Weeks after celebrating his 70th birthday, Pastor Tunde Bakare and his wife, Olayide, fondly called ?Authentic Mrs. B?, rolled out the drums to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary on November 30, 2024. In an atmosphere of love, joy and excitement, the couple was surrounded by their children, grandchildren, family, friends and associates at an event to celebrate the anniversary.

Olubunmi Fabode, the first daughter of the Bakares, described her parents? union as a battleground against generational curses. Fabode, speaking at the event, recalled a moment from her childhood when her father told her that he and her mother were going their separate ways.

She, however, disclosed that her love for her siblings and her desire to keep them together motivated her to pray for her parents? reconciliation. The daughter revealed that her parents? marriage was not without its challenges, given their respective backgrounds. ?When I was seven years old, my father came to the room and told me ?Your mother and I are going our separate ways. I am telling you this so you can decide who you want to live with?,? she said.

?I did not care so much about my mum and dad not living together, but I thought if they were separated, my siblings may choose either of our parents. ?And I knew that could not work because I absolutely love my siblings. They are the joy of my life. I knew that something had to happen to interrupt that plan was about to hatch. ?My father grew up in a household of 12 wives and 22 children.

His father died when he was three. My mother was born in Leicester. ?She was raised by a British foster parent, then her grandmother, and was eventually raised by her father and stepmother. ?They each came from brokenness, dysfunction and upheaval. Somehow, they found each other, and they decided to try with nothing, but their faith in God. ?And the Bible as a guide to create something new that they had not experienced.? She noted that her parents? marriage was a battleground against generational curses, where they confronted and overcame the darkness of their past. Fabode praised her parents for creating an atmosphere of love and for being role models.

?Their marriage was not just a union, it was a battleground. A place where generational curses were confronted and wrestled to the ground,? she said. ?A dear aunty once told me something that stayed with me. She said the first generation of any marriage that emerges from a broken home always faces an extraordinary battle because the enemy is working to perpetrate darkness from one more generation. ?Both of them stood in the gap and said this far and no further.

It is because of this testament that we are celebrating here today. Two people decided they could do something new under God. He was a casual Christian before he became married, but when he saw generational curses, nobody taught him to pray. ?It came from inside. My mother, the woman that she is today: resilient, and nurturing, she learnt in this marriage to become that. She didn?t have a model. My father made sure we never lacked anything. My parents created an atmosphere of love.? Bakare married Olayide in 1984 and they have five children together. (Sunday Vanguard)

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