Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq has secretly tied the knots with the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.
The extremely private event, reportedly took place last Friday, September 18, 2020 and it was the culmination of a love affair between the two public figures that dates back to more than a year ago, according to reports.
It was reportedly gathered that the marriage was delayed till last Friday after the controversy that followed the rumoured affair between Farouq and Buhari in October 2019 where it was alleged that the President was set to take her for a wife.
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According to reports, the decision not to make the wedding public was in recognition of the time. The need to observe the Covid-19 safety protocol; the sensitivity of respecting the mood of the nation and the serious internal security challenges were some of the reasons why the couple chose to make the wedding a low-key event.
One of the family sources said it was pressure from family members that compelled them to eventually tie the knots at the time they did because the tight official assignments of both of them were almost going to delay it further.
The family source said: “While the Minister was busy overseeing the humanitarian activities which her ministry was undertaking owing to the flood and security challenges in the country, the Air Chief was also on the field most of the time superintending over the air component of military’s internal security operations across the country. “As a matter of fact, both of them were represented at the wedding based on the Islamic principle of representation in marriage”, the source confided.
Speaking in the same vein, an Islamic scholar who witnessed the event at a mosque in Abuja said such low-keyed wedding is encouraged in Islam.
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The Scholar who preferred to be anonymous said: “The actual Muslim wedding known as a nikah is a simple ceremony which doesn’t necessarily require the physical presence of the bride and the groom once they have representations or witnesses sometimes known as Wali from both parties in agreement for the marriage.
“The ceremony consists of reading from the Qur’an, payment of the Sadaki dowry and the endorsement by the Wali, the representatives, including the exchange of vows and prayers. Therefore, culturally and religiously this Islamic marriage is encouraged and supported because it has the blessing of ‘Wali’ the representatives who have “Walayah” authority or guardianship over partners engaged in concluding the marriage contract.”
This wedding happened after Sadiya Umar-Farouq had grabbed the headlines for being President Muhammadu Buhari’s potential bride, following rumours while the President’s wife, Aisha Buhari was out of the country.
The reports were later refuted and thrown to the trash bin.
