The quiet engagements by three Nigerian young celebrities have been an item for some time now. Nollywood actress, Iyabo Ojo, musician Davido Adeleke and Disc Jockey Florence Otedola a.k.a. DJ Cuppy, recently said ‘I Do’ to their lovers, albeit without the usual public display of festivity.
Of the three subjects, only Iyabo Ojo has been married once with two beautiful children, a male and female, to show for it. At age 21, Iyabo had her first marriage experience in 1999 and waited for twenty-four years to give true love another shot. She recently announced she had fallen in love with an Igbo man and showbiz big player, Paul Okoye.
The buzz about Davido and his wife, Chioma, had been all over the internet for a few years, until last November 2022 when the union was made official. The secret traditional marriage was done a few days after the unfortunate demise of the only child from their union, Ifeanyi.
DJ Cuppy will clock 31 years of age this year. At the close of last year 2022, the cute billionaire’s daughter announced her engagement to a British boxer, Ryan Taylor. For DJ Cuppy, it’s all about timeline, posits a marriage expert who spoke to Global Excellence.
“Her case is peculiar if compared to that of Iyabo Ojo and Davido,” notes the expert. “DJ Cuppy lives most parts of her life abroad if I’m not mistaken. Of course, Davido too was born outside the shores of Nigeria but he is more familiar with African cultures than DJ Cuppy is.”
In the case of DJ Cuppy, the expert stressed, getting married at her age is about, where you should be in your career, when you should meet the right man, how old you want to be when you get married, and the right age to start having children if having children is part of the plans. And, according to the expert, societal pressure cannot be ruled out. “When nosy people in their calculation feel that it is the right time for a lady or even young man at a certain age to get married, then pressure sets in.
The pressure to get married is especially strong for women in their 20s and 30s. Iyabo Ojo will be 46 in 2023, but her case is said to be understood. She got married at the right age, the expert affirms, stressing that 21 is the most perfect age for a girl to be married. That the marriage stopped working later did not invalidate the fact that she got it right, he expounds.
Davido probably did make his marriage a quiet affair because, firstly, he would not be seen throwing a carnival in the midst of mourning; and, secondly, he did it to convince his Igbo in-laws of the genuineness of his love for their daughter. A source had revealed that it was indeed Chioma’s family that caused the traditional marriage to hold.
For some other reasons, insiders argue, these celebrities might have decided to keep their engagements secret for a number of reasons; privacy, uncertainty or concern about what reaction they might receive if they remained single beyond the time ‘acceptable’ to the society.
-Folorunsho Hamsat
