Reno Omokri, a former presidential aide, has shared his view that men should not pay a bride price for women who are no longer virgins. According to him, doing so feels like punishing the man who wants to marry her, even though someone else took her virginity without making any formal commitment.
He believes that when a woman loses her virginity to someone who never intended to marry her, it becomes unfair for another man to later come and pay a price for marriage. He questioned what exactly the bride price represents in such cases, emphasizing that it’s not about ownership. If it were, he said, it would have been called “woman price,” not “bride price.” In his opinion, the payment is a cultural and symbolic honor for a woman who has remained chaste.
Omokri backed his opinion with a biblical reference. He cited Genesis 24:67, which tells how Isaac took Rebekah into his mother’s tent, and she became his wife. He believes this shows that a wedding ceremony is not what makes a marriage, but the act of intimacy. To him, sex is marriage in itself, based on biblical understanding.
He added that whether people agree with him or not, he is more concerned about pleasing God than gaining approval from others. He said this belief is rooted in faith, not popularity.
Omokri went further to express concern about issues affecting Black communities, stating that many of their problems stem from the loss of traditional sexual values. He pointed out that some Black communities now see more abortions than births and argued that this trend is damaging and must be reversed.
Using Mary, the mother of Jesus, as an example, Omokri said her virginity was a key reason why God chose her to bring Jesus into the world. He said this shows that virginity has always held spiritual importance.
He ended by urging Africans to return to the values of sexual purity before marriage. According to him, this simple step could help reduce many social problems like HIV/AIDS, unplanned pregnancies, and overpopulation. In his view, society should begin to reward virginity rather than promote promiscuity.
