Entertainment

Charlyboy weds wife in church after 40 years

Published

5 years ago

December 15, 2018

Nigerian showbiz maestro and rights activist, Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charlyboy , has formally walked his American wife , Diane , down the aisle after 40 years of marriage .The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the marriage produced three children .

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- key wedding was officiated by the outspoken Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Dioceses , Bishop Mathew Kukah , and had in attendance close friends and relatives of the couple , including the aged mother of Charlyboy .

The Archbishop of Abuja Catholic Diocese , Cardinal John Onaiyekan , was also in attendance among some other clergymen.

The couple exchanged the “ I do ” vows amidst cheers from the congregation .

They thereafter signed the marriage register .

Onaiyekan , in his exhortation , hailed the couple for staying together for over four decades .

He , however , urged them to be committed to their marriage vows by showing mutual love , understanding and respect for each other .

” I especially congratulate Charles and his wife for this Godly decision , and I pray God to keep them together. ”

Charlyboy told NAN on the sidelines that he and his wife decided to wed in a church to honour his aged mother who had been ‘ pleading that we do the right thing ’ .

He told NAN that he got married as a teenager in 1974 , and secured divorced 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 thinks it would curb my sexual excesses, ” he said .

Charlyboy , who is 67 years , has nine children from different women and has 16 grandchildren .

He has , however , always regarded Diane as the mother of all his children .

( NAN )