Every single one of them was a marriage made in heaven. But we couldn’t have known this at the time. They had perhaps everything going for them. Incredible bond, awesome love and unshakeable faith in each other, name it, they had it all. Yet, we didn’t see any of these. Instead, we chose to feast on the controversies surrounding their union and made it our business to tell them everything was wrong with their proposed wedding. No sooner had the marriage been consummated than detractors began to scream, ‘divorce!’ from the roof top. Relentlessly, the rumour mongers continued to proclaim the marriage dead via tabloids and fired every destructive missile they could muster at the union, but today, years, and in some cases, decades after, these couples have not only shamed their detractors, they’re standing tall, waxing even stronger by the day. In our books, these unions will go down as the most enduring and astonishing marriages ever seen in this part of the world. Wale Lawal presents to you a compilation of 10 celebrity marriages we didn’t give a chance.
ANITA HOGAN & TED MARK: They made headlines when they had a quiet wedding in late 2006. Ordinarily, the wedding may have gone unnoticed but for the controversy surrounding it at the time. Actress Anita Hogan, who’d just made quite an impact with her participation at the 2006 edition of the popular Gulder Ultimate Search reality show, was embroiled in a nude picture scandal that very nearly tore the young lady’s life into shreds and brought her budding acting career to a screeching halt. She was pictured nude in several poses with Ted Mark, her Dutch lover who later became her husband. Expectedly, Anita was devastated. Although she later came out and insisted she was not the one in the X-rated pictures but the damage had already been done. Shortly after, her lover came to her defense and claimed he and Anita were already engaged to be married and vowed that regardless of the scandal, he would still go ahead with the wedding. Many thought it was just a face saving posture to salvage the pride and dignity of the traumatized Anita who had also lost her few weeks old pregnancy owing to the trauma she suffered. Weeks after, Ted shocked their critics and made good his promise, the couple were joined together as man and wife at the Ikoyi Registry. They later had a son named Munachi in December 2009. Last time we checked, hubby and wife are still waxing strong together and there are unconfirmed reports they’ve added another child to the family.
MERCY JOHNSON & PRINCE ODIANOSEN OKOJIE: We can’t forget this one so soon. It made headlines in all the major newspapers and magazines. Top celebrity actress, the absolutely gorgeous Mercy Johnson, had announced to the world she was getting married and flaunted her fiancée in the open only for a lady to appear from the blues, claiming she was Ody’s wife and that he had indeed abandoned her and their children in Europe to come tie the knots wit Mercy. And all hell broke loose. People, particularly women, branded the actress a husband snatcher and called her all manner of names, saying she shouldn’t have gotten engaged to a man she knew was married with kids. The lady got quite some support, she was even encouraged to get a court injunction stopping the wedding from taking place. The whole revelation devastated Mercy, it was likely she had no idea her fiancee had only just come out of a marriage. For a brief spell, Mercy went underground, ostensibly to avoid the media and pull herself together. By the time she resurfaced, she and her husband appeared to have gotten well over the initial shock with the husband coming out to admit that, indeed, he was once married to the lady in question but that their marriage was dead and buried long before he met Mercy. And he was willing to produce proof of their separation. That was when the lady scampered for cover, never to be heard from again till this day. But even after the husband’s declaration and the eventual wedding, many still swore we hadn’t heard the last of the drama. They expected the lady would still go to court and come back with a court order scuttling the marriage, or if that didn’t happen, they opined that if the lady’s story was true, then Mercy’s husband would soon do to her what he did to the former wife. Well, we’ve got bad news for the busy bodies, the marriage will be eight years old this year with three adorable kids to show between them and there’s clearly no sign of any separation happening between these two. So, you guys had better be prepared to wait for forever because these guys are only getting stronger in love by the day!
CHARLY BOY OPUTA & LADY DIANE: Amazing couple. At a point back then, they were Naija’s most popular showbiz couple. They went everywhere together and attended events together. When Charly Boy returned with her from the United States in the 80’s, everyone wondered what the dark and beautiful American Lady was doing with a maverick like Charly Boy. Apart from the fact that it was clear she loved him to bits, you couldn’t place your finger on the major attraction. She seemed reserved, almost introverted, while he was the exact opposite. They just didn’t match. Or so we thought. The Area Fada, as he’s fondly called, was a fiercely vocal personality and he never shied away from controversies. He stood up against injustice and defended the very downtrodden. This often got him into trouble with the law. Another problem was that His Royal Punkness had a weakness for beautiful women, a fact that makes a mockery of stories linking him to homosexuality. With all these, everyone one thought and expected that we would wake up one morning to hear our ‘American wife’ couldn’t take it anymore and had packed her bags and returned to the U.S. But not this strong and amazing woman, she stood by her man through thick and thin. Little wonder why the weird one has never stopped showering encomiums on this incredible woman, re-declaring his love for her at every given opportunity. Today, their marriage is well over thirty years old with a handful of quite successful children to show for it.
AY & WIFE: Comedian, Ayo Makun and his very beautiful wife, Mabel, make a fantastic couple together. They attended events together and AY’s wife has always been there for him, supporting him and his projects, both movies and comedy, and generally playing her role as a loyal and dutiful wife. It was therefore a big shock to many when, a couple of years ago, we heard about tales of a major conflict and separation between these two wonderful young couple. Some bad belles had even begun to roll out the drums, claiming the differences between them was irreconcilable and as such a separation was imminent, but today, like AY’s people (Warri) would say, God pass them! That marriage has grown in leaps and bounds today. It will be recalled that his wife even treated him to a surprise birthday party after their rumoured conflict.
MAHEEDA & HUBBY: This weird one courts controversies. Acclaimed actress and Nigeria’s number one porn star, Maheeda, shocked everyone when she got married to a white man whose background is shrouded in secrecy. The truth is, she was certainly the last person everyone thought would give marriage a shot so soon. And even at that, not many gave her marriage any chance. It’s been almost six years now or thereabout that the controversial one got married and from what we hear, she is enjoying every moment of it. Left to many, especially those who couldn’t stand Maheeda’s guts, the marriage was only expected to last a couple of months, but now it’s lasted more than a couple of years.
TCHIDI CHIKERE & NUELLA NJUBIGBO: This one was on the cover of every major magazine in the country. Ace producer, Tchidi Chikere, was once married to actress, Sophia. The marriage didn’t show any sign of collapse until suddenly, from the blues, we heard, Tchidi was leaving the mother of his three children, all boys, for another actress, Nuella Njubigbo. Many thought at first that it was merely one of those stories you treat with a pinch of salt when you hear them. But it turned out to be very real, the ace producer had left his wife and mother of his kids for another woman. Many swore the union would not see the light of day. Well, it’s been about two years now, the controversial union is still standing and they even have a child to show for their troubles!
FUNKE AKINDELE AND JJC: Everyone was happy for Funke Akindele when she announced her wedding to singer, JJC. The Jenifa's Diary babe had endured a tumultous period in her previous marriage. What was of concern to many about her engagement to JJC was that he was regarded as a playboy. He already had kids from many women and wasn't able to stay stable with any of them. Many were worried our dear Funke could just end up as one of his baby mamas. But the gentleman has proven us wrong. He has been an absolutely fantastic husband to Funke and a great dad to his twins. They got married in 2016 and still waxing strong.
PETER OKOYE AND LOLA OMOTAYO: This one was embroiled in all manner of controversies right from the very start. First was the disapproval of Lola by the Okoye family who were not comfortable with the fact she is Yoruba and to make things a little more complicated, she is older than Peter. The fear was that if Peter went on with the wedding, he might have problems in the marriage. He didn't get the blessings of his brothers, but that was not enough to stop him from marrying the love of his life. The wedding took place against all odds in November 2013.
TUBABA AND ANNIE MACAULEY: Not many gave them a chance too. At the time Tubaba decided to marry Annie, his first real love, he had fathered several children from different women. No one was sure if Tubaba was actually ready and willing to settle down with Annie or any woman for that matter. At the time, it appeared the super star was still incapable of sticking to one woman. But he has proven everyone of us wrong and we are grateful for that because Annie is such a sweet, sweet girl that deserves to be happy in his arms forever. They got married in March, 2013.
KAFFY AND JOSEPH AMEH: Nigeria's celebrity dancer and Guinness world record holder, Kaffy, shocked the entertainment industry when she announced she was getting married to Joseph Ameh, the music director and drummer for the defunct PSquare. The shock had to do with the age difference between the two. Kafayat Oluwatoyin Shafau aka Kaffy is a whopping 8 years older than her husband. It didn't seem like a perfect union at the time, many feared either Joseph would wake up one morning and walk out of the marriage or Kaffy would decided she no longer wanted a younger husband. But none of that has happened. They got married in June 2012 and still counting.