The 86 wives of a man in Nigeria staged a protest demanding the release of their husband, who is being detained for unlawful marriages and contempt of Islamic religious laws, a justice ministry official said.

The wives of 84-year-old Muhammadu Bello Masaba stormed the Niger state justice ministry recently, accompanied by 20 of their 170 children and sought immediate release of Masaba and described his detention as illegal. ?They arrived at the justice ministry premises in three buses and engaged in rowdy protest against the arrest and detention of their husband,? Habibu Lukman,a ministry official said from the Niger state capital Minna.

Lukman said the women and children carried placards some of which read ?what Allah has joined together let no man put asunder? and ?we are legally married to Baba (the old man, i.e Masaba) and we are not complaining?. The protesters condemned the decision of the Minna Upper sharia court and the traditional chief of Masaba?s hometown, Bidda, that he divorce 82 wives and keep four, the maximum Islam allows, Lukman said.