew the statement in a 42-second video shared on Facebook by Mamma Mohammed, Director-General of Press and Media Affairs to Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni.

The APC chairman said his comment had been misunderstood, explaining that it was intended as a joke based on the traditional banter between his Ngamo ethnic group and the Kare-Kare-speaking people.

“My statement was just a usual joking banter and does not in any way represent the ideals I stand for or intended to encourage divorce among married people,” Gadaka said.

He subsequently apologised over the remark.

“I offer apologies for my statement, and I hereby withdraw it,” he added.