These days the bachelor is a symbolic one, chosen for the event. But in the past the troop of drummers known as “Nalako” used to roam the streets looking for men they thought should do the decent thing and marry.

The authorities in central Niger state charged Mohammed Bello with “insulting religious creed” and “unlawful marriages” after local chiefs and Muslim leaders gave him until September 7 to comply with Islamic sharia law, which allows a man to have no more than four wives at a time.

Local newspapers reported that Mohammed Bello, who lives in Niger State in central Nigeria with his wives and at least 170 children, was ordered by local religious elders to divorce 82 of his wives by Sunday or leave the area.