Pastor (Mrs) Mayowa Ikuforiji is the
wife of the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji.
While the wife is a pastor, her husband is a Muslim and they have been together
for 30 years. In this interview, she speaks on how, as a couple , they have
tolerated each other in the home front.
You are a pastor married to a
Muslim. How have you sustained the relationship without rancour?
I will say it is the grace of God
and basically we worship the same God. We love and understand each other. You
know it is natural if members of your husband’s family want his wife to convert
to Islam. It is also natural if a Christian marries a Muslim they would want
her to convert, but in his case he is understanding and it is some sort of an
agreement that he will allow me practice my religion. There is no problem about
religion. In fact, at times he would pray with me. Maybe because he studied
abroad he was attending churches. He is very conversant with the Bible; he can
quote from Genesis to Revelation and it was easier for him to tolerate my
religion because of his exposure. If he had been a Muslim who doesn’t know much
about the Bible it may have been difficult, but he understands the Bible very
well. Continue...
Was there no opposition to the
wedding from either of the families?
When we met, he was a young man who
just came from abroad. I don’t think he believed religion is something that was
so important then; and when you love someone, regardless of his religion, you
are bound to understand him. When we were courting too, we didn’t see religion
as an issue. I knew his people may want to complain but they were also very
friendly and warm and they did not mind that he was bringing a Christian lady
home. In actual fact, it was my father who spoke against our plan to marry when
he called me to say for three generations of our family there had never been
anyone who married a Christian. He gave me six months to go and think about it
and come back to tell him my mind. After six months I went back to him to say I
wanted to marry Adeyemi and he gave his approval.
How has it been since then, with
both of you practising different religions?
We don’t have any problem. What I
know is that we both believe in God and that we must serve Him. He had lost his
dad when I met him but his mum was a prayer warrior. If you wake up in the
middle of the night, you will see the mother praying. He also doesn’t joke with
his prayer and he allows me to practice my own religion. Sometimes he would
take me to the Anglican Church in Isolo, that was where we stayed when we got
married. We got married at Saint Paul Anglican Church, it was a church wedding
and court wedding. So religion has never been a problem in our home.
What were those things you saw in
him then that made you decide that he was the one you will marry?
When I first met him, it was during
my graduation ceremony. He came with my friend’s fiancé but I did not even
notice him. When that my friend was now getting married, I was the chief
bridesmaid and he was also there. But what I noticed was that he was very
caring. He was all over the place making sure that the whole ceremony went
well; people were calling him, he was very popular and ready to assist. I saw
that he was also jovial. He drove all of us from Oyo to Iree because the
wedding took place in Iree. I forgot the dress I was supposed to wear to the
church thanksgiving on Sunday. The wrapper I wore to the wedding on Saturday,
he had to wash the top for me in the night so that it would be dry before
Sunday morning. Most educated young men at that time wouldn’t do that. I saw
that in him that he was very caring. He wants you to be happy; if he sees
anyone that is sad, he will try as much as possible to make him happy and he
believes he can solve everybody’s problem. And then he has the fear of God in
him. There are certain things he will never do. We have been married for 30
years now; he has never touched alcohol, not even wine.
You never envisaged that he would
become a prominent politician that he is today. Was there any talk of him going
to politics when you first met?
There wasn’t anything like that. He
was working in a bank then. I just wanted to be with him and he wanted to be
with me too. We were both too young anyway to start projecting about the
future; it was just God that made it to work out fine. We are just two people
in love and we felt we could make a go of it, not that I thought that he was
going to be Speaker or anything like that.
Were you apprehensive when he
eventually dabbled into politics?
You know people believe that when
you are into politics, you are someone without integrity and that you are there
to make money for yourself. But I told him that if he wanted to go into
politics, people were going to give him a name that was not his, but he said
his life had always been that of service. He believes that when he is into
politics, that is when he would be able to touch more lives than what he was
actually doing and i believe that when you commit any journey into the hand of
God, there won’t be any problem. And I told him that I will give him my support
and God has been there for him too. That was how we committed it into the hand
of God.
How about the kids now? Do they toe
your line or that of the dad in religious practice?
For my son, he has the inclination
to be a Muslim. He went on Umrah with his dad. The first time the son was in
Saudi, he went with some prayer requests and he said if God answered him, he
would continue to go with his dad. To my amazement he said all the prayer
requests were answered . So he has been a Muslim. But the girls maybe because
they had more inclination towards their mother are more into Christianity, but
they don’t follow me to my church. They are all grown up and we allow them to
follow their minds.
I am a pastor and very serious about
my religion. My husband is a Muslim and very serious about Islam.
He is seeking to become the next
governor of Lagos State. Have you committed the journey into the hand of God?
If you want to take such a step in
life, the first thing anybody needs to do is to seek the face of God. He is the
only one that can do such a thing for you. I wouldn’t encourage him if we had
not committed the whole project into God’s hand.
When do you get the revelation to
become a pastor?
You don’t get a revelation to become
a pastor, it is your work of faith, how you have been working in the Lord’s
vineyard. Before you could be ordained, there are certain things God would have
revealed to you and confirmed by others that would make them say this person is
now qualified to be a pastor. The work you doing with God is important; some
people will be noticing you and you may not know. How close are you to God?
Those are the issues that would come into play before you could be considered
to be a pastor. I became a pastor five years ago.
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