When guests gathered at a church in the south-west Nigerian city of Ibadan at the weekend, they knew they were witnessing something rare.
A pair of twin brothers – Taiwo and Kehinde Oguntoye – were marrying twin sisters Taiwo and Kehinde Adediran in a joyous joint ceremony.
The Yoruba people, who predominate in south-west Nigeria, are known for having an unusually high number of twin births, but it is not every day two sets of twins tie the knot.
“We know many twins, but this marriage feels like it was arranged by God. We have always dreamed of marrying twins,” Taiwo Oguntoye told BBC Yoruba on his wedding day.
“With God’s grace, we pray for twins in our first and second children. That is our heart’s desire.”
Twins are considered a blessing in Yoruba culture and their names are predestined. The older child is called Taiwo, meaning “the one that tests the world”, while the younger is called Kehinde, meaning “the one that came after”.
A lecturer told the Oguntoyes that she knew a set of twin sisters they should meet, which piqued the brothers’ interest.
“It’s not that we haven’t met other twin sisters before. We did date some, but sometimes things just didn’t work out,” Taiwo Oguntoye said.
The Adedirans initially resisted an introduction and did not answer the lecturer’s phone calls. Then, eventually, a meeting was set up.
Taiwo Oguntoye, now in his early 40s, remembers: “We eventually visited them, we had a talk but they were not interested in a relationship then.”
Instead, the foursome became friends. Life took them in different directions, however.
The sisters, who had been studying for master’s degrees in Ibadan, moved abroad for further studies, while the brothers travelled and worked in several countries, including the United States and South Africa.
