By Gideon Maxwell
September 28, 2026
Former Nigerian Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo has shared a deeply personal reflection on the wedding of his godson, describing the ceremony in Geneva as a moment in which life came full circle against the breathtaking backdrop of the Alps and Lake Geneva.
Writing with clear emotion, Osinbajo said the union of Bodunrin Akinola and Anieze Osakwe was far more than a celebration of two young people in love.
It was a poignant coming together of families bound by friendship, service and memory.
“With the amazingly scenic Alps and Lake Geneva in the background, impossibly beautiful, a moment so deeply personal,” Osinbajo wrote.
“My Godson, Bodunrin Akinola, my dear friends Gbola and Tola Akinola’s son, whom I have seen grow into such an excellent young man, married his love, Anieze, the beloved daughter of my dear brother, the late Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe and his lovely wife, Ime.
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It felt like life coming full circle.”
The former Vice President recalled the distinguished career of the late Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe.
In 2017, Nigeria borrowed him from the World Trade Organization, where he was at the peak of his global career, to serve as pioneer Director General and Chief Trade Negotiator of the newly established Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations.
He built the institution from the ground up.
While still serving as Nigeria’s chief negotiator on the African Continental Free Trade Area, Osakwe was elected by the African Union as Chairman of the Negotiating Forum and Senior Trade Officials for the AfCFTA, effectively the chief umpire and technical leader of the entire continental negotiations.
“The man who led the birth of our continental market,” Osinbajo noted.
Standing in that Geneva room, memories of the late ambassador returned strongly.
“To see Chiedu’s daughter, his pride, standing radiant, making vows of forever, and my godson, so full of love and conviction, Chiedu would have been so, so proud,” Osinbajo wrote.
The couple’s vows moved many present.
“Their promises to each other, sincere, tender, unscripted from the heart, left very few dry eyes in the room.
Two wonderful families.
One beautiful future.
And heaven was surely watching.”
Osinbajo closed with a warm message of goodwill: “Congratulations Bodunrin and Anieze.”
