You have to have the things that you love doing."

Relationships do not necessarily thrive on rules, and the success found in happy relationships and marriages often comes down to the personalities of the people in it. Little wonder it is often said that no two relationships are the same! [Of course, because no personalities are ever the same!]

Obviously, what applies in one relationship will not necessarily apply in another. That’s why we have some couples gleefully [and rightly] sharing their treasured, daily moments on social media, while some others would rather keep such moments between them and their significant others, to be savoured in that moment only by the two people in those moments – and maybe some other persons who really matter.

Singer, Omawumi, belongs to the second category and the artiste relishes staying in the cocoon of privacy that she and her partner, Tosin Yussuf, have intimately fitted themselves into. The pair keep their marriage away from the glare of the public and separate from her own identity as one of Nigeria’s most-loved celebrities.

While on a visit to Pulse Nigeria, the singer gives us a glimpse into the inner workings of her mind, and her thoughts on privacy in relationships.

Using hers as an example, the singer says private couples keep their business private because there’s really no rule anywhere compelling them to share.

“I feel like it’s nobody’s business. I feel… na wetin you bring come outside, na him person go take talk.

"If it’s not out there nobody knows about it,” the ‘Bottom Belle’ singer says.

And the singer’s opinion has its merits. So much so that Jay Z and Beyonce as well as Adekunle Gold and Simi seem to agree with her, keeping their own affairs away from the eye of the public just as well, despite their huge popularity and fame.

Some other insightful opinions the singer [and her friend and accomplice, Waje] shared with us include the importance of waiting for the right time before getting into relationships, and the need to maintain a good sense of independence even when married.

Omawumi on healthy individualism in marriages

“You have to be your own person,” Omawonder says.

“You can’t enter that kind of relationship with the mindset of [being overly dependent.] You have to have the things that you love doing, your own network.

“Understand that person’s own and then you people have to come to a point where you say ‘I have mine, you have yours, and now this is ours.’

“You don’t want a relationship where I don’t have mine [a life] so everything I bring out… everything I’m portraying is all about him and vice versa,” she concludes.

Omawumi and Waje's jointly-produced movie,"She is," features the two singers alongside Somkele Idhalama, Desmond Elliot and a host of other celebrated actors.

"She Is" portrays the story of the average Nigerian woman who after attaining a level of success career-wise and has also come of age is expected to get married.