29/08/2026
Can someone be called a second wife when the first marriage which was contracted under the act is still subsisting?👇🏿👇🏿👇🏿👇🏿👇🏿👇🏿👇🏿👇🏿👇🏿👇🏿
Yes—but only as a descriptive/social term, not necessarily as a legally recognized wife.
if a man’s first marriage was validly contracted under the Marriage Act and that marriage is still subsisting, he cannot validly contract another marriage with a different woman under customary law. Section 35 of the Marriage Act expressly provides that a person married under the Act is incapable, during the continuance of that marriage, of contracting a valid customary marriage.
So, for example:
* First wife: married to him under the Marriage Act.
* Second woman: he subsequently goes through a customary marriage ceremony with her while the first marriage remains subsisting.
* Legal position: the second woman is not his valid “second wife” in law; the purported customary marriage is void/null from the outset.
The Supreme Court has affirmed this principle, including in Peter Chike Mgbodu v. W***y Kanayo Mgbodu.
* Criminal consequences: Section 47 of the Marriage Act makes contracting a customary marriage while a statutory marriage is continuing an offence punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment.
There is an important distinction, however: “second wife” can be used colloquially to describe the woman in a relationship or household, but that does not mean she has the legal status of a wife.
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