An unusual transatlantic romance

The social media has been agog with the romance between an American lady, Ms Janine Sanchez (46), and her Kano-based lover, Mr Isah Sulaiman (23), who plan to get married in March, and thereafter live in America as husband and wife.

The couple met on Instagram 10 months ago. They became friends and fell in love with each other. Moved by love, the mother of two took the pain to travel from California to visit her young lover and his parents at their home in Panshekara, Kano State, Nigeria.

The young man’s family and community are taking the matter seriously despite the oddities. Both parents of the boy have given their consent and are ready to bless the marriage. Isah’s father has four conditions for his future daughter in law. First, Isah will remain a Muslim after the marriage. Second, he will continue his education after they are married. Third, the parents of Ms. Sanchez must give their consent for her to marry Isah. And finally, the family of the boy will seek and obtain security clearance for the marriage to go ahead.

These conditions are rather bizarre. Isah is an adult. His choice of faith cannot be fixed by his parents, especially after he relocates to the US. His getting education in the US is almost a given, considering his age and the fact that he needs a life suitable for America. The requirement for the consent of Ms. Sanchez’s parents is odd because though normal in Kano is unusual in America, given that Ms. Sanchez is an adult.

The rather complicated aspect of the conditionalities has to do with the so-called security clearance. This will seem rather reasonable from the perspective of a father whose young son is about to marry a lady twice his age, and then follow her to America. If the purpose of a security clearance is to ensure there is nothing in the lady’s record to suggest she may harm the young man, that will make a lot of sense. Isah’s father who is a retired police officer may have a predisposition to security checks and had indicated that he would be going to the office of DSS for that purpose.

The latest twist, however, was that the Islamic police (Hisbah), instead of the the DSS, in Kano invited the couple and the father of Isah together with his relative. It is not clear what happened during the meetings between Hisbah and the couple.

Picture of the couple and Hisbah is shown