“I don’t mind marrying a younger lover” – Bimbo Akintola

Although some hitherto eligible babes in Nollywood – Mercy Johnson, Funke Akindele, Stephanie Okereke and few others have recently waved ‘Bye’ to spinsterhood, Bimbo Akintola remains single with ease. Although she has been experiencing marriages, but it is in various films and plays where she usually emerges as one of the play makers, as she recently did in Sefi Atta’s The Naming Ceremony staged in London during the Olympic Games. In Hoodrush, produced by Dimeji Ajibola, she is Alhaja who sucks romance from young Shez (O. C. Ukeje), who needs her financial muscle and support to wade through trying times. Despite such romance with the altar, any of Akintola’s fans
who thinks she is missing real life marriage had, however, better purge him/herself of such a thought. According to her, time ought to have taught any discerning person that the traditional attachment people have to marriage can no more remain the same. Besides, she believes that age is no longer a barrier to marriage as it can come any time. “A relationship is work,” Akintola notes. “Marriage is a bigger work. Once you have signed the paper, you are in each other’s space – day in day out. You are two people with different backgrounds. You have problems until you have even grounds. So, it takes a lot of hard work to stay in marriage. That is why when my friends come to me and say, I am getting married’, I ask, ‘Are you sure?’ I have never dated any person and said, ‘Oh, this is the person I want to marry.” Akintola may not have garnered practical marital experience, but she is very firm on her belief about the ageless institution. She wants people to know that age hardly defines marriage anymore. Her words, “People can get married at 48 nowadays. It is no more a thing of ‘You are old’. And grandparents should no more put pressure on people. When you say, ‘I pick this man’, that is it. I like men, being not gay or whatever. But I don’t think age is a barrier. If you find a man 10 years younger or older, go on with him.” She also feels there is nothing wrong in having kids out of wedlock. According to her, refusing to do so if circumstances call for it will mean what she calls double burden. While she does not, however, personally rule out marriage, she is rather amused when asked who her ideal man is. “There is no such thing as an ideal man. There is no perfect man or woman. What you have is work in progress. Once you meet half way, you just have to build from there,” she explains. Akintola feels fulfilled at playing Alhaja in Hoodrush. She commends the producer for setting a standard that, she believes, is what every professional should go for. Saying that the film thrives on a very good script, Akintola also salutes Ukeje who, she says, shows a lot of depth and talent in the movie.