Former Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Sabur Dimeji Bankole, will be remarrying on Friday, January 15th.
The bride is Miss Aisha Shinkafi Saidu, daughter of the Governor of Kebbi State, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu.
Bankole divorced his first wife in 2017, and had a bachelor since.
The wife to be, is a lawyer and graduate of the University of Hull in the UK. She is a granddaughter of the late politician, Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, Marafan Sokoto. The bride’s mother is Shinkafi’s daughter and a sister to the former Governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Aliyu Shinkafi.
A statement from the Bankole family of Iporo, Abeokuta, disclosed that a quiet introduction between the two families had taken place a few weeks earlier to kick off the joining together in line with Islamic and traditional injunctions.
At the introduction ceremony, the Governor of Sokoto State and Bankole’s successor as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, had led the groom’s family to the bride’s family home to seek her hand in marriage.
Friday’s event will be the culmination of a courtship that both families had kept very discrete. Political observers, however, note that 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 chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum.
Meanwhile, the Bankole family advised that in keeping with the requirements of COVID-19 protocols, the ceremony would be low-key. It, therefore, implored invited guests to observe all health and safety directives at the event, while appealing to friends and well-wishers who might not have received invitations for their understanding given the uncertainties of the present times.
