Veteran Nigerian musician, Baba Fryo, has argued that the concept of men cheating in romantic relationships is a Western phenomenon and, as such, doesn’t apply to African men.
He buttressed that Africa is a polygamous society where men are culturally permitted to marry multiple women.
“African men don’t cheat because African culture doesn’t condemn men cheating. It’s Western men who cheat,” he claimed.
“African traditions permit men to marry multiple wives. It’s women who can be held accountable for cheating because African men pay bride price. We don’t marry with flowers. We settle both families and community just to marry. After carrying out all the expensive marriage rites, won’t you see me as a lord over the woman?”
He buttressed that Africa is a polygamous society where men are culturally permitted to marry multiple women.
The ‘Dem Go Dey Pose’ crooner, however, said it doesn’t apply to women, arguing that a man becomes the “lord” of his wife once he pays her bride price.
“African men don’t cheat because African culture doesn’t condemn men cheating. It’s Western men who cheat,” he claimed.
“African traditions permit men to marry multiple wives. It’s women who can be held accountable for cheating because African men pay bride price. We don’t marry with flowers. We settle both families and community just to marry. After carrying out all the expensive marriage rites, won’t you see me as a lord over the woman?”
from The Honest Bunch podcast
Hmmmm
ReplyDeletePromiscuous manipulative men confuse polygamy for sleeping around
DeleteI am yet to see one that goes on that podcast say something that makes sense. If you wanna cheat, then cheat, but STOP giving reasons why you should. Jeeeez.
ReplyDeleteMcheww isn't that what most of them are good at? Men like them in western world are creating history and inventing engines and technology while they are here thinking and talking with their pen*ses. long hissss
ReplyDeleteThat is why Africa is backwards
DeleteThe men who should lead correctly are slaves to lust, greed , entitlement and inferiority complex
Almost all humans are polygamous in nature. Not exclusively for any gender or race.🙄🙄🙄
ReplyDeleteU dey mind them???
DeleteThis 💯💯💯
DeleteNa Una headache be that.
ReplyDeletePolygamy only favours the men...that's why they advocate for it 🙄
ReplyDeleteDon't mind them
DeleteIf you say so Sir, I'm very glad many African women are seeing through you african men and putting themselves first now.
ReplyDeleteThat's the only thing they know...preek matter...ur counterparts in the western world are having ground breaking feats. Naija man own na to be toto mechanic....If you are bereft of morals and lack self control,just say it. Don't generalise that all men cheat. Some are not dogs.
ReplyDeleteCopied. Beta pikin.
DeleteWhat of them cheap marriages?Marriage that doesn't cost more than 50k?Or some marriages that the the couple jointly paid for?Or even some that the bride pays for because the man doesn't have the financial capability.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to say Africans are polygamous in nature,I am good with that.
The one of we paid huge bride price,we did this,we did that so we are entitled to misbehave(cheat) is the one that makes your talk cheap.
Note:I don't have anything against polygamy.Just do it the right way.
If comments like this were coming from progressive minds like Tony Elumelu, I might be concerned. But coming from Baba Fryo, who’s been in a constant struggle for years, it means absolutely nothing. It’s clear why his career didn’t go beyond one album—fame exposed him to distractions (women) he couldn’t handle, and that was the end. These aren’t the kind of conversations the world needs right now. People are looking for intelligent, forward-thinking dialogue—not regressive, morally bankrupt commentary like this. And that includes Nedu, the interviewer. That is why he will never invite people that are forward-thinking/looking to his podcast-he is looking for cheap traffic.
ReplyDeleteEvery Day Sex Talks Una no dey Tire?? Hain
ReplyDeleteBaba Fryo is right to say that polygamy is rooted in African tradition, but he loses the plot by equating it with cheating. Had he argued that society was designed to appease patriarchy, I might not have faulted his position. But I watched the podcast expecting nothing less than excuses and misguided utterances.
ReplyDeleteFrom an African lens burdened by selective tradition, Fryo’s argument is neither a cultural truth nor an innocent observation. But it reflects the same tired symptoms of patriarchal bias, often used as a convenient justification for infidelity. Cheating and polygamy stand on opposite ends; the only link is that one can sometimes lead to the other - either intentionally or by consequence.
Polygamy, though historically accepted, was never a license for deception or entitlement - it was boldly sought with formal knowledge of the parties involved. What was once a structured, duty-bound choice has now been distorted into a reckless excuse for emotional indiscipline and a lack of accountability. By the propensity of discreet infidelities.
Bride price is not a certificate of ownership; it is a cultural rite meant to unite families, not to elevate men into benevolent tyrants. Though today's practices increasingly flirt with the illusion of male dominance, the original intent remains sincere and symbolic. As justified by a few upright families.
What many men struggle to accept today is that a new generation of women is rejecting the patriarchal justifications their mothers endured. Decades of trauma - tolerated, unhealed, and silently inherited - continue to echo in how some mothers-in-law treat their daughters-in-law.
Modern women now demand reciprocity, not the rulership of old. As the world reinvents itself, so must culture - else it becomes obsolete. Baba Fryo’s stance is not African heritage; it’s selective amnesia passed off as wise words. If morality depends on circumstance, then love loses all meaning.
African men don’t cheat by nature; they cheat by choice, like anyone else. That the system rarely holds them accountable only emboldens the lie that infidelity is cultural. True African masculinity must evolve; beyond dominance, beyond ego. The debate between monogamy and polygamy deserves more thoughtful, honest discourse than recycled chauvinism disguised as tradition.
Selective amnesia by reprobate inferior insecure misogynistic men
DeleteThis one too will come out and apologize
ReplyDeleteHmmmmmm
ReplyDeleteThe Most Complex B