BY Moses Oyediran
An Enugu-Ezike based herbalist in Aji community of Igboeze North LGA of Enugu state, Chief Simon Odo, popularly referred to as ‘Onu Uwa’ says he desires to have a village of his own, for a good reason:
The 68 years old herbal practitioner is married to all of 56 women and over 300 children, and he told Daily Times, “I can only stop marrying more wives whenever I can no longer satisfy women sexually.” The renowned herbalist branded himself “Africa’s King Solomon” because from biblical records, King Solomon had 700 concubines; “There is nothing wrong in my having retinue of wives”.
The women in my life
“I have 56 wives and they all are hardworking; some own restaurants while some are civil servants. Three of my wives are graduates. At times I quarrel with my wives, but it is on record that none of my wives have been involved in adultery, because if anyone of them indulges in adultery, she will be stuck with the man without been separated for a long period; so none of them can dream of keeping a man outside my home. “I have sent about five of my wives home because of misbehavior.” It was gathered that his wives come from the tribes and tongues across the country and he is welcome wherever he proposes to a woman. “I married both from Yoruba, Benue, Kogi, Calabar, Anambra and Enugu among others. I will advise men not to marry up to three wives. Any person who wishes to emulate me should prepare his casket; this is my agreement with God. I will not stop marrying till I die, or until my manhood stops working. “I am a blessed man; I spend the average of N1.4 million on feeding my household monthly and I give out cars out as gifts to my in-laws.” The old fellow said there is no magic to his love story as people may think other than love and sexual satisfaction. “All my marriages were gifts of love and not by charm. I marry all my wives according to the custom and tradition of where they come from. I don’t marry with less than N100, 000.00. I have built houses for some of my in-laws, and as I said earlier some of my in-laws receive car gifts from me; you can go and verify my claims. “I do not marry anyone from rich families; I prefer to marry from the poor ones because this enables me to help them one way or the other. I came to the world for beautiful women to love, to follow and marry me.” Short of being a nymphomaniac, the Odo boasts he satisfies all his wives sexually. “None of them have complained of sex starvation; I make love to a reasonable number of them daily and I believe that sexual satisfaction of my wives is a gift from God. “The beautiful aspect of my family is that there was a time about seven of my wives put to bed in one day. The young ones that are still active in bed are more than 11 at any given time, and my latest wife who I just married last December is only 15 years.”
Number of children
“My children are numerous and that is what I bargained for as Africa’s King Solomon. Out of 56 wives, some have seven, eight, five and three children; some are still pregnant, just last week, one of them delivered a set of twins. “I can’t say the number that is pregnant as I speak with you. I feed all of them comfortably without hassles. I have an estate to solve accommodation challenges of my family. All my wives and children have never complained of lack of accommodation. My children, to say the fact, are over 300 to my credit.”
Does he have problems recognizing his children individually?
“I recognize my children because they all have marks as identity. My children don’t mix themselves up either and can never sleep with themselves or marry themselves. If they do the person will die instantly: Training my children “I am a lover of Western education; I own a nursery and primary school where some of my children attend with some of my wives as teachers, and I also employed other capable teachers. I train those of them who crave for education even to the university level. “Now, some of my children are graduates; one of my daughters was the immediate councilor that represented Aji ward and she was the deputy leader of Igbo Eze North Local Government legislative council. “Another of my daughter, Amala, was given scholarship to further her in London.” Need for my own village “My children all know themselves because they all bear tribal marks which I gave them; a good number of them are married with children. In no distant time I may apply for recognition of my own village ONUWA village. The number of my children and great and great grand children command a force in Aji community. “In my house, there is freedom of worship; some of my children are Catholic, some Anglican, while some attend Pentecostal Churches. We still have those who took after me as native doctors. We are one mega family; we consume one bag of rice every Sunday and we eat from one big pot. “The grown up ones are no longer staying with me; they have built their own houses. My first son, Emeka Odo was born in 1969; he is equally a native doctor with his own family. I have also given out many of my daughters hand in marriage.
His youngest wife – 15 years old Chidinma from Okutu village in Nsukka Local Government Area, Enugu State.
“I came in contact with my husband who had married one girl from my place; he approached me for marriage and I accepted, then he went to my parents, performed the marriage rites and took me as wife. I was in JSS III at the time of my marriage.” Chidinma dispelled any rumour of her husband using charm to marry young girls. “I want the whole world to know that I married my husband out of love. He came to my parents after he approached me and we both agreed before going to seek my hands in marriage from my parents, I became convinced he is the one I want to marry even after I learnt that he is the famous Onuwa with many wives. I am not worried because since I entered this house he has remained in charge of his home and properly taking care of every of our needs including that of all his children. “Onuwa has these managerial skills of managing his home effectively. We have not had any quarrels that we cannot manage”.
Another of his wives, Ado Odo, 24, is a graduate from Benue State. “I am a 300 level student of Mass Communication Department of Benue State University. I am happily married to Chief Simon Odo, A.K.A Onuwa. “My marriage to Onuwa is six loving months old and I have never regretted taking my decision to marry my husband. Since I married my husband he has remained caring to both me and my other senior wives. He likes education which is one of the reasons why I married him because he promised that he will take care of my studies to any level I want. “He is a man who keeps to his words; just recently he bought a car for my mother and bought a motor bike for me for my use. He has done a lot for my parents and I want to carry his baby in no distant time. My husband is full of life, honest and loving, not minding our age bracket, he remains very understanding”. What would you say to Africa’s King Solomon? He certainly deserves the title, and a village to his name.