An 84-year-old Nigerian man with 86 wives and 170 children has accepted a decree issued by Islamic authorities that he must divorce 82 of them.
The BBC, quoting a local emir, reported that Mohammadu Bello Abubakar agreed to the mass divorce at the weekend.
Abubakar, a former teacher and preacher, faced the death penalty under Sharia law, which was reintroduced to the Muslim-majority Niger state in northwest Nigeria in 2000.
While the death sentence was lifted, Abubakar still faced eviction from his home if he fails to comply with Saturday's divorce ruling.
Today the former teacher and Islamic preacher defiantly said: ‘All my wives are with children and some of these are people I have married and stayed with for over 30 years.
‘How can they expect me to leave them within two days?
Nigerian media and the BBC interviewed Abubakar several weeks previously, when he claimed there was no punishment in the Koran for having more than four wives.
However, the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs said that Sharia law clearly limited a man to four wives.
