The hallowed sanctuary of the Catholic
Church of Divine Mercy, Lekki, Lagos, will be remembered as the grand setting for the English-themed wedding of incurable lovers, Dr. Nini
Chinazaekpere Ugochukwu and Chiedu Chijioke Iyizoba as they gleefully said “I do” and exchanged rings before
a delighted crowd of family and friends. The couple’s exciting nuptial climaxed a
gripping love drama staged in five cities and an island
across Africa, Europe and the Americas. Packed with all
the creativity, class and coziness that usually
delights our readers in OVATION,
we therefore bring you juicy textual and pictorial
highlights of the superlative nuptials
between ‘Nini’ and ‘Ceejay’ us the couple are fondly
called.
THE
MEETING
How did it all
start? That enquiry led us to discover that unlike a number of unions today,
theirs was no
chance meeting. Their
families – the Ugochukwus and the Iyizobas had been close from time immemorial.
Strangely, in spite of the intimacy of their families, Nini and Ceejay were
what you could term “friendly strangers.” Their relationship was purely
peripheral. They knew each other only from afar and conversations between them
were few and far between. Even when they did talk, such chats were curt –
barely exceeding the casual ‘hello’ or ‘hi’. Besides, Nini was based in New
York in the United States, so meetings were always going to be rare and scarce.
She left Nigeria for America in 2001 where she studied to be a Medical Doctor
at St. John’s University,
New York, going on to
University of Antigua College of Medicine. She only came to Nigeria during
Christmas holidays. It was during one such visits after she had graduated from
Medical School in 2012 that she found love or perhaps, love found her. Her
family as well as Ceejay’s and four other families had planned a vacation
together for Calabar, the tourism-friendly capital of Cross River State in Nigeria.
“I didn’t actually
know his family was going to be there but fortunately for him, we ended up in
the same hotel,” Nini revealed. “He was being too nice and I thought, ‘this guy
must be up to something.’ That was how we started to talk more often. We
exchanged numbers. I had actually thought it (the vacation) was going to be
boring for me and was wishing I had brought a friend along but he kept my
company. Even after we got to Lagos, he wouldn’t let me be.” For Ceejay, the attraction
was instantaneous-love at first sight if you would:
“When I saw her, I
was instantly attracted to her but we never talked although she was the full definition
of what I admire in a woman. She’s beautiful-that was easily the first attraction.
Then, she has a heart of gold. I got talking with her and I discovered that she
had such a fascinating personality which was just wonderful.” Undoubtedly, the
bird was snared!
THE
CHASE
So began Ceejay’s relentless
pursuit of a woman he suddenly was convinced would complete him even though he
had to dig in his heels in the face of Nini’s untiring resistance to his entreaties
for a first date. Her perception that he was a ‘proper Lagos boy’ – a Casanova
– offered impetus for her hesitations.
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