Even as the World looks for ways to address population explosion, one African King cannot be part of that programme.

He is Abumbi II, who became the 11th fon, or king, of Bafut in Cameroon after the death of his father in 1968.

He has close to 100 wives after inheriting his late father’s queens as his own.
This is not strange in Cameroon where polygamy is still legal, though you might say the number is bizarre.

In rural Cameroon, it is the tradition for men to marry more than one woman, with no limit on how many wives one can have.

According to Prince Nickson, who is also of Bafut, “The queens have a great role to play in the fondom.”Nickson further observed that it was up to the women behind the man to shape him in his kingly role.

According to Queen Constance who is Abumbi’s third wife, “Behind every successful man must be a very successful, staunch woman. Our tradition has it that when you are king, the elderly wives remain to hand down the tradition to the younger wives, and also to teach the king the tradition because the king had been a prince, not a king.”

One may say that the King seems to have more worries taking care of his wives to be closely monitoring what is happening in his Kingdom. But that’s not a problem. After all he is not complaining.