They met on the internet. They fell in love. A spare parts seller, Kunle Bamidele was completely honest in his dealings with his Kentucky, US-based beau, Robin Martins, and their wedding recently in Ibadan was as topical as it was controversial. Nevertheless, the young man will soon jet out of the country to join his wife. Seye Adeniyi reports.
The couple kissing during their wedding.advertisement
He was castigating one of his apprentices for wrong-doing when this reporter got to his shop at Ile-Epo area of Odo-Ona, Abeokuta road, Ibadan, Oyo State.
He was so annoyed with the young male apprentice that he brought out the Sunday Tribune edition of 12th of July, 2009 to butress his admonitions to the boy, on the need for him to be truthful, dedicated to duty, and, above all, say the truth at all times.
“Look at this young man now (pointing at Kunle Bamidele’s picture featured in the Sunday Tribune newspaper of 12th July, 2009), he reaped the reward of being faithful, truthful and sincere, and that was why a white woman, an American for that matter, left her country for Nigeria to marry him, ‘’ he told the apprentice.
Many people thought it was not possible, some tagged it an “arrangeé wedding”, while some are still casting doubts on the unique matrimonial union that took place recently in the city of Ibadan between the duo. Alhaji Laide Eniola, a 70 year-old popular fashion designer at Odo-Ona, along Apata road, Ibadan, was privy to all that transpired during the wedding.
Robin Martin, a 41-yr-old Kentuckian, had travelled to Nigeria, some weeks ago, to wed Kunle Bamidele, a 32-year-old spare parts trader at the popular Gate Market, Ibadan.
According to the tailor, the wedding ceremony actually took place in his house at the Scout-Camp, along Challenge-Molete road, in Ibadan on July 11, 2009, after the registry wedding at the Mapo Registry hall.
On why the wedding festivities were not held at the Bamideles’ house, as was customary, he said Kunle’s father chose the Scout Camp venue to give the American some solace as it was modern and more comfortable than his own, adding that since he and the man were childhood friends, he had to oblige him.
The 41-year-old American woman from Kentucky, USA, arrived in Nigeria on Tuesday, July 8, 2009, and the wedding between her and Kunle took place on Saturday, July 11, 2009. She was accommodated, throughout her stay, at the tailor’s house.
But why the quick arrangement that eventually led to a wedding between the duo, considering the short-days intervals?
Alhaji Eniola has this to say: “Kunle and the American woman had been chatting with each other on the internet for a long time, before the woman agreed to visit him in Nigeria. What really impressed the Kentuckian was Kunle’s sincerity and truthfulness. The woman had used many things to test Kunle’s truthfulness, sincerity, love and faithfulness and, I tell you, the young man is not like other Nigerian youths who are fond of duping Europeans on the internet.’’
He noted that the flight ticket with which the woman travelled to Nigeria was sent to her by Kunle. The bride-to-be had, through the internet, sent the money (foreign currency) to Kunle, instructing him to help her purchase the flight ticket in Nigeria and send it to her, an assignment which Kunle carried out to the letter.
“How many Nigerian youths, especially the so called yahoo boys, can do such a thing? I know what many of these yahoo boys can do, and how they are creating a negative image for the country through their dubious activities on the internet. But Kunle Bamidele, now the legal husband of the Kentuckian, did not do that,” he emphasised.
The tailor also revealed to Nigerian Tribune that the white woman, who is a divorcee and a mother of two children in Kentucky, was also impressed with her Nigerian husband’s truthfulness and sincerity when Kunle showed her all the receipts/invoices he had used in purchasing every material she instructed asked him to get, preparatory to their wedding, including the receipt for the new generating set that was purchased before her arrival in Nigeria. Robin Martins also surprised many people, especially the people living around the Scout-Camp area of Ibadan, when she took delight in eating traditional foods like amala, fufu, eba, even ewedu, gbegiri and okro soups, without developing bowel discomfort during her stay in Ibadan.
He noted that many people had tried to discourage the woman from coming, and yet many others had told the family that the woman would not tolerate the facilities on ground, but she coped admirably well.
Concerning the traditional wedding gown (aso-oke), which the couple used for their wedding, the septuagarian also disclosed to the Nigerian Tribune that Kunle was given money to buy the material by his bride, adding that it was he who designed the attire for the couple.
‘’The newly-wedded coupled enjoyed their honeymoon in my house and, I tell you, she was impressed with Kunle’s “performance,” being a black man. She also confessed to me that what she saw and experienced in Nigeria was the entire opposite of all the negative reports she had heard about the country before coming to Nigeria,” the tailor told the Nigerian Tribune.
He added that the white woman told him that she was very comfortable in her country, as she presently had two or three companies of her own. But she had to divorce her former American husband because the man used to beat, maltreat, and often subjected her to inhuman treatments despite the fact that she had two children by him.
There was a mild drama inside the Mapo Registry hall during the wedding ceremony. The local government officials that conducted the wedding programme were amazed and highly impressed by the woman’s dancing steps. They were pleasantly surprised, especially when the Kentuckian began to lavish dollars on them, when the couple were called to come forward for thanksgiving.
Throughout her stay in Nigeria, Robin Martins Bamidele was able to acclamatize to Nigeria’s weather; she did not complain of any ailment or infections. But she kept abusing the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), for throwing the country into darkness.
Another drama that also ensued during the woman’s short stay in Nigeria, according to Alhaji Eniola, who hails from Ede, Osun State, was between the woman and the Embassy officials when she took her Nigerian husband there to get all the neccessary papers that would facilitate his smooth journey to Kentucky, USA.
The Embassy officials did not want to give Kunle clearance documents for the journey, hinging their excuses on their previous experiences with Nigerians. However, when the new bride shouted at them, Kunle was given all the necessary papers, and will soon be going to America to join his new heart-trob.
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