By Santigie Momoh, Freetown, Sierra Leone
President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone and First Lady Fatima Bio (pictured) recently solemnized their marriage vows in the Catholic church in Freetown and Sierra Leone.
The couple had had a Muslim wedding in London in 2013 because the First Lady is from the Islamic faith. Last Friday she kindly consented to a repeat of the process in her husband’s Catholic church.
This private and simple ceremony that costs nothing to the state (with the bride and groom wearing simple attire) drew a firestorm of protest from the country’s opposition and their supporters who made all sorts of ridiculous criticisms on how much it would cost the state (nothing) or that the time was not right (suggesting that they should pick a date for the president to marry even though the former president give away his daughter in marriage at a time when Ebola was fresh in the minds of the people).
The hatred exhibited by the opposition in relation to this wedding has never before been witnessed in Sierra Leone with countless and virulent audio and video clips and the hiring of comedians to attack the president and his beautiful wife in all sorts of ways.
But despite the thunderstorm of attacks President Bio, First Lady Fatima Bio and their relatives and friends calmly went ahead with preparations for the wedding and bravely went through the wedding ceremony itself.
President Bio, a Catholic since birth, was more composed and at ease while First Lady Fatima Bio, as a Muslim woman from birth, was a little bit nervous but managed to smoothly go through the ritual which is more complicated than the average Islamic wedding. She demonstrated a lot of determination and fortitude because as a journalist and actress in the past, she was keenly aware that the whole world was watching live, every step of the way. She should be commended for not breaking down on stage because those were very stressful minutes for her, perhaps the most stressful in her life. But she went through it, with the obvious support of her husband, who stoutly stood by her side and provided the necessary support.
President Bio and First Lady Fatima Bio do not deserve the hate poured on them by the opposition. Tthe people of Sierra Leone on the other hand watched everything on television with shouts of joy when the First couple kissed each other in front of the cameras. Sierra Leoneans love weddings especially one in which representatives of the country’s two main religions came together as one.
President Bio and Madam Fatima Bio did nothing wrong.
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