Moses and Ada Ehi: Love Should be Shown Every Day

St. Valentine’s Day is an annual festival to celebrate love, friendship, and even admiration. Annually, on February 14, people around the world celebrate love in different ways. But for a renowned gospel singer, Ada Ehi, and her serial businessman spouse/manager, Moses Ehi, who have been married for 13 years, Valentine is every day for them and not restricted to a particular day. The couple jointly share their love story with MARY NNAH

Tell us what you both do?

Ada: I am a mother, wife, a Christian, and a minister of the gospel.

Moses: I am a Christian husband and a serial entrepreneur.

What does Valentine mean to you?

Ada: To be very honest, to me, it has no special meaning. To be honest, I am almost not aware of Valentine because I have always believed that love is every day. But I appreciate that there is a day set out to celebrate people you love. I think it is a good thing but then, I think it should be beyond just a day. I understand that there is a day to represent love – the feeling or the being or reality and showing people that we love them. It is not like I am against it but I think that if it is a single day, then it should be the beginning of an expression of love in one’s life. It is good that you take a day to celebrate people but celebrate them every day – I show my husband love every day. Don’t I?

Moses: Yes. I think she has answered for me because Valentine’s Day does not have any significant meaning to me as long as I am concerned. I see it as the name of a person. But I am not against those that celebrate it.

What does love mean to you?

Ada: Love means to see someone or people the way God sees them. God is love.

Moses: Love means life to me. God is love.

Who was your first love interest and how did it end?

Ada: Growing up you like a lot of people but you don’t that you love people until you meet the one that you are ready to do anything for and the one that makes you see yourself in the best way and this person brings essence and meaning to your life.

Moses: My first love is Ada and we are still very strongly in love. We are growing very strong.

How and where did you meet your partner?

Ada: It was after service and I was doing some special duties, so this young man came to say ‘Hi’ and that was it.

Moses: I met her in the church; at the Christ Embassy Church.

Was it, love, at first sight?

Ada: No, it wasn’t. You have to know someone before you love the person. I was indifferent because I didn’t know why you were saying ‘Hi’.

Moses: Yes, it was.

How exactly did you propose to your wife/ how did your husband propose to you?

Ada: Okay, we were friends and it was obvious that we were headed in a relationship path but because I was still in school then, I was thinking that I have to be done with school. But my response to his proposal wasn’t a ‘No’. I didn’t say no. I think what I wanted was, “Give me time and let me finish”.

Moses: There was no special ceremony. I remember we were hanging out at a very popular eatery and I just told her, “I will like to marry you”. And of course, her answer was, “Marriage was not on my mind.” She was like, “What is this guy talking about?” Her response wasn’t a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. At that time I was impatient and I felt that she was not ready and so let me move on. But trying to move on, the car was stuck. I couldn’t move on, I did everything to move on but there was no moving on.

How long have you been married?

Ada: 13 years

What is it that you don’t like about your partner?

Ada: Well, we are married, and if there were anything, I think that over time we have learned to overcome them… Like when you know what your spouse does not like, for example, my husband hates nagging, so if there are any traces of nagging just don’t.

How would you describe the love relationship between you and your wife/husband? It is that of the Romeo and Juliet kind of relationship or the conventional kind of relationship?

Ada: We don’t know Romeo and Juliet. They were never even married. They wanted to get married but they couldn’t, so ours is real love and it is standing the test of time because it is being tested and it is standing. These are the best years of my life.

Moses: That is the best definition, ours is the love that stands the test of time. No regrets whatsoever.

In what particular ways do you express your love to your partner?

Ada: I think our love language is listening and companionship because we spend a lot of time together. I can speak for both of us because right now we are like twins. The best part of our days is coming home after a long day or a couple of days away from each other and then we come home to talk about everything. We are almost always together and it does not feel like an overstretched or a bore. And listening… I think that is our love language because we always have a lot to talk about. We are gist partners and best friends.

How do people react when you openly express love to your partner?

Ada: I don’t think people react in any way because now you just see people expressing love everywhere whether they are married or not. So I don’t think it’s out of place to express love openly. Is it?

Moses: No, it is not.

How many kids do you have and how do they react to your public show of love?

Ada: We have a biological daughter. She is used to it now but I remember when she was a toddler, whenever my husband pecks me, she will lash unto me and scream. She will try to slap her small palms on my face and vice versa. That was when she was just a baby. I don’t know what she was thinking then.

Moses: We have one kid.

Who is more romantic between you and your partner?

Ada: I think my husband is.

Moses: My wife is more romantic.

Ada: Not listening to me. Like I said something and you went and did the exact opposite.

Moses: When she keeps talking about a particular thing over and over again.

Was there any point in your relationship you regret meeting him/her?

Ada: No! No!!

Moses: There is nothing like that.

Ada: I don’t think it was that challenging at the initial stage of our marriage because we became really good friends for a very long time before we got married. I was in school, so he had to wait for me, so we were really good friends and we talked all the time. So we kind of knew our strengths and weakness. But then when we moved in it was a different reality, everybody had his/her different background. You know adapting to how you handle things, mindset, psychological and the reality of living together, staying in the same room and all of that – just in the process of settling down we just had a little misconstrue here and there but after a while, we were good.

What has kept your relationship lasting and exciting – money or love?

Ada: Love is everything. Love is you; love is life like my husband said. If you don’t love someone, money won’t keep you with that person. And for us, we have been friends and we would always be friends. Anytime we have an issue, we trash it between us without letting a third party know. And we are not the yelling type but we talk.

Moses: Right!

Was there any particular time you felt like giving up on this relationship?

Ada: Never and we thank God for that.

Moses: No.

What’s the nastiest thing anyone has said about the display of love between you two?

Ada: I don’t think anybody has said nasty things about our love. The funniest episode we have had is when my husband was driving, I was in the car and I think there was this woman that was driving too and there was this usual road brawls and then she looked and me and said to me, “All your mates are in their husband’s house and you are here doing girlfriend. I was just looking at her and was like, you don’t know me. This is my husband and not his girlfriend!

Moses: Nothing.

What advice do you have for young couples?

Ada: Be friends! Get to know each other. Like love is good but knowledge of the person you love sustains the love. You need to know each other interests.

Moses: Be friends.