Chiadi Ezeibekwe, a mathematics teacher, has married his younger sister who is 17 years old. Ezeibekwe who works in a secondary school in the Aguata local government area of Anambra state said God “sanctioned” his marriage to his sister.
Among the Igbo, such marriage is viewed as an abomination. Appalled by the marriage, the youth burned down the church where brother and sister were joined.
Speaking with Vanguard, the teacher who is the sixth of 10 children said:-
“I am a Sabbath and in searching through the scriptures, I discovered that one could marry his sibling. So, we went ahead with the arrangement to marry my younger sister.
“God told me to marry my sister and she also saw same vision. There are places in the Bible that support such marriage. Those in doubt should read Songs of Solomon chapters 4 and 5 and 1st Corinthians Chapter 7.
“Since we took this decision, I have not felt anything unusual, or felt that I did anything wrong. In the school where I teach, many people ask me about it and I boldly refer them to the Bible.
“Besides, by marrying one’s sibling, there will not be the possibility of introducing ugly situations, like diseases or social vices into the family.”
Gabriel Ezeukwu, the traditional prime minister, said the youth had initially considered “subjecting the couple to rituals” as punishment.
He said everyone was relieved to learn that the girl is not yet pregnant.
“Before coming to me, they were considering various options, including whether to involve the police, resort to jungle justice or parade those involved round the town before subjecting them to other rituals,” he said.
“However, I ensured that the girl in question was subjected to rigorous pregnancy test to ascertain that she had not been impregnated by her brother and, after several tests, it was confirmed that she was not pregnant, which is a relief to everybody.”