The controversies surrounding the elaborate wedding of Ekweremadu’s son Lloyd and his wife last weekend which attracted a deluge of reactions across several quarters may have now been put to rest.
Hon. Lloyd Ekweremadu who led his father’s legal war chest in the United Kingdom had come under heavy criticism for staging a loud wedding ceremony that witnessed the presence of heavy-weight politicians across party lines in the country. Many who spoke on the subject held the view that “an elaborate wedding at a time when his parents are in jail in the UK, his sister still battling to save her life from Kidney failure, was unnecessary”.
ENigeria Newspaper reports that in a recent reaction, Olisa Metuh, a former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who is very close to the family gave some insight into the reason for such an event moments ago. Adding that it was indeed authorized by the embattled former Senator irrespective of the predicament that befell the family.
In a statement signed by Metuh, he wrote:
A lot of posts and comments have been made about the proprietary or otherwise of celebrating a wedding in the circumstance of Ikeoha’s misfortune. I believe a well-informed explanation could help the public understand the true position.
First, I have known Hon. Lloyd Ekweremadu as a decent, respectable, and responsible young man who will be the pride of any parent. He was in firm control of the legal defense team during the trial as well as taking care of the immediate and extended Ekweremadu family with the sudden unavailability of both parents. I was amazed at his calm and mature display throughout the UK.
On the wedding, which was actually planned for last year but for the arrest and the trial, Lloyd and his beautiful wife were reluctant to have a public wedding in this circumstance but his parents insisted that their misfortune should not deny the young couple a lifetime memory of a wedding with a bridal train.
We therefore decided to have a very small and controlled wedding reception. Even now, a lot of close friends who organized prayers and took vigil with us are still sad at not being invited to the wedding. Some others who heard earlier came as a way of connecting to the family, in their wisdom.
But then, you cannot control the quest for recognition by politicians. A small picture of the bride and groom with Peter Obi, former SPs, DS, governors, and ministers was bombed by all the politicians present and this picture is now being widely circulated. Can you really blame those guys when most of them have been traveling at great personal costs to visit Ike in the UK?
Regardless, it was a solemn wedding and many shed tears when the Priest requested glory for the parents of the groom. We live for our children and we all were happy with the smiles and joy, albeit temporarily, on the faces of a family who have known only sorrow and sadness in the last 15 months.
In the end, only God gives peace and joy but for us, we will continue to hold onto the good memories of the past and keep faith that the great reunion shall come again.
For now, we wish the newlyweds marital bliss.
