#Nigerian Student Marries And Graduates With 1st Class, On Same Day

Anu Yusuf, aged 26, received her Law LLB in a ceremony at Symphony Hall alongside hundreds of her fellow students on Wednesday 27 July, wearing a traditional cap and gown.

However, merely hours before, Nigeria-born Anu was dressed all in white, as she tied the knot at Birmingham Register Office. Anu and her now husband – Joseph Kolawole Ola, aged 27 – met four years ago in Gombe while working as part of Nigeria’s National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), and their subsequent engagement was prolonged as a result of her coming to study in the UK.

She said:
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“My husband often joked that he would whisk me away after my graduation to marry me because he can no longer wait. So, we decided to marry on my actual graduation day! 
“Romance aside, it certainly worked well logistically too, as it meant that our relatives only had to travel once for both occasions.

We both have family all over the UK and we were conscious of taking up too much of their time and for all the added expense in making the same journey twice.”

Yusuf and Ola’s wedding started at 10.40am with a civil ceremony at Birmingham Register Office. Following the official wedding photography, the entire party headed for a midday blessing at Yusuf’s church, VBCI Treasure Sanctuary.
The service finished at 1pm and all 50 guests were provided with take-away meals packaged up in gift bags. The wedding party enjoyed a traditional Nigerian meal on-the-go, including jollof rice with chicken served with salad, along with gizdodo (gizzard and plantain), moi moi (made from black-eyed peas), and poundo yam with vegetable soup.

All meals were prepared by friends and members of Yusuf’s church, and drinks were brought by her husband’s pastor from Liverpool, whose wife also made their cake.

Following a bite to eat, Yusuf quickly changed from her wedding dress in to another outfit and headed back in to Birmingham city centre for 2pm to collect her cap and gown before receiving her first-class degree.