Party Scatter! Bride’s family, maternal uncles fight over traditional food; destroy items in Nasarawa (Photos)

By Honey Aku

It was indeed, the most disgraceful day in the life of the bride (name withheld) whose traditional marriage took place yesterday at Tudun Amba, Lafia, the state capital of Nasarawa State.

The bride who should have seen the day of her traditional marriage as the happiest day of her life like any other lady intending to go to her husband’s house, turned out undoubtedly, to be the worst day of her life.

Traditional marriage,according to Eggon culture, is usually characterised by the number of basins of cooked local beans and other items, forming a woman’s bride price— most of which are very outrageous and humongous.

Sadly yesterday, the bride price items usually seen as the pride of every parent and every woman as it brings honour to both the parents and their daughter who is being cleaved by a man to become husband and wife, were destroyed yesterday.

Sources at the traditional marriage event disclosed that the Eggon bride and her Ibo groom were celebrating and dancing to the rhythmic Eggon local music when a vicious argument broke out between the bride’s father and her maternal uncles.

According to the sources, the bride’s uncles insisted that the number of basins of traditional food required, usually in the form of local beans(Ebekpyen) were not complete.

While they could not resolve their argument amicably, the bride’s father had no other option than to order that all the basins of the traditional food, including the contended ones by the bride’s maternal uncles, be shared to everybody at the occasion. This got the bride’s maternal uncles infuriated, resulting to a serious rumble or fight, pouring on the ground the basins of the traditional food and breaking all other things to a scathe.

It was also gathered that the bride’s mother fainted as a result of the show of shame.

The bride who remained the only person in her family a proper traditional marriage was ever done on her head, assisted immensely her would-be-husband with many of the items for the traditional food, as well as other things to ensure proper bride price was paid on her in order to make her parents proud ,but this turned shame instead.

The issue of bride price among the Eggon ethnic group of Nasarawa state has been in the front burner for decades with efforts initiated by the Paramount ruler of Eggon nation with a view to slicing down the humongous dowry paid on Eggon ladies in order to avoid the existing rumble and enigma surrounding the pride price of Eggon ladies, that forced some or many of them unmarried. But the efforts of the Eggon Paramount ruler only proved abortive.

There was wide condemnation on that decision, especially from many quarters of Eggon people, with most of them protesting that the Eggon Paramount ruler didn’t give birth to their daughters on their behalf and so,he should not decide on their daughters’ bride prices.