CLEAN COURTSHIP FOR INTENDING COUPLES

An Okrika man who lived in Lagos in the late 1940s wanted a wife very badly. Not believing that he needed to court any girl, he simply got his mother to “post” one to him.  Everything about the marriage was done in Okrika without his presence. He did not even know the woman he was supposed to be married to.  She was simply “parceled” after the “wedding” and sent to him. He was supposed to meet her at the motor park on a particular day. However, the trouble, lay in the fact that he had never seen her in person.  It was not only difficult to identify “his wife”, but he was also forced to go through the  unpleasant ordeal of speaking in Okrika to every young girl who alighted from the bus before he eventually identified his “sweet heart”.

This ordeal could have been avoided if the partners dated each other or entered into courtship for a period of time before marriage. There is a mistaken impression in certain quarters that Christians should have nothing to do with courtship.  This explains why it is important to define what courtship is.