As the news of his coming wedding hit town, a lot of people have been asking questions about hisfirst wife, Olaitan, who has since gone off the radar. Details of what led to their divorce are not public yet.
So, Friday’s marriage ceremony is expected to draw the curtain on speculations regarding his matrimonial intentions since the divorce. Olaitan and Dimeji Bankole had a daughter from their union. They lost her to sickle cell anemia in October 2014.
Bankole's new bride, Aisha is a lawyer and graduate of the University of Hull in the UK is a granddaughter of late political heavyweight and onetime head of Nigeria’s security organisation Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, Marafan Sokoto.
The bride’s mother is Shinkafi’s daughter and a sister to the former Zamfara Governor, Aliyu Shinkafi.
A statement from the Bankole family of Iporo, Abeokuta disclosed that a quiet introduction between the two families took place to kick off the joining together in line with Islamic and traditional injunctions.
At the introduction ceremony, Sokoto Governor and Bankole’s successor as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, led the groom’s family to the bride’s family home to seek her hand in marriage. Both families had kept the romance very discreet.
Political observers however note the marriage would appear to straddle Nigeria’s great political divide as Bagudu is the Chairman of the APC Governors Forum while Tambuwal is the National Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum.
-additional information from The Nation.