Baring any last minute change of plans Nollywood actress and object of many men’s wet dream, Mercy Ozioma Johnson, will be yoked to her prince charming, Prince Odianose Henry Okojie next Saturday. Arrangements for the weeding are going ahead despite objections from several quarters and counsel from her friends that she postpones it.
Many believe that the decision to go ahead with the wedding is based more on the money spent so far than any other consideration.
Klieglights learnt during the week that although Christ Embassy has not made any final statement on its role in the wedding, the church has tactically withdrawn from joining the two together before God and men.
The revelation that Okojie got married to another woman in Italy in 2006 came as a rude shock to elders in the church. Mercy and her intended groom kept the information from the church all through their marriage counseling class which they both attended religiously.
A twist was added to the drama when Christ Embassy officials asked the embittered wife, Lovelyn Aletor Okojie, to produce a marriage certificate and she supplied one with her name and that of her groom (Okojie) identified as Garza Agbeboaye. Insiders say that Okojie could not deny the marriage even though the name on the certificate was different from that which he is widely known with because he was the one in the pictures taken while the union was being consummated in far away Italy. The decision to use Agbeboaye, which Lovelyn argues is Okojie’s grandfather’s name, sources revealed, is to help secure some documents while the couple were in Italy.
Beyond production of the marriage certificate, the church is also not favourably disposed to overseeing a wedding ceremony of a man whose union to his previous wife is not legally over. The final decision of the church had not been made public but a minister who spoke under the condition of anonymity told Klieglights that they would not be part of anything illegal.
While not ruling out completely the chances of celebrating the wedding ceremony anytime in the future, the church wants the couple to clear all the matter on ground before they can move forward. It is most unlikely that that would be possible before next week.
Faced with the possibility of Christ Embassy turning her down, Mercy Johnson may have altered the programme of activities for the wedding. The initial plan was for the couple to appear at the Ikoyi Marriage Registry on Thursday, August 25 for the formal wedding then hold the engagement ceremony the day after. Saturday, August 27 was for the ceremony at Christ Embassy on Kudirat Abiola Way, Oregun with a reception scheduled for 10 Degrees Events Centre on Billingsway Way also in Oregun later in the day. A thanksgiving was planned for the day after at the same church venue.
With the all but certain refusal of the church to get involved in a controversial wedding exercise, Klieglights learnt that the couple have decided to change the plan for Saturday, August 27. The new arrangement may see them shift the blessing of the marriage to a new venue in Ikeja. A cleric is expected to pray for them at the occasion but it is yet unclear if it would be from Christ Embassy.
One other thing that is sure to suffer cancellation is the appointment at the registry on Thursday, as they cannot have a valid marriage under the law unless the first marriage is dissolved. No such dissolution has been ordered by any competent court in Nigeria, Italy or Canada where Lovelyn lives with her two kids at the moment.
And the woman has denied claims that their marriage was dissolved in 2007 because she was having an extra marital affair. In her words, “How is this possible when our second child was delivered in September 2008? And how is it possible that our marriage ended in 2007 when we did our traditional in absentia in March 2009? Is it possible for a man to catch his wife having extra marital affairs and still pay her bride price? He paid my bride price in 2009 and I only recently found out he was also dating Mercy at the same time. Read more

Visit www.gidilinks.com for more news.