
In this interview exclusive to LIB, Elvina Ibru, business woman &
one of the daughters of billionaire businessman Olorogun
Michael Ibru, opened up about why she doesn't want to get
married, how the society pressures women into bad marriages.
She also talked about having a child out of wedlock and also
explains why she only dates younger men. Interesting interview.
Read below...
You were quoted as saying you don't believe in marriage
sometime back, but why?
People feel that I don't want to get married because I
don't believe in marriage or because I don't have
anybody toasting me for marriage. Wrong! I actually
believe so much in marriage and that's why I don't want
to marry; because marriage has been made a nonsense
of particularly in this country. As far as I'm concerned,
it's not a fair constitution to women. For instance, if your
husband cheats on you, you are expected to forgive him.
Even your own mama go tell you "my dear that is what
marriage is. It's for better or worse. It's a mistake. It's
the devil." But if by mistake, a woman cheats on her
husband in this country, what are you talking about?
She will be called all sorts of names. From Ashawo to
witch. If a woman cheats on her husband, the man
should ask the woman what is it I'm doing wrong
instead of castigating the woman and the society joins in
helping him to do the same. But that's not the only issue
I'm talking about, there are so many. I grew up in a
polygamous family, I'm an Urhobo girl and maybe that's
part of the reasons I've never desired to get married.
Most Urhobo men are expected to cheat on their wives.
It's almost a normal thing. If you are an Urhobo man and
you don't cheat on your wife they'll ask you, "Ol boy, abi
this woman don bury calabash for you?"
Are you serious?
"Yes! I said it, quote me. Maybe it's also my background that
brought about my perception of marriage. I have loads of male
friends that are married and I know what they do. I also have
female friends; very beautiful girls and you can imagine having
dinner with like 12 to 13 of them and all they ever talk about is
their marriage and how unhappy they are with their husbands.
They'll then ask me, you are looking fresh how do you do it? I
always show them my empty fingers and say no man is sucking
my blood. I'm not thinking about whether my husband is with
one small girl in UNILAG or whether there is no enough money
for two of us, because if there is no money I go soak garri for
myself, but I'll never soak garri with you. Forget it! I will not.
Wow! That's tough..
That's for me Elvina, and please let's not get this twisted. Don't
misquote me, I've never encouraged young girls not to get
married. Marriage is a beautiful thing if you can do it. Go and
get married, but marriage is not for me Elvina. There are billions
of people in the world and God made everybody different. The
amount of strands of hair on each person's head is different,
even our thumb prints are not the same. We can't even think
alike. No matter what similarities we share, there is always
some big individual differences, which is why marriage itself is
even hard. Sometimes, you don't know yourself completely. If I
don't know myself completely, how then will I be able to abide
with somebody else. There is no way the person will not get on
my nerves and we'll both explode. So if you can marry,
beautiful! I'll come to your wedding and wear Aso-Ebi. I'll dance
and sing with you and pray that you have a long-lasting union
and beautiful children. But me Elvina, I nor wan marry and
frankly speaking it's not by force.
But don't you think societal pressure is what makes many ladies
to want to marry by all means?
That's another thing in Nigeria as well, you have so much
pressures from families and friends as a young girl to get
married. So you just marry any man that comes your way. You
see a 25 years old girl, before she pass 25 they've started
pressuring her, "are you not getting married?" "Who is the man?"
So, you just marry any nonsense. Even if she doesn't feel that
this is the person for her, she starts getting scared
psychologically wondering if something is wrong with her. She
starts thinking at the age of 25 that she must marry the next
available guy or she might not get someone else to marry her
later; even if she is not totally in love with that guy. So she
should marry the person and be unhappy.
Most Nigerians will say that there is no such things about love
in marriage, but tolerance, what's your take?
If it's about love, will tolerance not come into it. If you love
someone, you'll tolerate them. For me the basis of marriage
should be about love and nothing else. This is what I'm saying,
that I believe so much in marriage that I'm not getting married;
because I can hear things like this all the time whereby
Nigerians will say marriage is about tolerance. Why can't it be
about love. I always say to God, if you want me to get married,
give me a husband that I'll not manage. I can't manage
marriage. I manage my business, I manage finances, I manage
social life, I will not manage marriage. My marriage has to be
perfect and happy. God can do it. So if I am 75 years old and I
meet one 80 years old Papa, and I see that, 'wow! God this is it!',
then we'll get married.
You have a child already and you are not married, but there is
this notion that there is always an adverse effect on a child who
doesn't have both parents' upbringing, what's your take?
That is complete, utter rubbish. Yes, I'm not married and I have
a child, there is nothing wrong with me and there is nothing
wrong with my child. I wasn't seeing my father while growing
up, would you say that has got any impact on me? Except you
want to claim the impact is what we are talking about now, but
I'm the only one among my siblings who has this believe of not
getting married. My brothers are married, my sisters are
married. Gloria is not married, but she'd like to get married. So
that believe that the child will be affected is nonsense. No
marriage can save a child that Is not naturally not strong. There
are some married people that might has well not be married. I
have a bobo(boyfriend) now, my relationship with him is sweeter
than that of most people that are in marriages. If I'm lying let
something happen. You'll see some couples who seem happy,
but their children are feeling deprived because of a marriage that
is not working. I'm not trying to generalise here, I'm just saying
there is always a situation for every situation. A child that grows
up in a marriage where the father beats the mother or the
mother beats the father, as it is in some cases might grow up to
become a bully to his or her spouse in marriage. The child will
grow up to feel it's ok to beat his or her spouse. So just because
you are married doesn't guarantee that your children will have a
more fulfilled life than the child raise outside wedlock.
You Just disclosed that you have a bobo and that you are happy
with him, my question is, if you can be happy with him out of
wedlock, why can't you be by marrying him?
If I can be happy without marrying him, why then must I marry
him? Must I sign that paper? I have told you my stand on
marriage already or else I have to repeat it again!
So, tell us more about your bobo?
My bobo is very handsome , quiet and nice. That's the end of
story, thank You.
What's your take on wide age gap in a relation, especially the
older-lady-younger-man debate?
That's another double standard. We have in this country. If a
60year old man is dating a 30year old girl, people will start
hailing him. But if a 30 years old man is dating a 60 years old
lady, you can never see the end of the story. It's one of the
nonsensical double standard we have against women in this
country.
But can you date someone younger?
(Cuts in) I only date younger men! I'm not interested in older
men. One of the reasons is that they are all married, and
secondly they all have big 'belle'. All of dem too get big belle. I
nor like big belle o.
Oh really?
Yes, look, I'm a very straight forward person. You are attracted
to what you are attracted to. Some people like skinny, dark girls,
they'll never chase me. Some people like light skinned, round
girls, they'll chase me. Some people like short women, they will
not come after me, some like tall girls and will come after me. I
might see a fine guy with a round stomache or chubby look and
say, "oh, this guy is very handsome" but the chemistry won't be
there and I cannot force myself to like what I don't like. I like a
slim, tall, and dark guy with a flat tummy, maybe because I'm
big, so I'm attracted to the opposite. I also don't like
light skinned men. I might see a handsome yellow guy and say
"awww, this guy is cute", but the chemistry will also not be there,
maybe because it reminds me of my brothers. My brothers are
light skinned. I don't really know why it works for me that way,
but I don't deceive myself. I also tell people, don't deceive
yourself. I don't have anything against older men, if I'm
searching and i find an older man in my specs, then leggo! As
regards age, I'm not that old, I'm only 42. My bobo is 34. Yes.
The concern with this kind of your relationship is about IQ and
maturity compatibility, how do you both relate on the same
level?
That is very general. Look at my son, Elisha. Elisha was talking
to me about his views on politics today, how do you feel he'll
think when he is fifteen. He is only six. His agemates were
looking at him like what's GDP? The guy I'm dating right now is
way more mature than most 50-year-olds I know. The things
that freak them don't freak him. For instance, you'll never see
him in a strip club and you see some big babas in a strip club
screaming in ecstasy. It's just like some of the listeners of our
programs on Classic FM, we play old school and you'll be
shocked at how young many of our listeners are. A lot of them
are just like 24-years old. They call in and start telling us about
songs of Nat King Cole. I will be wondering how these young
people get to Know about all these songs.
UNDER MAINTENANCE