How Wole Soyinka Felt About His 20-Year-Old Son’s Marriage to 30-Year-Old Lover

We reported yesterday that Nigerian playwright and wife, Wole and Folake Soyinka’s son, Oretunlewa got married to his Igbo sweetheart of eight years, Nneka Ekechukwu, in the United States (read here).

To many of the family members, it’s surprising that the wedding pictures have just appeared in the media in November.

The couple got married in June 2017 in Atlanta Georgia, the United States of America!

According to sources, 30-year-old Nneka, was said to have sponsored the lavish wedding which was attended by friends and families. But Prof Soyinka was said to have kicked against the union.

Read according to Kemiashefonlovehaven,

Nneka, 30, a businesswoman based in the US, was said to have sponsored the lavish wedding which was attended by friends and families. But the groom’s father, Prof Wole Soyinka was said to have kicked against the union.

He was prevailed upon and as a good father he had to appear at the wedding.

Oretunlewa, who is one of the three children (all boys) of Mrs. Folake Soyinka, is believed by his dad to be too young to be a husband.

Professor Soyinka got married to Folake in 1989.

How did Folake meet the Nobel Laureate?

In an interview she had with The News Magazine sometimes ago, Folake revealed that it was at the University of Ife. Of course, she knew he liked her, but the snag was that she was still young and he was so accomplished.

“After I left Ife and went to do my NYSC in Kaduna state, Dr Biodunjeyifo came to visit me and said Kongi (Prof Wole Soyinka) had been looking for me.
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After the service year, Dr Yomi Ogunbiyi who was at the Guardian got me a job there and one day, Wole stopped by,” she said.

It was an interesting courtship.

Explaining that her parents and most of her relatives objected to her relationship with the professor, she still had her siblings’ support.

“There were objections from everywhere. My parents worried that he was too famous and too accomplished. But within a few months after we were married, my parents had changed their mind and they loved him until they passed away. His close friends didn’t have a problem with it but also everyone had an opinion.

Then came the Nobel Prize in 1986 and that derailed everything for a couple of years. More than a quarter of a century later, those opinions didn’t count, we are still trudging along. I have enjoyed love because of him,” she said.

Both are children of professors who have distinguished themselves by getting their post High School education on scholarship.

Their website states that they met at a programme for gifted students in the summer before their last year of High School.

Photo credit: Sarah Slavik Photography