WHEN XERONA DUKE BECAME MRS. DERIN PHILLIPS

Gorgeous Xerona

It was a beautiful, classy, very well attended, very well organized, totally top notch wedding on all counts. Bride and groom's family both have solid pedigree on all counts.

On the side of the bride-Xerona's side, the dad, Mr. Donald Duke was a former Governor of Cross Rivers State, who served for 8 years and apparently did very well leaving behind a wondrous legacy. His wife Onari Duke is an astute businesswoman on all counts. Both are directors at UBA Group Plc. Donald Duke's dad was one of the first indigenous head of the Customs Board back in the days and that's not a little thing, just imagine that former Vice president of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar was a deputy Controller General when he retired.

On the groom's side, that's is Derin's aka DJ Caise's side, his mom is the first daughter of one of the richest Africa's to have ever lived. A man of great status and stature, ambassador plenipotentiary for many countries, not the country of his birth. A man of awesome and unbelievable wealth, well steeped in the tradition and culture of Nigeria, one of highest ranked member of the Ogboni, in the person of the late Chief Antonio Deinde Fernandez. DERIN's mom was a former member of the cabinet/administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Derin also known or better known as DJ Caise, is one of the top 10 most popular deejays in Nigeria. XERONA is one of the 2 extremely beautiful daughters of the Dukes.

The massive traditional wedding had held in Calabar, Cross Rivers a forth night ago and it was huge on all counts. Either by the magnitude of the guest list etc or otherwise. It had many of the who-is-who across the country in attendance. It was an occasion well steeped in the tradition and culture of the south-south, Donald Duke being Efik and Quas, Onari Duke being Kalabari and then the Phillips are Yorubas. Dj Caise's mother is from Lagos and we all know very well that Eko is always for show.

So it was a beautiful intermingling of beautiful cultures, tradition and it was quite colorful too and full of drama. We have thought to collage 3 sets of pictures together to get this story across. You have a few of the white wedding pictures, which took place just this last Saturday at the Federal Palace Hotel, Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, Lagos. It was very well attended as a matter of fact. We have the Dubai cord of 3 strands ceremony pictures and then, we have more of the super colorful traditional wedding in Calabar, that had the crème of the society in attendance. Imagine that the Emir of  Kano was there with the Obong of Calabar. Aliko Dangote and his fellow Kano brother, Abdulsamad Isiyaku Rabiu of BUA also came and sat near each other. Impressive style king John Obayuwana was also in attendance as he and Donald Duke are adherents of the Grail Message, in fact high ranking members.

The cord of 3 strands ceremony is a symbol of the sacred union created on the wedding day. It depicts God's sacred union in marriage. Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves and a cord of 3 strands is not quickly broken Ecclesiasttes 4:12

Xerona as was expected was like a fairy princess, looking extremely gorgeous and mind-blowingly beautiful in her resplendent wedding dress by Andrea Iyamah. The event was so fun, that the father of the bride a music lover to the core at a point joined the Shuga Band to drop some songs to the delight of all.

Wedding was organized by Ibidun Ighodalo of Elizabeth R, who is acknowledged as one of the top 3 best and biggest in EVENTS managers in Nigeria.

More after the break.

XERONA DUKE WEDS DJ CAISE FINALLY GETS APRIL DATES!

Derin & Xerona

Xerona Duke

Derin Phillips aka DJ Caise

The late Olori Oluwo Ambassador Antonio Oladeinde Fernandez

Whilst the weddings and marriage ceremonies of the minnows takes place in torrents without any whimper whatsoever, the fairytale nuptials of those of the rich and famous amongst us also takes place too at the same time, but with so much pomp and pageantry that continues to dazzle and titillates us wondrously.

This month of March of 2018 is especially standout as many top grade, first class, mouth opening, awe inspiring, gasp inducing nuptials have been happening and would continue till the month ends, and then those society foundation shaking weddings continue into April and throughout the year till the year ends. With the kind of wealth showcased and money obviously spent to put together these humongous parties, all the talks about a recession in the country, is most obviously a big lie, that's because things are still as vulgar and as ostentatious as they have always been!

Come April next month another superlative ceremony would take place when the stupendously beautiful, big eyed daughter of Mr. Donald Duke, who is a top adherent of the "Grail Movement" and a former 2 time Governor of Cross Rivers State and most possibly, a Presidential aspirant/candidate come 2019, by name Xerona, whose name actually means "God's Gift", would be walking the aisle, to be joined in holy matrimony to her handsome beau, the grandson of one of the richest Africans to have ever lived, in the person of the late "Apesin Ola of Egbaland", the "Garsan Fulani Kano", the "Olori Oluwo" (head of the occult) of the revered OC, the late "Olori Ogboni Agba" (the Supreme Ogboni Chief, the "Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary", High Chief "Antonio Oladeinde Fernandez", the "Baron of Dudley, England", the "Grand officier de l'Ordre national du Leopard-Democratic Republic of Congo", "Commandeur de l'Ordre national du Merite du Gabon", "Grand officier de l'Ordre du Mono Togo",  just to mention a few of his revered titles.

The Dukes themselves are no push overs by any means, it's not just about Xerona's dad being a former 2 time Governor, they have solid pedigree behind them too, Xerona's paternal granddad-Henry Etim Duke, was the 2nd indigenous and one of the longest ever serving Controller General (then Chairman of the board) of the then Custom and Excise.

Derin Phillips aka DJ Caise's mom is Chief Fernandez's first daughter and first child, by name Chief Mrs Teju Phillips, the former Commissioner For Special Duties in the administration of ASIWAJU Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his dad is the gentleman Engineer Lanre Phillips.

So come Saturday, April 14, 2018 at a venue that would soon be disclosed, the whole world is expected to converge at that so called venue for the "traditional wedding" of the loved up couple from 2 important families across the waters, and the traditional wedding is expected to be both humongous and very colourful, with all the awesome display of the rich Efik/Kalabari culture and traditions of the dad/mom of the bride. Xerona's mom being the  equally very beautiful Onari Duke, a former 1st lady with intimidating status by herself (a successful legal practitioner, philanthropist and businesswoman, a non executive Director at UBA Plc) and from the royal and famous "Bob-Manuel family" from Rivers State. Efik/Kalabari would mix with that of the standout Yoruba culture and tradition of the groom's family on the day.

Thereafter the "traditional engagement/Wedding, would follow the white wedding proper, which is slated for the next Saturday, on April 24, 2018 to be more precise.

We are eagerly looking forward to cover the whole events.

WE (NIGERIANS) ARE LIVING IN FOOL'S PARADISE. FORMER GOVERNOR DONALD DUKE

Donald Duke

'...And there is no master-plan to make each one of the states an economic entity,” Duke said. “So, we have a country, where a blessing (exponential population growth) is turning into a curse, because in the next three years, our population will be 200 million, yet all the productive indices are going down. Lagos may be crowded out; every year, 750,000 new people come to Lagos to reside; the economy cannot support that. So if you don’t get the rest of the country working, Lagos itself will collapse.

“I had a meeting once with U.S. State Department, and they said to me, we have no conversion interest in Nigeria any longer; yes we have a few companies – ExxonMobil, Chevron – working here, but we don’t buy oil from Nigeria, and the export-import bill is not significant. But we have a lot of interest in Nigeria, and that is security. Nigeria, to them, is like a dam, and if it should burst, it would flood all of West and Central Africa. So their only interest in Nigeria is insecurity because the country can also be a base for terrorism – terrorists thrive in poor environments. They are not dealing with us on the basis of commerce, they are dealing with us on the threat that we pose to them.”

Duke also believes the Buhari government has no business patting itself on the back on the basis of improving the economy.

“Just because it is easier for goods to pass through the port – that’s no big deal,” he said. “The point is what does each one of us add to the general well- being of the country. Most folks in Nigeria are parasitic. You walk on the streets and people in the prime of their lives are hawking plantain chips if they are lucky to find something to hawk. We, the few privileged, sit in our cars, our windows wound up, and pretend to look at our phones because we don’t want to see the reality out there.

“This country, for instance, has to grow at about 15 per cent annually, not in Lagos, but nationally, for the next ten years, to absorb the numbers that are out of the economy. We are self-deceptive. We say that unemployment is 15 per cent.

In other words, out of every 100 only 15 have no jobs. I think it is the other way round; only 15 have jobs and the rest 85 are living off the 15; the question is how long can that go on?

“Then we sit down and say that inflation is 16 per cent. How do you arrive at that? I know I’m broke. So if inflation is too much money in circulation, where is this money? The truth is too few people have too much money. If you re-circulate resources properly, and I am not being socialist here (all you need to do is to create jobs for people), then you’ll find that it will reflect on the economy.

“So what we are doing is to run a goodwill economy; 85 percent of the economy is depending on the goodwill of the 15 percent.”

To move the country forward, Mr. Duke advocated for a policy he described as SHIT (Skills, Health, Infrastructure and Technology).

“I don’t use education any longer because education is beyond reading and writing. Education without the set skills that make you productive is hollow,” he said. “We are ridiculously spiritual because we live purely by the grace of God. Yes, we all do, but heaven helps those who help themselves. If you are afflicted here by a disease today, your chances of survival are 50:50. The drugs for common diseases are not even manufactured here. So we have a loss of productivity that we have not addressed at all.”

Culled from Thisday Newspaper

DONALD DUKE & DEINDE FERNANDEZ SET TO UNITE IN HOLY MATRIMONY

Xerona & Derin

Couple

Xerona

Actually it is the Dukes and the Phillips, who are about to officially tie the knots pretty soon.

Donald and Onari Duke were the gorgeous and stylish couple who were the former executive Governor of Cross Rivers State and his former first lady. Donald it was that brought about some of those extraordinary infrastructural development in his state.

Chief Mrs. Teju Phillips on the other hand, is the first daughter of the late former Apena and one of the most flamboyant and most respected Africans in the world, in the person of Chief Deinde Fernandez. Mrs. Teju Phillips was one of the top Commissioners in Lagos, during the administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

These 2 families are set to unite in a big society wedding that's upcoming very very soon. The duo of the stupendously gorgeous and cerebral Xerona Duke and the dashing Derin Phillips aka the incredible DJ Caise have been engaged since August of 2017.

But their actual introduction ceremony was just at the weekend. The wedding would be a great display and the unity of the best of the Yoruba culture mixed with that of the very rich Efik culture and the panache and glamour of the Kalabaris!

The details of the upcoming wedding though not out yet, would soon be related to friends and family members and we are sure it would be a super stylish one, going by the antecedence of those involved.

From the pre-wedding pictures taken at the introduction, it is obvious that the duo are madly and sumptuously in love with each other. Infact the love seems very overpowering.

More pictures after the break.