Cornelius Chiadi Ezeibekwe, from Ekwulobia town in Aguata local government area, Anambra state, has stated that he got married to his sister in order to obey God. In an interview with New Telegraph, the 25-year-old, who became the buzz of the moment after wedding his sister in a ceremony conducted by their elder brother, stated that he had studied the bible and discovered that such an act was permitted.
Ezeibekwe stated that upon his discovery, he informed his parents, who then gave their consent. In his words: “I am a Sabbath and when I searched through the scriptures, I discovered that the Bible permits marriage between a brother and a sister. So, I went ahead with the arrangement to marry my younger sister. “The marriage ceremony was observed in our family compound, which also serves as a place of worship for us. My immediate elder brother, Paul Ezeibekwe, the pastor, was present during the ceremony. “What happened was that when we decided to get married, we told our parents our intention and my father asked us if we knew what we were about to do. I told him that we searched through the scriptures and that God sanctioned it. It was after this that our parents consented. “However, our other relations objected to the idea when they learnt of the plan and when we ignored them and went ahead with the marriage, they and other villagers burnt the Sabbath Church where we used to worship because they thought it was in that place that we worship, not knowing that we had since abandoned the place and are worshiping in our compound. The burning of the church does not mean anything to us. “God told me to marry my sister and she also saw the same vision I saw earlier. 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 asked me about it and I boldly referred them to the Bible. “One of the reasons for marrying my sister is to avoid divorce which is rampant these days because even if we divorce each other, we will remain in the same family. Besides, by marrying one’s sibling, there will not be the possibility of introducing ugly situations, like diseases or social vices into the family.” The family was reportedly originally Catholics before they joined the Seventh Day Adventist Church and eventually switched to their own brand of Sabbath worship, with one of the children, Paul, serving as the pastor.
The young man did not only marry his sister but was said to be responsible for her pregnancy; and the union was said to have gotten the youths of Agba village, Enugu state, angry as they burnt down the church where the wedding took place. The union was officiated by Chiadi’s elder brother Paul who also owns the church; and the youths burnt the place because they felt it was an abomination for such a union to have taken place.