ABUJA, Nigeria — Former Kogi State senator Emmanuel Dangana Ocheja has married a woman identified as Winifred, whom several Nigerian news outlets have reported to be 18.
The couple held two ceremonies in September, according to National Update.
Their traditional wedding took place on September 13, followed by a white wedding in Abuja on Saturday, September 19, 2026.
Photographs and video from the celebrations subsequently circulated online, drawing attention to the marriage and the reported difference in the couple’s ages.
Businessman Isaac Fayose was among those who publicised the marriage on social media. He identified Winifred as a friend of Ocheja’s granddaughter, a claim also repeated in several reports.
Neither Winifred’s reported age nor her relationship to Ocheja’s granddaughter has been independently established.
LOVE REALLY DOESN’T CHECK AGE
Imagine thinking love has an age bracket, then 74-year-old former Kogi Senator Dangana Ocheja walks into the room and proves otherwise.
He recently married 18-year-old Winifred in Abuja, with their traditional wedding held on September 13 and white… pic.twitter.com/BP2zlr8U02
— Sir MKay (@Rise_Forge) September 29, 2026
There is also conflicting reporting about Ocheja’s age.
National Update and several other publications identified him as 74, while Punch reported that biographical records list his birth date as April 3, 1956, which would make him 70.
Ocheja is a lawyer who represented Kogi East in Nigeria’s Senate from 2011 to 2015 as a member of the Peoples Democratic Party. He later joined the All Progressives Congress.
The circumstances in which Ocheja and Winifred met, and details about their relationship before the wedding, have not been publicly disclosed.
