Obasanjo, Pastor Adeboye, Oyedepo and others attend Jonathan’s daughter’s wedding

Former President Olusegun Obasan­jo joined other dignitaries to grace the church wedding of Pres­ident Goodluck Jona­than’s foster daughter, Inebharapu and her husband Simeon, at the National Christian Cen­tre, Abuja, yesterday

 Obasanjo arrived in the venue with Dr. Andy Uba and some other aides before the commencement of the service. He was ushered into the hall amidst standing ova­tion and took his seat at the VIP section. A loud applause from the congregation also greeted his introduction dur­ing the service.

In his admonition on the occasion, President Jonathan advised the couple to learn to solve their marital problems themselves without involv­ing a third party, including their parents. He further urged the couple to embrace the virtue of endurance, add­ing that they should not bring their problems to him, as he already had enough on his hands to handle.

The President, in his vote of thanks at the service, recognised the presence of Obasanjo.

Delivering his sermon, the Primate of the Church of Ni­geria, Anglican Communion, Most Revd. Nicholas Okoh, noted that although marriage as an institution was ordained by God, it had been having problems from the beginning with Adam and Eve.

He urged the couple to keep the vow they made before God so that they can attract the blessings therein to themselves. Okoh urged them to always forgive each other no matter what, warn­ing against keeping diary of offences for each other.

The cleric though noted the importance of money in marriage, he stressed that the bride and groom were not joined together as business partners.

Okoh also used the oc­casion to again kick against same-sex marriage which he described as sinful, artificial and shameful. “We encour­age young people to reject that new introduction of young men marrying men or women marrying women,” he said.

Speaking at the reception held at the International Conference Centre (ICC), the Chairman, Senate Presi­dent, David Mark, who represented Vice President Namadi Sambo urged the couple to properly define each other’s roles in the home so as to avoid con­flict.

“Any man whose mar­riage is successful today, it is because the husband has allowed the wife to take the minor decision in the house and he the major decision. If there is a football match in the house, if your husband’s team is losing and your team is winning and your husband is boasting that his team will win, encourage and support him, that is a major deci­sion.”

Frank Edogho of ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire” and Helen Paul, a presenter of Jara on African Magic, were on hand to entertain the guests at the reception. Music was supplied by Kola Sax, popular international gospel artiste, Ron Konely did a special love song en­titled: “You are my every­thing.”

Prominent among dig­nitaries who attended the service were: the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihe­dioha; Governor Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom); Gov­ernor Jonah Jang (Plateau); Governor Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa); Governor Li­yel Imoke (Cross River); Governor Gabriel Suswam (Benue); former Governor Peter Odili; and Chief Edwin Clark.

Eminent men of God such as Pastor Enoch Adeboye; Bishop David Oyedepo, Archbishop Sam Amanga, and Pastor Paul Adefarasi, were also present at the oc­casion.