But in spite of the fact that “the best-ever wedding in town” doesn’t exist, many are falling over each other to make sure theirs is the talk of the town. On such occasions, friends, families, relatives and, quite often, strangers come to wish the couple well and get refreshed with whatever the couples are able to provide. It takes people years, months or days to prepare for their wedding, each depending on the circumstance.In Nigeria, we have had several cases of marriages that turned out to be more of political unions between two families with popular political pedigree. To some extent, such marriages may stand with attendant political benefits while, in other cases, the reverse is the case. LEADERSHIP FRIDAY unearth a number of marriages that, apart from the normal marital relationship, also have the prospects for mutual political rewards.
Bukar Abba Ibrahim And Khadija Waziri Ibrahim
The three-time former governor of Yobe State, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim, is a dyed-in-the-wool politician. He was born into politics and grew in it. He always says, “As long as there is the Talaka, I will remain in politics for his sake.”
Was it, then, an act of politics when he brought home or “domesticated” Hon. Khadija, who is a daughter of the late advocate of “politics without bitterness”, Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim?
The beautiful and highly educated Hon. Khadija was first made a commissioner by Bukar when he was the governor of his state, but she resigned after their marriage.
She has been in the House of Representatives since 2007 while her husband is in the Senate.
Uloma Okorocha And Uche Nwosu
The first daughter of Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, Uloma, recently got married to Uche Nwosu, the deputy chief of staff and commissioner for lands, survey and urban development in Imo.
The marriage proved to be one of the most celebrated in the state, as it drew attention across the state and the country before the marriage was solemnized. It was gathered that the groom had been serving the governor for several years before the marriage.
Nwosu was Okorocha’s personal assistant (P.A.) even before he became governor. He has also remained a confidant of His Excellency who has entrusted him with several jobs and which he executed to the satisfaction of the governor.
There is a political implication to this marriage, considering the fact that Okorocha’s commissioner is now his son-in-law. It is not impossible and not unlikely that the governor may influence his son-in-law’s election to replace him in the Imo State Government House when he leaves office.
Govs Isa Yuguda, Saidu Dakingari And Yar’adua’s Daughters
This may sound incredible, but Kebbi State governor Sa’idu Dakingari never looked like someone who was kidding when he revealed that his wife, Zainab, daughter of ex-president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, was the one who decided to “capture him” the moment she saw him on the television screen. Dakingari married one of the then first daughters in Katsina in 2007, not long after her father assumed office as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Each of us in this life is a slave of destiny and destiny can always manipulate anybody’s life the way it wills when we little notice. For instance, it may surprise you to know that my wife, Zainab Yar’Adua, first saw me on television screen and said ‘That is the man I will marry’ and today we are husband and wife,” Dakingari told a national newspaper in an interview on July 20, 2009.
Also, on Saturday, January 24, 2009, Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State and another daughter of the then President Yar’Adua, Nafisat, joined hands in marriage in Katsina State. The marriage followed swiftly after Yuguda had begun a vibrant courtship with Nafisa, having met her in Aso Rock during one of his visits to the presidency.
After their first meeting at the office of the then first lady and mother of the delectable bride, Hajiya Turai Yar’Adua, this per-chance meeting culminated in the blissful union that gathered the high and the mighty in society.
No doubt, Yuguda’s marriage to the president’s daughter has further brought to the fore his mien as a calm and gentle politician whose antecedents facilitated his smooth ride to power.
The return of Umaru Yar’Adua in a vegetative state, with the reality of his inability to function as president, had set two of his daughters, Zainab and Nafisa, both married to sitting governors, at war path over whose husband would be vice president to the then acting president Goodluck Jonathan.
Unconfirmed reports had it that when reality dawned on their mother, Turai, she desperately wanted to impose either Yuguda or Dakingari as a vice president so that the interests of the family would be consolidated and protected.
Both Yuguda and Dakingari were among names on the list of PDP hopefuls for the coveted office of vice president, if they could not get the top job itself.
It was however learnt that Turai was more favourably disposed to Yuguda considering his role during the drama. He was in Saudi Arabia and then later the US. Aside from being by his wife’s side when she gave birth, he was also scouting for a hospital that could provide better service for his father-in-law. Dakingari was seen by Turai as laid-back, even though our source said that his wife, Zainab, is the apple of Turai’s eye.
Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi And Aisha Babangida
Aisha, the first daughter of former military president General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), gave the marriage institution another trial after dumping her first husband.
After her failed marriage to Basheer Garba, the beautiful daughter of IBB, married the then governor of Zamfara State, Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi, on April 11, 2008.
Aisha became the first lady of the state, attending public and state functions. But, curiously, the union headed for the rocks shortly after Shinkafi lost his re-election bid as the governor of the state.
Muhammad Bamanga Tukur And Badiyya Isah
The wedding of Muhammad Bamanga Tukur, the son of the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, and Dr Badiyya Isah Katsina, the daughter of a former secretary to the government of Katsina State during late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s tenure as governor, has come and gone.
The cooperation of the Bamanga family, which has influential political connections and vast business interests, and that of Isah Katsina, a reputable bureaucrat, surely has a lot of mutual benefits for the parties but more especially to the groom.
Mohammed Atiku Abubakar and Badriyya Adamu Mu’azu
The marriage of former vice-president Atiku Abubakar’s son, Mohammed Abubakar, to Badriyya, the daughter of former Bauchi State governor, Adamu Mu’azu, was the talk of the town: on Saturday, June 8, 2013, the crème de la crème of the Nigerian political society converged on Bauchi, the capital of Bauchi State, to witness the wedding.
It is no gainsaying that the wedding ceremony bore the hallmark of a political gathering of movers and shakers of the Nigerian society. The attendance list indicated that the event was a political gathering of some sorts -- with no political lectures except “whisperings” of great potency.
The father of the groom, ex-VP Atiku, had to post the invite on his facebook page for friends. This underscored the imperative of the occasion. There were also unconfirmed reports that certain persons tricked a former head of state and staunch member of the opposition, General Muhammadu Buhari, to prevent him from attending the wedding, perhaps so as not to “outshine” the main actors.
Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu And Bianca Onoh
In 1989, it was revealed that Bianca Odinaka Onoh, then Nigeria’s reigning beauty queen, was dating former Biafran warlord and Ikemba Nnewi Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who was 33 years older than her and a political associate of her father, the former governor of old Anambra State in the Second Republic, Chief Christian Chukwuma Onoh.
Their controversial romance, which Bianca’s father frowned at, was the “talk of the nation” in the early 1990s, which made Ojukwu declare later in the year that the pressure of being in the public eye had become unbearable. Consequently, Bianca resigned as Miss Intercontinental, a decision that enraged the pageant organisers, Silverbird, and they ignored her 1988 reign on the MBGN website. Bianca however stated that her main concern was completing her education as a law student.
Since then and up to the time of Ojukwu’s death, not a few believed that Bianca actually married him because of his money and influence. Tongues have been wagging over the lion’s share of Bianca in Ojukwu’s will, which has also caused controversies in the family. But Bianca had, at every given opportunity, confessed to the wooing process of the Ikemba and his unique capacity to show love which made her fell deeply for him.
It is also to the credit of the late Ikemba’s influence, even in death, that Bianca got appointed as Nigeria’s ambassador to Spain in 2012.
Njideka Odili And Uzoma Iheme Nwosu
On Saturday, June 8, 2013, the same time it was happening in Bauchi between the Atiku and Muazu families, another high-profile event was taking place between the families of former governor of Rivers State Peter Odili and Imo State Court of Appeal judge Chioma Nwosu.
On that beautiful day, their children, Njideka Odili and Uzoma Iheme Nwosu, joined hands and hearts at the altar. Their wedding reception took place at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. President Goodluck Jonathan, his wife Dame Patience Jonathan and some serving state governors were in attendance along with other dignitaries who graced the occasion.
There is more to this marriage than the usual union of just a man and his wife. This is because there is a political implication and dimension to the marriage. For instance, Uzoma, whose mother is a justice of the appeal court, also has Justice Mary Odili, a Supreme Court judge as a mother in-law. Some may say this is a classical case of politics of the judiciary, even if Uzoma does not decide to leap onto the political landscape.
Nneoma Orji And Obinna Ararume
On Saturday, October 15, 2011, Umuahia, Abia State capital, came to a standstill as the governor of the state, Theodore Orji, and his wife Mrs Mercy Odochi Orji played host to the family of Imo-born political juggernaut, Senator Ifeanyi Ararume, in a party for the traditional introduction of Nneoma Orji, their only daughter, and Obinnna Ararume. The groom, Obinna, is a son of Senator Ararume, a gubernatorial candidate in Imo State
The marriage of this couple has a lot of political expectations attached to it: the two families may have to use it for political consolidation of their interests. The couple also are joined in the expected atmosphere of political convenience.
Bashir Dalhatu And Zainab Abacha
On Friday, July 16, 1999, multitudes thronged the family compound of the late Gen. SaniAbacha situated at No. 8 Gidado Road, Kano, for the wedding ceremony of Alh. Bashir Dalhatu and Hajiya Zainab Abacha Dalhatu had served under Gen. Abacha as minister of power and steel before the death of the former military head of state. The chief imam of Kano, Sheikh Isa Waziri, officiated at the Wedding Fatiha.
The occasion transited from a mere wedding to a political gathering as almost all political gladiators in northern Nigeria -- including those who were not invited -- were in attendance. A curious crowd overpowered the security operatives at the event and pushed the Iron Gate down just to gain entrance into the compound.
This wedding generated a lot of reactions. Tongues therefore kept wagging, questioning the positive responses from guests which seemed to indicate that Nigerians have quickly waved aside the huge loot traced to Abacha and his family.
The political implication of this marriage is that Dalhatu, a three-time minister in various governments, would have inherited a lot of political goodwill from the Abacha family for the mere reason that he is a son-in-law to the family of the former head of state. However, the marriage could weather the storm that hit it against the rock of incompatibility.
Gen. Aliyu Mohammed Gusau And Jamila Ibrahim Dasuki
The former national security adviser, Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, married Jamila, daughter of the former Sultan of Sokoto, after her first husband, Aliyu Dasuki, died in 1992.
The late Dasuki was said to have been a very rich businessman within and outside Nigeria. He was also said to have hobnobbed with military regimes in the 1990s, which helped his business to blossom.
General Gusau, himself a top-flight intelligence officer and a former presidential aspirant of the ruling PDP, married the princess of the Caliphate who inherited the multi-million-naira estate of her late husband.
The marriage is seen as a consolidation of Gusau’s influence and affluence in the country, which invariably is rubbing off on her siblings too.
