There was mild drama at a wedding ceremony in a Calabar church, Cross River Statewhen the bride’s father and a clergyman disagreed over who between them had the power to declare the couple husband and wife.
The wedding, held on September 9 at Liberty Gospel Church, Calabar, was broadcast live on facebook.
The groom was Francis Mbosowo and the bride was Kubiat, according to information on the Facebook page.
Helen Ukpabio, an apostle and founder of the church, who officiated at the wedding, publicly asked the bride’s father if the groom had met all the traditional requirements before the church could “unite them as husband and wife.”
“They are now husband and wife,” responded the bride’s father. The parishioners laughed out loud.
“No, they won’t be until we say them,” Mrs. Ukpabio told the man.
“But has it satisfied you?” She asked him.
“They are now husband and wife,” the bride’s father responded again, sounding adamant. The parishioners once again laughed out loud.
The exchange between the clergyman and the bride’s father, a rare scene in a wedding ceremony usually considered a solemn event, especially the moment when a priest is about to pronounce a couple husband and wife, seemed to have provided entertainment. to the parishioners of the Liberty Gospel Church.
“Okay, did you hear what I said?” -Mrs. Ukpabio asked the bride’s father, who turned and looked at the apostle who was on the podium, a few meters from where the groom, the bride and her families were.
“I said, has it satisfied you? You don’t come (here) to make a statement. I will make the statement,” Mrs. Ukpabio said firmly.
“Has it satisfied you?” Mrs. Ukpabio asked again.
The man did not respond. There was silence inside the church. The man looked at his daughter and the man who would be her husband. The three of them spoke among themselves in low voices.
‘No, you didn’t join them’
The apostle repeated the question in the Efik language, in case the man did not understand English.
The man said he understood her question.
He told the apostle that he had pronounced the couple husband and wife during the traditional marriage rites, which took place a few days before the church wedding.
“No, you did not join them,” the apostle told him. “I am the one who will unite you, in the name of Jesus.”
“Did this young man satisfy you according to the tradition of your list? You gave him a list, did it satisfy you? she asked for the eighth time.
“If you said you had united them, we say goodbye (from here) and everyone leaves.”
Mrs Ukpabio was apparently getting frustrated with the man’s attitude. “What’s the problem here? Has this man given you your traditional rights? she asked him again.
“Yes, I had given!” The man, who now seemed to have finally given up, responded. The parishioners burst out laughing. The groom laughed too.
“Eeee! “That’s what you should have said.”
The apostle asked the groom’s family if they knew the bride and if they were willing to accept her into their family. They responded affirmatively.
Ukpabio continued with the wedding ceremony, including the introduction of the bride’s groom, the exchange of wedding vows and rings, before she finally declared the couple as husband and wife.
“In the Mighty name of Jesus! “Our Father, a new home has begun,” he prayed for the couple.
“Our Father, we declare that any other foundation that anyone has laid because of these people is hereby destroyed, destroyed, destroyed, destroyed. We scatter, uproot, cast out (and) burn with fire in the name of Jesus!
“Amen!” – the parishioners chanted.
Fundamental question
The church wedding (some people call it the “white wedding”) is a culture that Europeans passed on to Nigerians through colonization.
Some Nigerians prefer to go to church for their wedding after doing it the traditional way. There are others who would love to add a third: judicial marriage.
Mrs. Ukpabio was simply following a consecrated ceremony at a typical Christian wedding in Nigeria, where the church seeks the consent of both parents before declaring a couple husband and wife, but the action of the bride’s father raises a fundamental question of when a marriage could be celebrated. Is it said to have actually taken place: is it when a priest makes a statement or when the parents of the bride and groom give their consent, during a traditional ceremony?
“I have seen people get married without their parents’ consent. The exact time at which a marriage is said to have taken place can vary from place to place and country to country,” Eno Adams of Akwa Ibom State said in May in response to a question posed by a PREMIUM reporter. TIMES.
“Some might consider it to be when the couple says ‘I do’ or equivalent affirmative words, while others might consider it to be when the official declares them married, or when the marriage is legally registered. Anyway, the key point is that marriage usually involves a combination of a legal process (obtaining a license and registering the marriage) and a ceremonial act (the wedding ceremony).”