Joseph Yobo's In-Law Angry With Him Over Refusal Of Traditional Marriage

Joseph Yobo's in laws are extremely
angry with him because he is yet to
marry their daughter traditionally,
according to Yes Magazine .
Yobo’s wife, Adaeze, is from Iru-Owelle
Village in Awka Etiti, Idemili South local
government area of Anambra State.
According to one of them who asked not
to be mentioned yet, their anger with the
soccer star stems from the fact that he’s
yet to marry their daughter traditionally.
“Yobo has not done Adaeze’s Igba Nkwu
and that’s why we are not happy with
him. You are a Yoruba girl, but you can
go and ask your publisher, Azuh Arinze.
He knows what Igba Nkwu means in
Igboland, and he also knows that without
it, no man can be said to have truly and
fully married a woman.
“We love Yobo as a footballer. We are
also happy to have him as our in-law,
but our tradition must be followed and
respected. Remember Ojukwu and
Bianca? In spite of their having a high
society wedding in Abuja and all that,
when the time came, Ojukwu still had to
return to Ngwo (in Enugu) to marry
Bianca
traditionally because it is very, very
important. So, you can tell Yobo that we
said his case cannot be any different. He
must marry our daughter traditionally.
Simple”.
Igba Nkwu, indeed, is very important in
Igbo land. Besides uniting the two
families and formalizing the relationship
traditionally, it’s also an avenue for the
couple to exchange drinks publicly and
announce to the whole world that they
are now one. The format is usually to
hand over to the bride a glass filled with
Nkwu Enu (up wine), and amidst dancing
around the arena; accompanied by her
friends, she locates the groom, hands
over the drink to him, he drinks and
follows her to her parents. Both will now
kneel and be prayed for, with merriment
following later.
Adaeze’s father is the grandson of the
GMO boss, Chief J.O. Igwe. GMO used to
be into serious business and was one of
the first Igbo companies, as far back as
1982, to donate N2million to a cause.
This was when Dollar exchanged one for
about N80. “GMO was the Dangote of
that time in the East. The man was a
member of People’s Club, the biggest
social club, East of the Niger, at the
time. Oliver de Coque and Osita Osadebe
sang his praise in their albums”.
Sources close to Yobo told us that he
was ready and willing to do the Igba
Nkwu but for kidnapping which was
rampant in Anambra State then. “That
was what scared him away. Yobo is a
big boy. I mean, we all saw how big his
white weeding was, in spite of the fact
that he didn’t announce it to the whole
world then”.
Yobo, it would be recalled, had his
church wedding in Jos, Plateau State in
2008. Currently blessed with a child, YES
International! investigation revealed that
he had met with Adaeze’s father, Mr.
Ikechukwu Igwe, for some form of
introduction in Lagos and not Igba Nkwu.
When we contacted Mr. Igwe, on
Thursday, February 13, 2014, he
maintained that he doesn’t have any
issue with his daughter and her husband.
“I don’t have any problem with them at
all and it’s not true that I’m not happy
with them over anything”. On their
inability to perform the Igba Nkwu
ceremonies yet, he said he was happy
with Adaeze as his daughter and Yobo
as his son in-law and that’s what’s
important. “Don’t listen to whoever is
telling you anything on the contrary”. But
still seething with rage, one of the in-
laws said:
“Ask Yobo whether he knows where Iru-
Owelle is. Ask him also whether he has
been to Iru-Owelle. Our people don’t do
traditional marriages in Lagos, so
whatever they claim to have done there
doesn’t concern us. If he wants to marry
our daughter, he should come to our
village''.