By Temitope Ogunbanke 

A woman, whose first husband was killed by Boko Haram members, has found love again in the United States of America.

The woman, who changed her name to Sarah for safety reasons, remarried a Liberian (name withheld).

Sarah’s late husband, a Lieutenant Colonel, was killed during combat by Boko Haram in February 2015 in Maiduguri, Borno State.
But three years after, she got married in a colourful ceremony in the presence of friends and families in United States.

Confirming the wedding in an interview with New Telegraph yesterday, a United States-based International Human Rights lawyer and victims’ advocate, Emmanuel Ogebe, said Sarah’s marriage to a Liberian was intriguing because her late husband had served in Liberia during a military peace-keeping mission to bring stability back to the war-torn country.

He said: “With her son leading the bridal train as the little groom, the resplendent bride made her way into the packed Texan church to a different kind of wedding song.

The lyrics, ‘God sent you to love and comfort me,’ couldn’t be more apt. The bride, Sarah was remarrying in America after Boko Haram killed her husband in Maiduguri, North-East Nigeria a few years before.

“The wedding was on Martin Luther King holiday weekend this year, the holiday commemorating the civil rights icon who advocated for racial equality.

“At the Houston wedding reception, I was seated next to a medical doctor and his wife also a doctor (relatives of the bride.) To my left was a medical doctor and her kids (friends of the bride.) The wedding guests in Houston were a true microcosm of highly educated Nigerian American immigrants.

As lawyers, my wife and I were probably the least educated professionals on our table. The crowd was a mix of family, friends, co-workers and members of the ethnic church where the couple served and met.”

Disclosing how Sarah met her Liberian husband, Ogebe said “all began when the Liberian groom served in the parking ministry of the church and helped Sarah find parking before service. After that she was regularly needing parking assistance from one volunteer in particular.

“Her marriage to a Liberian is especially intriguing. Her late husband had served in Liberia during a military peace-keeping mission to bring stability back to the war-torn country.

“Thinking back on her wedding song, ‘God sent you to love and comfort me,’ that is the true redeeming grace in what would otherwise have been a heart-breaking story.

“Seeing this American woman marrying again and rebooting her life was an emotional experience for me. When governments fail, God doesn’t. Hope is indeed the heart’s great quest and love its healing balm. I admit it; I teared up during the wedding – overwhelmed by God’s solution to this situation.”

Commenting on his relationship with Sarah’s late husband and how the military officer was murdered in 2015, Ogebe said he died like an hero fighting in defence of his country.

Newtelegraphonline