Nigerian showbiz maestro and rights activist, Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charlyboy, has formally walked his American wife, Diane, down the aisle to sign the dotted line after 40 years of marriage.
Charlyboy and Diane exchanged marriage vows on Saturday evening at the Chapel of Sisters of Jesus the Redeemer Catholic Church in Gwarimpa, Abuja.
The low-keyed wedding was officiated by the outspoken Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Dioceses, Bishop Mathew Kukah, with close friends and relatives in attendance, among them Charlyboy’s aged mother.
The Archbishop of Abuja Catholic Diocese, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, was also in attendance among some other clergymen.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the couple exchanged the “I do” vows amidst cheers from the congregation.
They thereafter signed the marriage register.
Onaiyekan, in his exhortation, commended the couple for staying together for over four decades but urged them to be committed to their marriage vows by showing mutual love, understanding and respect for each other.
“I specially congratulate Charles and his wife for this Godly decision, and I pray God to keep them together.”
NAN quoted Charlyboy as saying he and his wife decided to wed in church to honour his aged mother who had been ‘pleading that we do the right thing.’
According to him, he got married as a teenager in 1974, and secured divorce after the union produced one child.
He noted that the Catholic Church observed a strict marital doctrine.
“This is not that kind of marriage with fanfare; I am doing it to please my aged mother and meet certain demands of the society.
“She has been pleading that we do the right thing, saying this is the woman I have been living with for 40 years.
“We have been following through with the process of annulment of my last marriage, and my former wife who has since remarried cooperated very well, and then in 2017, the marriage was formally annulled.
“My mother actually got the wife for me at the age of 19 because I was a little rascally with women as a young man; she thought it would curb my sexual excesses,” he said.
Charlyboy, who is 67 years, has nine children from different women, and has 16 grandchildren. His marriage with Diane produced three of the nine children.
He has, however, always regarded Diane as the mother of all his children.
NAN
