There is much that many of did not know about the decade long love affair between the newly married couple, Tolu and Olumide Ijogun. With due respect to them, both are what you can referred to as "Ema D'ami Duro" kids with the best of the best available to them.
To cut the long story short, both met at secondary school and one "ordained" step at a time, they got married at a talk-of-the town wedding in Lagos this past weekend.
In a recent interview, the couple talked about their love lives of 14 years, and most especially the bride's late mother's thoughts about their relationship.
Read an excerpt of the interview below…
How they met
"It was quite a magical moment because as I walked into the class I noticed her amongst the rest," Ijogun recalls.
"It was really a moment that I still cannot express in words. I knew it was a sign and this was a sign from God. I knew I might not have fully recognized it but I couldn't miss it. If I can express it in words it would be like recalling how the spotlight shines on someone among so many people. I have never felt that way again with someone else."
For Odukoya, it was an equally memorable occasion. "It all started for me when he came into Greensprings. Because Olumide is a fine boy, all the girls were all over him. I didn't want to follow the crowd so I kept my distance and did my own thing. We knew we liked each other but we were kids at that point in time. So, I travelled away to America and came back. Then we started the relationship and we have been together ever since."
How he proposed
Proposal was nothing dramatic because Ijogun "is a very simple guy," Odukoya said with a spark in her eyes. "I didn't really expect to see anything crazy because I would have said 'this is not you'. He had travelled back from his MBA graduation. I was asking to see his certificate and he brings out two boxes and he held on to them, and I was thinking it was a bracelet or chain. My husband is very prudent with money; he doesn't just spend money, so I thought he had gone all out this time to buy me something very expensive.
"But before he brought out the box, he was hugging me and telling me he loves me and he wants to spend the rest of his life with me. Then he turns it to me and there were two rings and he was really sweating and he tells me he loves me and he wants to spend the rest of his life with me and I said 'yes, put the ring on my finger'. It was very simple because that is who he is. It was a precious moment."
Pre-Marital Counseling from Pastor Bimbo shortly before her death
"The crazy thing is that my mum actually spoke to us in 2005," Odukoya said. "She knew we were in a serious relationship. She called us into the church office and we came into the office and we sat down and she said, 'This Tolu you say you like, do you want to marry her?' And he said yes. She said, 'Hmm, this girl, she has problems o. She gets angry. I hope you know the bad part of her?' He said 'Yes, ma, I know'. She spoke to us like we were about to get married in a couple of months."
And as if on cue, Ijogun adds: "She said marriage is not a contract but a lifetime commitment." Another laughter.
"It's amazing that she did that because people always ask me: 'did your mum meet him?' And I say 'yes, my mother knew him'. She was at first driving him away. She was like 'she is too young, don't come to the house' because then we were like 13." His excuse was always that he had come to give her some mathematics lesson.
"Yes, he used to come and teach me some math and my mum would be like 'you people are just joking'. But then by the time we got to SS3 and we started dating. My mother was like 'maybe my approach is wrong, maybe I should let her have a boyfriend but they must meet here in the house'. And then she started asking questions like 'this relationship you guys are having, what do you do and what do you say?' She wanted to be a part of it.
For full interview, click here
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