These women, some feminists, questioned the pressure, rejected the idea that singlehood equals failure, and openly insisted that a ring or a Mrs. title does not measure a woman’s worth. They also challenged traditions that diminish female agency. 

Their followers celebrated them as voices of independence. Then they got married-and the internet lost its collective mind.

Their weddings and engagements sent shockwaves through Nigerian social media: not because they married, but because their earlier critiques of patriarchal norms made the choice feel, to many, like a plot twist.

SEE ALSO:

Here they are:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Adichie, a renowned Nigerian author of Half of a Yellow Sun, Americanah, and We Should All Be Feminists, is a prominent feminist voice who has critiqued traditional expectations around marriage, particularly. 

There were trickles of information that she was married until she personally confirmed her marriage to Nigerian doctor Ivara Esege in an Instagram post meant to honour her late mother. Before this post, they had been married for 12 years (since 2009).

Many who had looked up to her and her critical views about marriage were disappointed. However, contrary to their perception, Adichie wasn’t against marriage as a woman. Adichie has extensively challenged patriarchal and traditional social expectations around marriage. In her book and interviews, she critiques how societies condition girls to view marriage as their ultimate goal. 

In public interviews, she famously insisted on keeping her birth name (and without the ‘Mrs’ title) rather than taking her husband’s surname, challenging the assumption that marriage requires a woman to absorb her partner’s identity. In a post by Brittle Paper, she says: 

“The value we give to ‘Mrs.’ means that marriage changes the social status of a woman, but not that of a man… I have observed too many cases of men and women who loudly and proudly speak of the title of Mrs. as though those who are not Mrs. have somehow failed at something.”

Fisayo Longe

After Fisayo Longe, the CEO of Kai Collective announced her engagement in May 2025 with a proposal video, critics on X and elsewhere resurfaced her older posts from 2020 that questioned and criticised marriage and societal pressure around it. They accused her of hypocrisy or of discouraging women from marrying.

Although her views centred on independence and rejecting pressure rather than a blanket “don’t marry” message, a certain woman was upset that Longe “influenced girls like her daughter not to get married and then went and got engaged.”

Here are a few of her tweets that match the “anti-marriage / questioning marriage” interpretations the critics used:

• February 25, 2020: “Mad that women see an engagement as ‘the finish line. I hate it here:(“
• January 29, 2020: “Me! But not even the last sentence. I think I’d love to be with the same person forever. I just don’t see why we should marry.”
• October 6, 2020 (reply): “Is marriage even a happily ever after?”

Kemi Adetiba

Kemi Adetiba is a Nigerian filmmaker and director known for The Wedding Party, King of Boys, To Kill a Monkey, e.t.c. She openly discusses being content while single and rejecting the idea that marriage or kids define a woman’s worth or serve as her “crowning glory.”

In November 2017, when she was 37, she shared a video of Tracee Ellis Ross’s Glamour Women of the Year speech about how being unmarried does not invalidate achievements, and added her own caption:

“…I will be 38 in just over a month and a half, and while I would LOVE to be married (to my God-chosen companion and best friend) and have child(ren), l am very comfortable with the knowledge that my life is just as valid, and beautiful, and happy, and successful, if for some reason that never comes to pass. Marriage and kids are not my ‘crowning glory’… It’s another BEAUTIFUL step in life I would love to take. I’d also love to make (and keep) a billion dollars in my lifetime, but | won’t be any less of a woman or Kemi Adetiba if that didn’t come to pass either.

No… I’m not comparing the two. I’m just highlighting it doesn’t diminish a (Wo) man’s -Kemi Adetiba’s – worth if it never happens.”

This directly matches “being content while single and rejecting societal pressure to marry,” rather than “I don’t want marriage.” 

She wed Oscar Heman-Ackah in a relatively low-key ceremony in April 2022. There was ambient online discussion about her earlier messaging about independence clashing with the eventual marriage which is common in Nigerian social media discourse around high-profile women.

SEE ALSO: “My Wedding Was Staged to Gauge Public Reaction” – GehGeh Clarifies

Nkechi Bianze

Nkechi Bianze is a prominent Nigerian feminist and social media commentator. She made headlines in July 2021 when she married her partner, Prince Ifeanyi Mmadinobi, in a traditional wedding that intentionally modified customary rites to align with her feminist beliefs.

Her traditional marriage ceremony took place on July 17, 2021, in Agbor, Delta State. In line with her longstanding critique of bride price as a financialized practice that treats women as commodities, no bride price was requested or paid during the marital rites by her husband who is from Imo state.

In standard Igbo/Delta-Igbo traditional ceremonies, the bride kneels before her husband to present him a cup of palm wine as a sign of submission and respect. Bianze rejected this gesture. Instead, both she and her husband stood together while drinking from the cup.

Rather than abandoning traditional cultural forms entirely, she demonstrated that customary African weddings can be adapted to respect female agency, equality, and mutual respect without sacrificing familial and community celebration.

These four never said women shouldn’t marry, they challenged the idea that women must. When these outspoken Nigerian women eventually tied the knot, social media called it a contradiction. Their stories reveal something more nuanced: rejecting marriage pressure isn’t the same as rejecting marriage.

The post Nigerian Women Who Rejected Marriage Pressure Then Shocked Fans by Getting Married appeared first on NBG Africa.

Celebrated Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has shared a statement regarding the death of her 21-month-old son, Nkanu Nnamdi.

Several news agencies spoke with her media team, which confirmed her authorship of the statement. Initially, the message was intended for family members and select close friends.

According to Chimamanda, her son had a cold, which turned out to be a serious infection. They planned to travel to Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore but were told to run a test in Nigeria.

While prepping him for the test, the anesthesiologist displayed negligence and incompetence that ultimately led to his demise by overdosing the child on sedatives and removing his oxygen mask to carry the young boy to the ICU.

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Read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Full Statement Below:

“My son would be alive today if not for an incident at Euracare Hospital on January 6th.

We were in Lagos for Christmas. Nkanu had what we first thought was just a cold, but it soon turned into a very serious infection, and he was admitted to Atlantis Hospital. 

He was to travel to the US the next day, January 7th, accompanied by Travelling Doctors. A team at Johns Hopkins was waiting to receive him in Baltimore. The Hopkins team had asked for a lumbar puncture test and an MRI. The Nigerian team had also decided to put in a ‘central line’ (used to administer IV medications) in preparation for Nkanu’s flight. Atlantis Hospital referred us to Euracare Hospital, which was said to be the best place to have the procedures done.

On the morning of the 6th, we left Atlantis Hospital for Euracare, Nkanu carried in his father’s arms. We were told he would need to be sedated to prevent him from moving during the MRI and the ‘central line’ procedure.

I was waiting just outside the theater. I saw people, including Dr. M, rushing into the theater and immediately knew something had happened.

A short time later, Dr. M came out and told me Nkanu had been given too much propofol by the anesthesiologist, had become unresponsive, and was quickly resuscitated. But suddenly Nkanu was on a ventilator; he was intubated and placed in the ICU. The next thing I heard was that he had seizures. Cardiac arrest. All these had never happened before. Some hours later, Nkanu was gone.

It turns out that Nkanu was NEVER monitored after being given too much propofol. The anesthesiologist had just casually carried Nkanu on his shoulder to the theater, so nobody knows when exactly Nkanu became unresponsive. 

How can you sedate a sick child and neglect to monitor him? Later, after the ‘central line’ procedure, the anesthesiologist casually switched off Nkanu’s oxygen and again decided to carry him on his shoulder to the ICU!

The anesthesiologist was CRIMINALLY negligent. He was fatally casual and careless with the precious life of a child. No proper protocol was followed. 

We brought in a child who was unwell but stable and scheduled to travel the next day. We came to conduct basic procedures. And suddenly, our beautiful little boy was gone forever. It is like living your worst nightmare. I will never survive the loss of my child.

We have now heard about two previous cases of this same anesthesiologist overdosing children. Why did Euracare allow him to keep working? This must never happen to another child.”

Chimamanda is the second internationally renowned celebrity of Nigerian descent to experience a painful loss during a visit to Nigeria. Anthony Joshua also lost two of his best friends in a road accident along the Lagos-Ogun Expressway.

Medical negligence is a pervasive issue in Nigeria and it must be thoroughly tackled.

The post ‘My Son Would Be Alive Today If Not For Euracare Hospital, Lagos’ – See Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Full Statement appeared first on NBG Africa.

In a statement released on Thursday by Omawumi Ogbe on behalf of the family, the family announced that the 21-month-old died on Wednesday, 7 January 2026, after a brief illness.

The statement added that the loss has deeply devastated the family and urged the public to respect their privacy during this difficult time. It reads:

“We’re deeply saddened to confirm the passing of one of Ms Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Dr Ivara Esege’s twin boys, Nkanu Nnamdi, who passed on Wednesday, 7th of January 2026, after a brief illness. He was 21 months old.

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Readers, writers, and admirers around the world have poured out condolences following the heartbreaking news.

Chimamanda welcomed Nkanu Nnamdi as one of her twins after openly discussing her decision to have children through surrogacy. In past interviews, she spoke honestly about her journey and challenged the stigma often attached to assisted reproduction.

By sharing her story, Adichie sparked conversations about motherhood, choice, and family, especially in African societies where many people still misunderstand surrogacy.

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In addition to her twin sons, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is also a mother to a daughter, who was born in 2016. While the author has acknowledged her daughter publicly, she has deliberately kept her name and personal life private.

As the family grieves the loss of their son, they have again appealed for understanding and privacy.

The post Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Loses One of Her Twin Sons appeared first on NBG Africa.