Residents of Sango, Ogun State watched in amazement as 83- year-old founder of Christ Apostolic Church, Ode-Ijaye Worldwide, Rev (Dr.) John Shola Ojo, engaged in traditional marriage to his 70-year-old wife, Bisi Ojo, after living together for 46 years.

The ceremony was done like a young couple was getting married despite their age and years of being together.

The wedding ceremony, which started around 12pm on Tuesday at the wife’s family compound in Fadipe area of Sango, was done just the way a traditional wedding would have been performed for the couple at a young age.

Items expected to be provided by the groom’s family, such as tubers of yam, one luggage box, the Holy Bible and assorted bottles of wine, among others, were seen at the event which lasted nearly three hours.

The couple carried themselves like they would have done 46 years ago.

The groom, clad in a white flowing dress, called agbada by the Yoruba, was ushered into the event venue by his old friends.

He was introduced to the family of the wife to whom he prostrated and money collected from him by the Master of Ceremony before he was allowed to sit at the podium reserved for the couple.

Minutes later, the bride was ushered in, like her groom, by the wives in her family.

She was clad in a white gown while her face was covered in veil.

Like it happens in wedding ceremonies, the family of the groom was asked to pay a certain amount before the veil could be removed from the bride’s face.

On why the couple waited this long before performing your traditional marriage, the groom recounted their ordeal in the hands of his brother-in-law.

"When her brother realized that she was always coming to me, he called one of the drivers working with him to marry her. But when he realized that she was not ready to leave me, he got annoyed one day and beat her for more than 8 hours. That did not, however, deter her as she was adamant in marrying me.
"When the brother discovered that all his effort was in vain, he took her to Kafanchan, and we lost contact for more than four years. I even heard that the brother did charm to make her forget me.

"After several years, she came back to Lagos and the brother still insisted she must marry one of the railway drivers. She later ran away from home to live with me. Because the brother did not want her to marry me, he did not allow us to do traditional marriage. And he was the breadwinner of the family which means their parents will only listen to whatever he told them. That is why we couldn’t do what we are doing now. I did court marriage and church marriage. I have done everything except what I am doing today because it is important."

The groom further stated that his brother-in-law insisted he could not marry his sister because he wanted her to marry one of his friends.

"I was not financially buoyant. I was an ordinary teacher and there were times those people used money to attract her; in essence, the brother believed one of those friends could take care of his sister than l would have done".

•Excerpted from a Vanguard report

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