The Television Show ( 1)

Marrying an 'oyibo' woman has its advantages. First, anytime you go back home with your wife, to visit your loved ones back in Naija, you get uncommon respect from the airport to your destination, everyone wants to say hello to your wife, everyone respects the man who was able to get a “white babe”.

Second, you are likely to become an automatic citizen of your wife’s country — naturalization by marriage, as they call it.

But for Jolomi, after three years of his marriage to his oyibo, he was yet to see these benefits.

Each time Jolomi remembered his reasons for coming to France five years ago, he always laughed at himself.

Like some Nigerians, rich or poor, he longed for “greener pastures” in the West. On coming to France, his main priority was to get a Masters degree, get a good job, and then naturalize and become a French Citizen.


But as fate would have it, as they usually say, things did not go as planned. Three months into his Master’s programme, an unusual friendship with a Congolese, Patrice (a naturalized French citizen) made him drop out of school and start a partnership business, then six months later, he met Claudine.

The day he told his parents back home in Nigeria, about his intention to marry someone, a French woman, they called him everyday on the phone till his wedding day, trying to “put him back to his senses”.

His mother used phrases like 'divorcers', 'cry-cry', 'unbelievers' to describe the women of the West and Claudine – a lady she had never met. His father wondered if it was a “visa-marriage”.

Had his son stooped so low and forgotten that he came from a family of the political class, where he was a former deputy governor and a one-time house of representative member?

The only person in support of the relationship was his friend and business partner Patrice, but that was because he was just struck by Claudine’s beauty and felt that such a belle mademoiselle should not slip away from the hands of any sane man.

Three years after beating all the odds and marrying Claudine, Jolomi met a new struggle.

Despite the fact he married a French national, he was denied citizenship, and even though he and Claudine had a son, his parents refused to acknowledge their marriage, but all these were nothing compared to the realties he was now facing when one marries a wife from 'yonda' (abroad)...

To be continued


By Aghoghosam (Naijastories)


Notes: In Nigeria, a white person is usually called an 'oyibo'

'Naija' is a nickname for Nigeria