30/04/2026
Law vs. Social Reality
Nigeria’s legal position on this offense reflects a complex intersection of statutory law, customary traditions, and Islamic jurisprudence.
Under Section 370 of the Criminal Code (Southern Nigeria) and equivalent provisions in the Penal Code (Northern Nigeria), this offense occurs when a person who is legally married under the Marriage Act contracts another statutory marriage while their spouse is still living. This is classified as a felony, carrying a penalty of up to seven years’ imprisonment.
However, Nigeria operates a plural legal system where statutory, customary, and Islamic marriages coexist:
* Statutory marriage + statutory marriage → Bigamy (criminal offence)
* Statutory marriage + customary marriage → Bigamy (criminal offence)
* Customary marriage + customary marriage → Generally lawful under customary law
* Islamic marriage → Polygamy permitted under Sharia (up to four wives)
Despite the law remaining on the books, enforcement is rare. Cultural acceptance of polygamy, the civil nature of marital disputes, and reforms in some states (such as Lagos State’s decriminalization approach) have reduced criminal prosecution in practice.
Today, this offense in Nigeria functions more as a civil law safeguard than a frequently enforced criminal offence, often serving as grounds for divorce and property disputes rather than imprisonment.
This raises an important legal-policy question: Should this offense remain a criminal offence, or be fully treated as a civil matrimonial issue in a plural legal system? This offense is called bigamy. Bigamy is the act of being legally married to one person while simultaneously entering into another marriage with a different person, without ending the first marriage through divorce or annulment.
