• Three shot, rescued victims are receiving treatment in hospital
Edo State Commissioner of Police (CP), Funsho Adegboye, has narrated how workers, in a Coaster bus, and working for Dangote Cement Company at Okpella, Etsako West Local Government Area in Edo North Senatorial District of Edo State, were kidnapped at 6 p.m. on Monday, while returning from work.
Three of the victims, with gunshot injuries, were rescued, and were receiving treatment in a hospital, yesterday.
Adegboye said: “On 13th May, 2024, at 2200hrs, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Okpella Division, Edo State, received a distress call from the head of security to Dangote Cement Factory, Okpella, Edo State, that at 1800hrs, a bus conveying Dangote Cement workers from the factory, moving to Okpella Town, was attacked by hoodlums, suspected to be kidnappers, and took some passengers into the bush.
“Immediately, the DPO mobilised his operatives, vigilance group members, and hunters into the forest, for a vigorous bush combing operation to rescue the victims unhurt, and to arrest the kidnappers.
“In the process, one Omoba, male, whose other name is unknown, was rescued, and at a look, it was discovered that he was with some bullet injuries on the back, shot by the hoodlums. He was immediately rushed to Halimatu Musa Hospital, for medical attention. One other victim, who was earlier shot at the point of the attack, and another victim, one Victor Okon, were rushed to the same hospital for treatment.”
The Edo CP also gave an order to the DPO, Okpella Division, the vigilance group members, and hunters in the area to intensify the bush combing, to ensure a speedy rescue of the remaining victims and to effect the arrest of the kidnappers.
Adegboye gave the directive yesterday during his visit to Dangote Cement Factory in Okpella and the Halimatu Musa Hospital, where he met with the injured victims of the kidnap.
“Government’s data shows that only four students are still missing from Thursday’s abduction of CUSTECH students.
“Meanwhile, frantic efforts are being made to locate and rescue the four.
“Fierce gun battle between security agents and the kidnappers forced the kidnappers to abandon the six rescued students, with some escaping with severe injuries.
“The families of the six recently-rescued students have confirmed their safe return home as the first 14,” he said.
The commissioner said the state Governor Usman Ododo had expressed deep appreciation to the joint forces that carried out the rescue operations.
He quoted the governor as urging the forces to continue the search until the remaining students were found.
“This government wishes to assure the public that the security architecture around schools has been recalibrated for efficiency and early warning systems to prevent future occurrences, ” Fanwo said.
The Osun State Police Command has arrested a 47-year-old bank manager, Talabi Adeniyi, after defrauding about 35 people of N650 million for ‘Proof of Fund’.
A statement by the Police Public Relations Officer, Yemisi Opalola, yesterday stated that Talabi is a serial fraudster who under the guise of providing Proof of Fund to scam his victims.
She stated: “Talabi, a resident of Army Barracks Area, Kelebe, Iragbiji road, Osogbo, a manager in one of the bank branches in Osogbo has been arrested for an offence of fraud, obtaining money under false pretence (OBT), conversion and stealing.
“He stole money amounting to N650, 850,000 in an illegal product called PROOF of FUNDS which involved a total number of 35 victims (people).
“It is worthy to note that the said suspect has been suspended by his former employers. Investigation into the case has since commenced and the suspect and his accomplices would be charged to court upon completion of the investigation.”
On Wednesday April 17, four men left the Ilogbo area of Ogun State to attend a burial in the Saki area of Oyo State, but only two of them returned home alive following their abduction by a deadly gang of herdsmen on the highway. In this interview with KUNLE AKINRINADE, one of the victims, Nurudeen Olaitan Salami, who was later freed by the kidnappers, shares the heartrending encounter and narrow escape from death in the den of the kidnappers.
You were abducted by gunmen on April 17 alongside three others while returning from a burial. How did it happen?
It was an all-night final burial party of the mother of the chairman of Ilupeju Igbusi Ilogbo Community Development Association. As landlords and members of the community, I together with three others, namely Omogbolahan Olakunle, Rafiu Oriade Jolaiya and Ernest left work on that day to honour our chairman with our presence at the party.
After the party, we stayed back for a few hours on Thursday, April 18 to relax before boarding a minibus en route Lagos in the afternoon. It was a nine-passenger bus, and before it took off from the motorpark at Saki, some of our acquaintances who also came from Lagos gave us two loaves of Bokku bread and four soft drinks.
When our bus finally left the park around 3.30 pm, our expectation was a peaceful and exciting return to our base in Ogun State while savoured the bread and soft drinks our hosts gave to us. But about an hour later, the bus we boarded screeched to a halt at a checkpoint mounted by five AK-47 clutching herdsmen around the Maya axis of Lanlate-Eruwa Road.
Like a scene from a movie, the bandits dragged all the passengers out of the bus and led us into the forest, while they left two teenage Fulani passengers and the driver of the bus to continue the trip.
What then happened in the forest?
The first thing they did to us was to beat us and collect our bread and soft drinks, which they ate and drank in our presence. From there, we became the recipient of brutality and assault as they hit us constantly with sticks, and the flat ends of cutlass, and also slapped us repeatedly. They had on them a phone that looked like a satellite phone which they charged with a solar panel and used it to communicate with their contacts and family members of victims.
They didn’t want to see any iPhone at all. So the iPhones they seized from us, including mine, were all smashed on the ground and destroyed.
Apart from you and others that were seized from the bus, did you meet other victims in the forest?
Yes. Only seven of the nine passengers in our bus were kidnapped while two Fulani passengers and the driver of the bus were allowed to go. But inside the forest, we met no fewer than 11 other victims including a woman and her three young children kidnapped from their residence when the herdsmen could not get her wealthy husband, who was their target.
Among the captives was also a commercial motorcyclist otherwise called ‘okada rider’, who was abducted in Saki. He later escaped from the forest when he asked to be led to a stream to fetch water but they ran into some soldiers who opened fire and killed one of the herdsmen who led him to the stream.
How were you and other victims moved from one point to another inside the forest without running into people living in villages around the forest area?
They led us through thick forests and made detours to avoid running into villagers nearby. They were five in number but one of them was shot dead by soldiers attached to Operation Burst during an encounter the day after they led us into the forest while another member of the gang suffered a gunshot wound on his leg.
What happened was that they sent one of them to lead a victim, an okada rider, to fetch water from a stream when the soldiers who were on routine operation killed one of the herdsmen and wounded another while the victim escaped.
On the same day, at about 8 pm, they went in search of the one that suffered a gunshot wound on his leg, and that gave one of my kidnapped friends, Ernest, an opportunity to flee. That was how he escaped and contacted the police.
Ernest told us that he ran as fast as he could and that he slept in a thick forest overnight, contacted the nearby police station very early in the morning and was taken into custody.
How did you regain your freedom?
It was a narrow escape from death brought about by almighty God, who put it in the heart of the wicked herdsmen to set me free without any ransom paid. At about 7 pm on a Sunday, the leader of the gang told us that he would release us because he was expecting payment of ransom from a family whose three members were kidnapped. He however threatened to kill us if the operatives of Amotekun Corps attacked them in the forest.
Then suddenly, we heard sounds of gunshots from a distance. The shots were fired by a combined team of policemen and soldiers and the bandits returned fire too to scare the law enforcement team.
After the gunshots ceased, the leader of the gang returned to where we were kept in the forest and shot eight of their captives dead, including a 13-year-old boy. My friends, Omogbolahan Olakunle and Oriade Jolaiya, were also among the eight captives killed by the leader of the herdsmen.
Two members of a family abducted in their residence and the driver of a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) previously abducted were set free.
One of the two siblings kidnapped was a seven-year-old boy. His 21-year-old sister and their mother were abducted from their residence. Their mother died from exhaustion in the forest while we were being led around by the bandits. They were hitting us with sticks and blows.
I was tasked with carrying the wounded member of the gang on my back. To tell you how heartless the kidnappers are, each time I got tired, he would hit me with blows on my head from the back despite the excruciating pain he suffered from his gunshot wounds. We were beaten mercilessly as we trekked in the forest.
We were released around 1.30 am on Sunday, April 21. It happened that an older brother of the two siblings abducted brought the ransom on a motorcycle for the release of his siblings and their mother who he did not know had died in the forest. The woman was left with no strength to carry on and she started seeing blood and died shortly after.
Her older son who came with the ransom had been told by the kidnappers to put his two pointer lights on when coming. They also asked him to buy rice and meat with table water when coming to drop the ransom. So, when he arrived, the kidnappers quickly collected the ransom from him and collected the motorbike which they used to escape from the scene. It was the man that took us to his family residence from where we were taken by police to their station. We walked amid downpours from the forest to the home of the kidnapped siblings where sympathizers were waiting for us.
The kidnappers cooked rice in pots and ate before us while many victims drank their urine. One of us, Fawaz, was killed by the kidnappers. Another victim called Panko, who drank his urine, died after much exhaustion.
Is it true that the kidnappers demanded N50 million ransom for your freedom?
Yes. Initially, that was the amount they threatened to collect or they would kill us. However, after pleadings and negotiations, they agreed to collect N 2.5 million.
Was the negotiation for the reduction of the ransom smooth?
No. The negotiation and pleadings for a reduction of the ransom came with brutality. When I told them that I had a bus that I had asked my family to sell and bring the money to pay as ransom, the kidnappers said the N1.5 million the bus was to be sold was an insult to them, and that they could only reduce the ransom if the value of the bus was N14 million. Hence they subjected me to merciless beating, hitting me with the flat side of a cutlass for trying to raise N1.5 million ransom.
Similarly, we were beaten after Alhaji Saheed offered the kidnappers the sum of N400,000 for our freedom. At a point, I pleaded with them in Hausa language to reduce the ransom to N2.5 million and this again incurred their wrath as they further beat me mercilessly.
Did you find out if any ransom was eventually paid to the kidnappers for your release?
It was just the grace of God that I enjoyed as no ransom was paid. What happened was that ransom was to be paid and money had been mobilised for the purpose. The chairman of our landlords association. Mr Saheed, whose mother’s burial we were returning from before our abduction, was to bring the sum of N2.5 million, and he had been told by the kidnappers to take the money to a certain spot and wait for them there.
However, I quickly used the mobile phone of the man who came to drop the ransom for his siblings to contact Saheed. I told him that we had been freed and that he should not bother bringing any ransom to the kidnappers. I told Saheed to flee from the spot where he was waiting for the kidnappers because they were already on their way to the spot after collecting N2 million to free the two young siblings among us.
The ransom for the driver, Fawaz and Panko was raised by their family members and was to also be paid by Saheed whom the kidnappers mandated to collect the money and bring to them. Panko was hypertensive, so he died from the intensity of the gunshots fired by the leader of the kidnap gang when he shot other victims dead.
What happened to you after your release?
As soon as one of my aunties learned that I was freed by the kidnappers, she came to Ibadan and brought me back to Lagos. I landed in the hospital where I received treatment for days because my body was badly brutalised and I was already very sick.
Going by your experience, would you honour another invitation for an interstate party?
Never, I will not attend any party that involves travelling to another state. Instead, I would rather send money to the organiser. I don’t pray to suffer the same fate again in my life.
The Kwara State command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has arrested a-45 year old for allegedly defiling three minors in the state.
The suspect named Prophet Olayinka Ajiboye allegedly raped his victims in Agah villiage, Ilorin South Local Government Area of the state.
Spokesperson of the corps, Shola Ayoola, said the ages of the minors ranged between 13 and 17.
Ayoola said: “The suspect, who specialises in harassing and sexually assaulting minors, has been under the surveillance of the command following several complaints about his nefarious activities.
“He was apprehended after a tip-off on Tuesday, May 7th, 2024.
“The suspect confessed to the crime, attributing it to the work of the devil.
“Investigation revealed that the suspect is the General Overseer of Divine Land of Joy Prayer Ministry located in Agah village and has sexually assaulted several members of the church, as reported by the victims.”
•Tinubu, Obasanjo, Abiodun, others grace installation as Asiwaju
Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf captures the sights and sounds of the official installation ceremony of Dr. Sulaiman Adebola Adegunwa and his wife, Fatima, as the Asiwaju and Yeye Asiwaju/Arobake of Ijebuland, in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.
In a manner of speaking, penultimate Saturday will go down in the annals of Ijebuland’s history as a memorable day. It was the day the famous town and ancestral homestead of one of the most revered monarchs in Nigeria, the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, hosted a global audience in celebration of one of the illustrious sons of the kingdom, a famous industrialist and philanthropist, Chief (Dr.) Sulaiman Adebola Adegunwa, and his adorable wife, Fatima.
The occasion was the official installation ceremony of the couple who were being decorated with one of the most coveted traditional titles in the land: the Asiwaju of Ijebuland and Yeye Asiwaju/Arobake of Ijebuland respectively, at a ceremony held at the Oba Adetona Golden Jubilee Centre, Ijebu Ode, Ogun State.
To say the occasion was a showstopper is to state the obvious. It was a mixture of glitz, glam, revelry and fanfare!
Signs that the occasion was going to be a talk-of-the-town were so apparent that a first-time visitor to Ijebu-Ode, located on the highway between Sagamu and Benin City, would be mesmerised by the ecstatic mood of the otherwise quiet neighbourhood.
Our correspondent observed that the town was not just in a festive mood; a cursory view of the different neighbourhoods right from the Ijebu-Ode motor-park showed the obvious: the entire landscape was dotted by billboards and signage announcing the august event with inscriptions written in English and the local Ijebu dialect all welcoming kith and kin, visitors and strangers to savour the town in its full glory!
Drummers, horse-riders, dances, flutists, among other performers, added to the pomp and glamour for the five hours the programme lasted with intermittent interludes to allow organisers carry out some salient tasks in keeping with the schedule.
The event, which began a little after midday, was heralded by the national Awujale anthem, a sort of cognomen and panegyrics of the royal deified as a god, as chants of “Orisha Ijebu, Orisha Ijebu” rent the air with many sons and daughters of the Ijebuland throwing banter and exchanging random banalities
Thereafter the Adegunwas were turbaned in a ceremony witnessed by the Awujale himself and his wife, Olori Kemi Adetona, among other guests.
The highpoint of the occasion was the admission of the oath of office on the Adegunwas amid cheers and acknowledgements by well-wishers. Shortly after the administration of the oath of office on the couple, there were fireworks and callisthenic displays in different hues and colours that added flavour to the feisty occasion.
Expectedly, the Adegunwas were not just the cynosure of all eyes, they were also described in affectionate and superlative terms.
Top on the list of admirers who praised the Adegunwas to high heavens was President Bola Tinubu, represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, who arrived in the company of Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, acknowledging cheers from a packed audience.
In his glowing tribute to the Ijebu-Ode born entrepreneur, Shettima described him in superlative adjectives, even as he acknowledged his diligence, resilience and resourcefulness.
While noting that Chief Adegunwa is a legend and one of the greatest sons of Africa, Ijebuland and Nigeria as a whole, Shettima recalled that their paths crossed two years ago when he was hosted to a dinner at the country home of the Adegunwas in Ososa.
According to him, one of the testaments to the celebrator’s love for humanity are his corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives that dot the landscape across the country.
“Chief Adegunwa is a man worthy of emulation and certainly deserving of the title being bestowed on him and his wife, Mrs Fatima Adegunwa. On this joyous occasion, may your leadership bring peace, love and progress to Ijebuland,” he said.
The President, who spoke shortly after the installation of the business mogul, described him as a striking personality of immense humility despite his invaluable contributions to business enterprise and creations of jobs for thousands of Nigerians.
He said: “As we celebrate the conferment of Asiwaju of Ijebuland on Pa Sulaiman Adegunwa and Yeye Asiwaju Arobake of Ijebuland on his wife, we have to recognise that he is a legend of his time.
“He is one of the greatest sons of Ijebuland and Africa, who has actively contributed to the advancement of industry and enterprise in Nigeria.”
Speaking earlier, Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, who heaped encomiums on the Adegunwas, said the couple was most deserving of the title of Asiwaju and Yeye Asiwaju/Arobake of Ijebuland.
He said: “It is indisputably correct that Dr. Adegunwa and his wife duly deserve this honour from all indications going by what they have contributed to humanity and enduring legacies.
“The main contributions of the Adegunwas to the real sector of Nigeria’s economy are indeed unquantifiable and worthy of commendation. Baba Adegunwa’s business and philanthropic activities span over six decades.”
Expatiating, Governor Abiodun, who said Baba Adegunwa was a forward-thinking person, recalled that the latter was able to easily diversify into other areas including banking, real estate, agriculture and education, because he moved with the times.
“Baba knew that it was time to move beyond the photo laboratory and soon went into food business, and today he is the Chairman of Rite Foods. The seed of growth and degree of Rite foods across the country is unbelievable. Baba’s slogan is I can.”
Abiodun, who expressed optimism that the new Asiwaju would bring his immense wealth of experience to bear on his role to the admiration of the people of Ijebuland, thanked the Awujale and paramount ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona II, for the well-deserved honour to the Adegunwas.
Earlier in his address, the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, represented by the Ogbeni Oja of Ijebuland, Dr Sunny Kuku, stated that the invaluable contributions of Adegunwa and his wife to enhancing the socio-economic development of Ijebuland and Nigeria as a whole, as well as their support and loyalty to the Awujale’s throne, made them worthy of the befitting honour.
Kuku, who recalled the great exploits of the Adegunwas over the years, noted matter-of-factly that his association with the honouree dates back to over 50 years, stressing that the latter have continued to promote the ideas and ideals of socio-economic development to the admiration of all.
While responding to the well-wishes, the host, who was effusive with praises for the royal father and the council of chiefs, assured that he would live up to their expectations.
The industrialist pledged to remain committed to serving humanity and enhancing socio-economic development across Ijebuland and Nigeria.
The title of Asiwaju of Ijebuland was first held by the late Chief Samuel Sonibare, a property merchant and notable politician.
He was succeeded by a former Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the late Prof Adebayo Adedeji, who died in April 2018.
Guests at the elaborate event included the Ogun State Deputy Governor, Noimot Salako-Oyedele and her husband, Bode Oyedele; former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his wife, Bola; former governors of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun, Segun Osoba, and Gbenga Daniel, who is currently representing Ogun East at the Senate.
Others were the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN; Minister of State for Health, Dr. Tunji Alausa; the Secretary to Ogun State Government, Tokunbo Talabi; onetime deputy governor Gbenga Kaka, other members’ of the Ogun State Council, Hon. Femi Ogunbanwo, representing Ijebu Central, paramount rulers of Yewa and Egbaland, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle and Oba Adedotun Gbadebo respectively, among others.
As the dignitaries filled out from the pavilion, the unspoken words in the minds of many others, especially indigenes of the town who also witnessed the august occasion, was that the momentous occasion would last in the memory.
Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf is the immediate past Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture in Lagos State. She served as Commissioner in charge of four different ministries between 2015 and 2023. The trained pharmacist cum industrialist, who will clock 50 later this month, spoke with KUNLE AKINRINADE about how growing up as a teenager among older male siblings and her disciplinarian mother’s grooming helped her to navigate politics and public office.
Looking back to the beginning and seeing what you have achieved so far, would you say you are fulfilled?
Looking back and seeing how far one has gone in life and the place where one started, it is all glory to God for what He has done in my life for over 49 years. It is marvelous. I came from a very humble background; from a royal lineage and a disciplined background. I always tell people that when you come from a humble background and you are disciplined, you have got the best to start off your life with.
My late mother of blessed memory was a very tough woman. I happened to be the first daughter with five senior guys. You can imagine when you now have a tough woman with five senior brothers. It was not fun. That is just it. The man who would have showered all that love and given me the best of childhood, death cut his life short. He died so early. I was about 12 years old when I lost my father. So, life became another thing because my mother would not mind me.
But to the glory of God, I appreciate the two of them. My mother made me to be the strong, independent woman which I am enjoying today because of the kind of training she gave to me. May her gentle soul continue to rest in peace. That has enabled me to train my children in the same manner.
I realise now that the way my father pampered me, if had grown up that way, I might not have been who I am today. My father showed me love; he pampered me, which I cherish. I would have become a spoilt child if the man had not passed away, because he saw me as his own mother, and he transferred that love to me that nobody could touch, pinch, or do anything to me. He addressed me like his own personal princess. So, I had a special place in my father’s heart. That made my mum to be so jealous of me thinking that it is this girl who owned everything.
I shared everything at home before my father passed on. If I didn’t give you, then it was your ‘wahala’. But my mother was able to bring the best
out of my life. She shaped me, unlike my father who tried to pamper me.
How about your foray into business?
The business aspect of my life is from my mother. She was a trader, and she taught me how to be an independent woman. She encouraged me not to get any paid job in my life; to work and work and depend on my own strength. That was what my mother used to tell all of us.
I came from a polygamous home and I do not see anything wrong with polygamy, maybe because I loved my father. I think I enjoyed the life we used to live together with my step-siblings. I didn’t see anything wrong with each other. We love ourselves. I can’t remember any time my father or my mother, or my stepmother had issues that concerned us. So, we lived in a very large family. We lived in our own house and everybody lived together. I enjoyed my growing up days. I lived with my family, all of us sleeping in the sitting room. We played together, forgot everything and slept there while playing. So, I grew up in a very large family.
At the same time, when it comes to religion, we don’t discriminate in my house. Whether you are a Christian or a Muslim, it is none of anybody’s problem. My mother was a Christian, my father was a Muslim. We never forced anybody to go to the mosque. Whichever religion you chose was your own decision. Just be true to yourself and be kind to people in the community. So, religion was not a problem. My mother was Christian until later in her life when she chose to become a Muslim. In fact by the time she chose to become a Muslim, her husband had passed on. So, it is not as if the man made her to become a Muslim.
We all chose the way we wanted to live our lives. I chose to be a Muslim. In fact, when I was with her, we were going to church together. Even when I was in the University of Ibadan for my first degree, I was going to church until later in life when I decided that I would not go to church again; I wanted to understand more about Islam. It was willingly that I became a conscious Muslim.
How many are you in the family?
My father had 13 of us, and to the glory of God, we are all together. We love ourselves. Even when I was in office, you see them come and I will say, ‘I don’t have time for you. The person will say, ‘Okay, I will see you later.’ None of them said she was doing that because she was a commissioner. They didn’t see me as a commissioner then; they just see me as their sister, which I appreciate and enjoy so very much. We respect each other’s decision and value each other, my mother’s family too.
My mother is from the large Omisore family in Ile Ife. She was a very tough woman. That family, many of them are very tough, both from my mother’s and father’s side. On my father’s side too, we are from the ruling house in Ijebu Ode. I enjoy the royalty in me, and I give God the glory. And that spur me
into so many other things in life. So, growing up, I think I will appreciate God that I got the best from my family, and I thank God for that.
What were the thorns in the course of your journey so far?
There have been so many thorns, especially when I lost my father. It was like the walls wanted to crumble on me. He was my pillar of support in life. I could not imagine life without my loving father; the world turned against me because I used to get everything from him. The man passed away when I was still in secondary school. We were eight from my mother to take care of, and it became very tough. I should have dropped out of school when the man passed on, but because I promised my father that I would make sure that I graduated from the university, I think I was the first daughter of my father that actually went to the university.
There was a time when there was an issue in my school, and my teacher called him. He came to visit me in school. My teacher reported me to him that I was not serious. He felt disappointed, but I promised him that I would graduate from the university. So, that was echoing in my head, that I promised my father that I was going to be a university graduate. I decided that whatever it was going to cost me to be a university graduate, I must achieve it. Yet, it was very tough. Nobody to pay your school fees, you needed to be running from one
place to another to get your school fees, and so on.
When I sat my first WAEC and I did not pass, my mother told me there was no need to go to school if I was not serious. I just packed my things, left the house and came to Ibadan to stay with a friend. I started looking for opportunities to enroll for WAEC and JAMB. So, I left the house, came to Ibadan, and I was able to pass WAEC and JAMB before I returned to my mother. It was when I was admitted into the university, because I said I was not going to be that trader she wanted to force me to become.
She wanted me to be a trader; not that she had anything against going to school but because of the finance, so that I could, through trading, assist in training others. I said I was not going to be the sacrificial lamb for others to excel; I would rather find my own feet. So, I just left to pursue my own dream and aspiration. And what was my dream? I just wanted to be a graduate.
So, I left the house at a very young age. I got admitted into the University of Ibadan, but I was first given Biochemistry which was not the course of my choice. I tried JAMB again and again. I just wanted to be a pharmacist. I never wanted to be a biochemist. That is just who I am. Whatever I want to get, I don’t look at the challenges. I need to make sure that I get what I want, unless I am not interested in that particular thing. I don’t believe that there is a challenge you cannot overcome, unless you don’t have the strength to go further. I always tell my young people that nothing good comes easy. So, I love to struggle to get whatever I want.
So, you finished your course as a biochemist?
I did not finish as a biochemist. I left when I got married. I needed to relocate, and at that time, I had got admission into the University of Lagos to study Pharmacy. There was no need for me to stay back. The same year I got
married was the same year I got admission to study Pharmacy.
How did you cope with being newly married and your study as a new student?
It was a tough one, I can tell you. But when you are determined, you will succeed. I was able to combine both, and here I am today as a proud pharmacist, and a proud mother.
Was there any memorable incident as a married woman that almost stopped you from achieving your goal?
Well, I can’t remember any, because my drive then was that I would be a pharmacist, so anything that would… I could remember when I had my second child. The third day, I left the hospital and I went straight to school. My mother was crying at home that I had to leave a baby and go to school, and I said the baby would not die; I am already out of the hospital. So, I pursued my dream passionately. Whatever that wanted to stop my dream, I don’t always allow it. I love my son, not that I did not love him, and I knew nothing would happen to him between the time that I would go to school and return. So, instead of me sitting down at home to breastfeed the baby, I pressed the breasts inside the bottle, and I would leave it inside the cooler for him to have. I still make sure that the only thing was for me to wake up early enough to press enough breasts milk for him so that he would have sufficient breast milk between when I would go for lecture and by the time I would return. I practised exclusive breastfeeding despite my schedule.
At a time that I had to stay in school, I had people living with me that would bring my child to the school with the car later in the afternoon to sleep over, and early in the morning, they would return my child home and I would continue my classes. I was able to manage the situation, though it was not easy.
I got married in 1997, got admitted in 1998 and also had my first child in 1998 when I also resumed school. I had to like find a way. I could not finish Biochemistry, so I would now be a dropout from school of Pharmacy again, that I had been nursing to study? No, it was not going to be possible. I had to give it whatever it would take. To the glory of God, I was able to achieve that.
You said you had five male siblings ahead of you. How did that prepare you to play in the political scene?
I was born to be a guy, because I was nurtured by guys. I was in their midst, so I know how tough it was growing up with them. That prepared my journey to face anybody in life because my brothers were very tough. That prepared me. If I could face these lions in my house and survive, I can face anybody. I have never been to anywhere a man would now be a threat to my life or ambition. No, I believe that we are all human beings and equals.
If I could survive the tyranny of my family then, there is no way any man can come and say because you’re a lady or because you are a woman…No, I don’t tolerate that. I don’t feel threatened at all. That actually prepared me for the journey in politics.
• Infected women recall shocking ways their status was discovered
The new Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Dr. Temitope Ilori, recently embarked on a fact-finding tour of health facilities in Ibadan, Oyo State, to assess progress towards the 2030 goal of ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat. During her visit, she interacted with caregivers, policymakers, academia and people living with HIV. Four women, including the Coordinator of the Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN) in the state, shared their experiences and challenges living with the health condition. Three of them narrated the circumstances in which they found out their HIV status, how they reacted to the news and how have been coping with life since then. None of the young women could understand how they became victims of HIV. The three women have several things in common: they are all young, did not know when or how they contracted HIV, got pregnant again, living purposeful life but not ready to confront the society with their status yet. DELE ANOFI reports that their stories highlight the need for awareness, education and support for people living with HIV/AIDS.
Amope Ibidunni, a 33-year-old former teacher, had no inkling that she had contracted HIV until she was delivered of a baby through caesarian section (CS) in 2020 following a serious sickness that led to taking her to the University College Hospital. It was double jeopardy for her that the baby died and her HIV status was confirmed after all the necessary tests were conducted before the operation.
“It is an understatement to say that I was devastated, because I was just wondering how I could have contracted it. I was not a sex worker and I was never promiscuous. I also never felt sick and was never down until I was about to give birth and was rushed to the hospital. So there was nothing to prepare me for the discovery,” she said.
She was, however, not deterred by the ugly development. She got pregnant again in 2021, and the baby boy was HIV negative.
She said: “Since I know my status and those of my child and husband, I have been very careful. With God’s grace, I have been faithfully keeping to what I was counseled about and what we were always told by the nurses and the United States President’s Emergency Plan (PEPFAR) and Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN) to do and not do with myself, family members and even when I am outside the house.
“Since I don’t want to lose my family, nobody needed to tell me to be wise. Even on food consumption at various stages of one’s development, there are steps to be taken. My caregivers are wonderful people. They have never been harsh on me but always supportive and encouraging me that it is not the end of life.”
Although Ibidunni left her teaching job for business, she has never been subjected to stigmatization over her status, though she did not disclose her status to people outside her family members. Despite having the fortune of a loving and understanding husband, she believes that if she had taken time to find out about her health status much earlier, it is possible she would not be in a position to be talking about it today.
She said: “For fear of the unknown and stigmatization, we did not disclose my situation to anybody. I knew of a woman who was isolated because everyone knew about her status. The woman was perpetually depressed until she died, so I don’t want to fall into such a situation.
“Luckily for me, there is nothing on me to show that I am HIV positive. I consider myself a lucky woman because my husband is one of a kind. His reaction to the discovery of my situation was unprecedented.
“While I was bracing for the worst, he shocked me with his acceptance of the news. Probably because he knew the kind of wife he had, he was very supportive when the news broke.
“When the dust had settled, he asked the doctor if we could have mate again and make a family. Here we are with two children who are HIV-negative.
“My advice for women is that even before going for marriage, and immediately after getting pregnant, they should conduct tests to ascertain their status. It will prevent a lot of heartache in the future.”
On her part, Mary Anne Odugbale, a 38-year-old businesswoman and charcoal supplier who was married with a 23-year-old son before she realized her status, was equally lost as to how she contracted the illness after two decades of wedlock.
Trouble began in 2021 when she got pregnant with her second child. But three years earlier, dizziness and blurry sight became a constant health issue, which people around told her could be a blood-related sickness.
“On getting pregnant, she registered with a government health facility rather than a mission house where she had her first child, for better attention. But because of poor services, she left the health centre for the mission house again where she was eventually delivered of her baby.
“However, according to her, trouble began when the newborn baby boy would not stop stooling. In the process, he became stunted, bony, and a source of concern for everyone that saw him.
“After nursing him for a year, she was forced to take him to a hospital where both mother and child were diagnosed with HIV.
“The next thing that came to my mind was that the end had come with the stories of the people that had it and how they eventually died, especially of a couple (while we were growing up) that got it in Lagos, later relocated to Ibadan but eventually died a terrible death.
“The owner of the mission house was a very helpful and kind person. She gave me a number to call, asked me to go to Omolewa (University College Hospital Antiretroviral Therapy clinic) the following Monday. Before I got to Omolewa, they were calling me, giving me description on how to get there.
“On getting there, they did not waste our time. The very attentive, courteous and wonderful people asked me questions and conducted tests all over again. That was two years after the birth of my child.
“They counseled that it was not the end of life. They took special care of my child who was just only bones by then. But by six months after we commenced treatment, nobody could believe that it was the same boy. He started walking and began to add weight; looking very healthy and getting handsome every day.
“How happy and relieved I am that my boy did not die because of this, only I can relate to that, because he got the disease from me through no fault of his but health workers that were very negligent in their duties. But I leave them to God.”
Coping with life has been surprisingly a sharp contrast to Odugbale’s expectations. She appreciates having easy access to medications for herself and her child, which she says marked a big difference in their lives. While appreciating the government and their partners for bearing the cost of testing and treatment of the disease, she prayed that the drugs would remain free.
She also emphasised the fact that her status was not revealed to outsiders for fear of how they would react while praising her husband for understanding and remaining supportive.
“As for the treatment and care, the government is trying for us, and our prayer is that God would continue to empower them. This is very important because if we have to be paying for these things by ourselves, then the end is near, because it won’t be cheap and we all know how the economy is.
“I did not disclose my situation to anyone; it is just between my sister, my mum and my husband. I thank God for the understanding husband. My husband and my first child did not have the disease. They underwent tests too.
“I always thank God about our home after the discovery, because my husband is not an extremist. Sometimes he gets angry, especially whenever anyone falls sick in the house. That is when he will be touchy and complaining why won’t you go to the hospital? Have you done this, have you done that?
“But we are still together. A broken home should not accompany my situation, it will be tough but I thank God.
“My own is that detection and the attitude of the caregivers are aspects that must be seriously looked into by the government. These two critical areas cost me my health.
“If I have been a wayward woman, my husband won’t be around till today. It is a simple fact. Who wants to stay with a promiscuous spouse? That is not a very comfortable thought or prospect.”
In the case of 33-year-old Rebecca Anjorin, a hairdresser, she was more of a believer in her chastity and the power of prayers, that it is absolutely impossible to contract the disease even after she was diagnosed with it in 2016. For five years, she lived in self-denial, which eventually cost her the health of her third child after the second born that she gave birth to after she was first diagnosed positive escaped the disease.
Following the second diagnosis while the three children and husband tested negative, she still refused to take the medications given to her to mitigate her condition. That fatal negligence cost the third child his health.
Her story: “In 2016, I was about to give birth to our second child when I got home and told my husband the news after I rebuked it when the nurses told me. He was not alarmed. He said I should not bother myself that it is the handiwork of Satan.
“We prayed and continued to pray against the possibility of such a thing. They gave me a lot of drugs which I did not use because I was afraid that the drugs might now induce the disease, because all this while, I was never sick or felt sick.
“In 2021, I got pregnant again. But on the sixth month, I started getting sick and coughing. Later, I observed blood in my phlegm and whenever I sneezed. I went to a private clinic. After series of tests on the four of us including the new born, they confirmed my status again two months after giving birth.
“They asked if I knew I had it, I said yes. They said that was dangerous. They then referred me to UCH where the new born and myself were subjected to a regime of treatment.
“That was when it finally dawned on me that I had the disease.
“My baby was given some drugs they said I must administer religiously because I wasn’t on any medication since I tested positive five years ago. They warned that I should not treat it with levity this time because it was only God’s grace that has been keeping me and the kids from disaster since then.
“They now asked me to wean the child after a year unfailingly. I still did not because she was stunted and I wasn’t comfortable with that. So I continued breastfeeding him for another one month.
“When we now went back to the hospital and they asked about breastfeeding and I told them, they were livid. Immediately, they took her samples for test and she came out positive. I became inconsolable. That is how the story has been since then.
“But the social pressure I face at home occasionally from my husband can be very painful some of the time, especially when he is under pressure too. That is when you would see him questioning everything; do you want others to get it too? Those times could be very disheartening for me.”
Asked why she was so adamant when the disease is not new to everyone with all the warnings on the radio, she said: “Hmm, I was unbelieving that I could have it. That was responsible for my nonchalant posture towards addressing it.
“It was because I believed that I could never have it and I couldn’t lay my hands on how or from which source I could have got it. That is why I didn’t take it seriously for those five years.
“It was later, after the final confirmation, and it even took me months to reason that being a hairdresser, the sharp objects I used on people could be responsible. And that was even the reason my home has not broken, because my husband knew the kind of wife he got and couldn’t understand how this could have happened too.
“At this point, I’ve accepted it as my fate and there is nothing I can do about it other than for me and my baby to take our medications regularly.”
On coping with disease in relation to access to the medications, family, and the community, Anjorin was all thankful to God that she is trudging on, saying: “There have been days when we were supposed to come for our drugs that I would not have money and my husband too would not have, so I would have to trek.
“There was a day our okada (motorcycle) even fell and we were injured, but what can one do? Those incidents are not enough to stop us now because the medications are giving us a second chance.
“On the home front, the issue could not scatter my home, if I may put it that way, though men can be very funny at times, especially when they are pressured from work or other things. But to God be the glory, we have been riding the waves and our home is still intact.
“Through all of this, suicide was never an option because I am a believer who knows the kind of punishment that awaits anyone that does that. I also could not afford to expose my status to anyone because I don’t know to what extent people’s reactions would go.
“Besides, why would I expose myself to anyone who didn’t expose herself or himself to me? No one knows the kind of issues the next person is battling with. So, let everyone mind their business.
“I will however plead that the society should change their perception and not malign people with the condition by ostracising us when we disclose our status. Such disclosure should not be a source of mental torture. People should rather show understanding and love because the cause might be through no fault of theirs.
“My advice to women out there is that people should learn from my predicament. Intending couples, newly-wed and all pregnant women should not fall into my trap.
“Go for HIV test and do it regularly. Don’t rest on your faith alone. That is why we have the grace to think. Don’t take your health for granted.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Faith Abiola, the Oyo State Coordinator of the Network of People Living With HIV AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN), who has been living with the disease since 1994, said stigmatization of the people living with it is real, but getting the culprits perpetuating it is one of the most difficult jobs in the country.
According to him, since he assumed the office three years ago, despite the vigorous education and awareness campaign mounted to equip and empower the members on how to ensure that they live a better life by doing what is necessary, getting cases of stigmatization has been difficult.
He however said the society needs to change its perception of the disease and the victim to make disclosure easy which will be of great benefit to everyone.
“Stigmatization came with HIV from inception, and we have been fighting against it since then with a known case in 2006 or thereabout which we won.
“We have always told them that anytime they are stigmatised or discriminated against, they should let us know to enable us take the necessary steps, because there is a law against that.
“On a lighter note, I am even looking for who will stigmatise me but it’s not happening. Getting culprits is very difficult because even our members who were the victim that reported the case, especially the new ones, will also decline going further with it because of the bigger implication of exposing their status and what would naturally follow.”
He also urged every pregnant woman in the country to endeavour to go for HIV test to prevent avoidable and unnecessary heartache in the future.
The challenges posed by declining soil fertility present substantial issues for many African countries, including Nigeria, especially in the light of the continent’s anticipated population growth. With an estimated 2.5 billion people expected to inhabit Africa by 2050, there will be a substantial increase in food consumption, placing further strain on the continent’s already burdened agricultural systems. In response to these pressing challenges, campaigns and initiatives geared towards enhancing soil fertility, advocating for sustainable agricultural practices and mitigating the impacts of environmental factors are gaining momentum. DANIEL ESSIET reports
At the launch and commemoration of the 14th Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security (ADFNS) Commemoration and 19th Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) Partnership Platform held in Zambia last year, Mrs Estherine Lisinge-Fotabong, the Director of Agriculture, Food Security and Environmental Sustainability at the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD), underscored the imperative to accelerate intra-regional food trade, enhance food security, and stimulate economic growth across the continent.
Mrs Lisinge-Fotabong stressed the importance of promoting the cultivation and consumption of locally-sourced foods as a means to address hunger and malnutrition in Africa. However, she acknowledged that nutrition and food security remain precarious due to various vulnerabilities in the continent, including climate change-induced shocks, ongoing conflicts, and fluctuations in global food prices, among other factors. Given that a significant portion of Africans rely on agriculture for their livelihoods, agriculture stands as the primary industry on the continent. However, the recent population surge and dwindling arable land availability have exerted significant pressure on soils, highlighting the critical need to maintain soil fertility to mitigate the risk of food insecurity.
Over time, Africa has witnessed a decline in soil fertility, with notable implications for regions like Nigeria. Communities grappling with degraded soils face heightened vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, including droughts and floods, exacerbating challenges in adaptation and resilience. Recognising the urgency of the situation, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, the Nigeria Institute of Soil Science (NISS), and the Soil Science Society of Nigeria have all underscored the imperative of addressing soil degradation within the country. These groups have emphasised the critical need to preserve soil fertility and health, given that soils serve as the foundation of food production and are increasingly stressed by climate change and human activities.
According to FAO data, approximately 33 per cent of Nigeria’s agricultural areas have already been impacted by soil deterioration, stemming from compaction, acidification, salinisation, erosion, loss of organic carbon and biodiversity, and nutrient imbalances. Analysts warn that the declining fertility of arable fields, particularly in key production regions, poses an imminent threat to the agricultural sector if left unaddressed. In response, ongoing campaigns seek to encourage farmers to adopt best practices for long-term soil enrichment. The dwindling fertility of land, especially in the northern region, poses a severe threat to the country’s food security. To mitigate soil deterioration, organizations such as the Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) are actively assisting farmers in the North, aiming to bolster soil health and agricultural productivity.
The remarkable story of Abdulmumini Adamu serves as a testament to the transformative power of Conservation Agriculture (CA) and Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) among Nigerian smallholder farmers. Through the adoption of limited tillage and other sustainable farming practices, Adamu not only significantly increased his crop yields but also managed to reduce his labour expenses. Under the guidance of the Sasakawa Africa Association’s (SAA) comprehensive training programme, Adamu successfully implemented techniques such as low tillage, mulching, crop rotation, and composting. These practices not only resulted in an astounding 85 per cent reduction in labour costs but also led to a remarkable 50 per cent increase in crop yields. Such remarkable gains can be attributed to the improved soil health and enhanced moisture retention facilitated by the application of ISFM and CA methods.
The work of Dr. Shamie Zingore, Director of Research and Development at the Morocco-based African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI), plays a pivotal role in addressing the challenges confronting smallholder farmers across Africa. With an estimated 33 million smallholder farmers facing obstacles such as low productivity and limited access to modern agricultural techniques, Dr. Zingore’s research assumes paramount importance in enhancing soil health, boosting crop yields, and ultimately, improving human nutrition. Through innovative research initiatives, Dr. Zingore and his team are instrumental in advancing agricultural practices that promote sustainability and prosperity among smallholder farmers across the continent.
According to him, low fertility in the natural environment and inadequate soil conservation efforts have left sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with some of the world’s worst soils. He pointed out that the continent’s ability to feed itself is being seriously undermined by the annual loss of soil nutrients valued at over $4 billion. He said to properly solve the problems of food security in Africa, soil and nutrient management technologies need to strike a balance between boosting crop output and improving soil fertility. APNI, where he works is pursing 4R Nutrient Stewardship initiative. The 4R Nutrient Stewardship initiative is a framework for guiding nutrient management practices in agriculture. It emphasizes applying the right source of nutrients, at the right rate, at the right time, and in the right place. For him, addressing growing soil fertility challenges is indeed crucial for sustainable agriculture and food security, especially in Africa s where smallholder farmers rely heavily on the productivity of their land. He noted: “We are at a very important time for African agriculture as the continent faces a myriad of challenges linked to unsustainable agriculture including chronically low agricultural productivity and human malnutrition, which is estimated to be seriously impacting at least 20per cent of the African population.”
One of the significant challenges that Africa faces is ensuring food security of a growing population. Recognising the critical role fertilizer and soil health has in tackling the problem, the African Union (AU) is launching a 10-year Action Plan demonstrates a long-term commitment to addressing these challenges and investing in sustainable agricultural practices. Under the aegis of its Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health (AFSH) Summit, AU is convening heads of states, ministers, and agricultural development partners in Africa this May 2024, in Nairobi, Kenya to launch a 10-year Action Plan for associated investments. Launching the Action Plan demonstrates Africa’s commitment to finding local solutions to local challenges.
He noted: “Building on the 10-Year Action Plan, AFSH will identify the key critical areas for investment into policy and market investments but also into the critical technologies for sustainable plant nutrition and soil health management on the continent. These targets will be necessarily underpinned by accelerated support for building research and extension capacity to ensure knowledge generation is both relevant and practical for Africa’s farmers and translated into scalable solutions for sustained improvement of agricultural productivity across Africa.”
In his role as the Acting Director of Research and Innovation at the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), Dr. Wole Fatunbi plays a pivotal role in driving research and innovation initiatives aimed at addressing the pressing issue of soil fertility decline. His advocacy for soil fertility protection and the promotion of best land use practices are indispensable for fostering sustainable agriculture, particularly in Africa where countless livelihoods hinge on farming. Dr. Fatunbi leads efforts to deepen public understanding of soil health, championing sustainable farming methods that preserve soil fertility and advocating for policy frameworks that prioritize soil conservation projects. His multifaceted responsibilities include conducting pioneering studies to unravel the complexities of soil dynamics, promoting knowledge exchange among stakeholders, and influencing policy decisions to integrate soil health considerations into agricultural strategies.
Recognising the urgency posed by Africa’s burgeoning population and the mounting pressures on its agricultural systems, Dr. Fatunbi emphasises the imperative of collaborative action. He stresses the importance of forging partnerships between farmers, researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders to implement effective strategies for sustaining soil health. Through his leadership and advocacy, Dr. Fatunbi is instrumental in shaping a more resilient and productive agricultural landscape across the African continent.
According to Fatunbi, soil salinization is becoming an increasingly serious issue in Africa. He noted. “This is becoming a reality in Africa where the proportion of soil with high salt content is gradually approaching a critical threshold that requires considerable effort. Africa is reported to possess 60 per cent of the remaining arable land globally. Arable land implies a land lot with complementary properties suitable for crop cultivation and livestock rearing. immobilised in the soil colloids due to the presence of higher concentrations of other nutrients.”
Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf is the immediate past Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture in Lagos State. She served as Commissioner in charge of four different ministries between 2015 and 2023. The trained pharmacist cum industrialist, who will clock 50 later this month, spoke with KUNLE AKINRINADE about how growing up as a teenager among older male siblings and her disciplinarian mother’s grooming helped her to navigate politics and public office.
Looking back to the beginning and seeing what you have achieved so far, would you say you are fulfilled?
Looking back and seeing how far one has gone in life and the place where one started, it is all glory to God for what He has done in my life for over 49 years. It is marvelous. I came from a very humble background; from a royal lineage and a disciplined background. I always tell people that when you come from a humble background and you are disciplined, you have got the best to start off your life with.
My late mother of blessed memory was a very tough woman. I happened to be the first daughter with five senior guys. You can imagine when you now have a tough woman with five senior brothers. It was not fun. That is just it. The man who would have showered all that love and given me the best of childhood, death cut his life short. He died so early. I was about 12 years old when I lost my father. So, life became another thing because my mother would not mind me.
But to the glory of God, I appreciate the two of them. My mother made me to be the strong, independent woman which I am enjoying today because of the kind of training she gave to me. May her gentle soul continue to rest in peace. That has enabled me to train my children in the same manner.
I realise now that the way my father pampered me, if had grown up that way, I might not have been who I am today. My father showed me love; he pampered me, which I cherish. I would have become a spoilt child if the man had not passed away, because he saw me as his own mother, and he transferred that love to me that nobody could touch, pinch, or do anything to me. He addressed me like his own personal princess. So, I had a special place in my father’s heart. That made my mum to be so jealous of me thinking that it is this girl who owned everything.
I shared everything at home before my father passed on. If I didn’t give you, then it was your ‘wahala’. But my mother was able to bring the best out of my life. She shaped me, unlike my father who tried to pamper me.
How about your foray into business?
The business aspect of my life is from my mother. She was a trader, and she taught me how to be an independent woman. She encouraged me not to get any paid job in my life; to work and work anddepend on my own strength. That was what my mother used to tell all of us.
I came from a polygamous home and I do not see anything wrong with polygamy, maybe because I loved my father. I think I enjoyed the life we used to live together with my step-siblings. I didn’t see anything wrong with each other. We love ourselves. I can’t remember any time my father or my mother, or my stepmother had issues that concerned us. So, we lived in a very large family. We lived in our own house and everybody lived together. I enjoyed my growing up days. I lived with my family, all of us sleeping in the sitting room. We played together, forgot everything and slept there while playing. So, I grew up in a very large family.
At the same time, when it comes to religion, we don’t discriminate in my house. Whether you are a Christian or a Muslim, it is none of anybody’s problem. My mother was a Christian, my father was a Muslim. We never forced anybody to go to the mosque. Whichever religion you chose was your own decision. Just be true to yourself and be kind to people in the community. So, religion was not a problem. My mother was Christian until later in her life when she chose to become a Muslim. In fact by the time she chose to become a Muslim, her husband had passed on. So, it is not as if the man made her to become a Muslim.
We all chose the way we wanted to live our lives. I chose to be a Muslim. In fact, when I was with her, we were going to church together. Even when I was in the University of Ibadan for my first degree, I was going to church until later in life when I decided that I would not go to church again; I wanted to understand more about Islam. It was willingly that I became a conscious Muslim.
How many are you in the family?
My father had 13 of us, and to the glory of God, we are all together. We love ourselves. Even when I was in office, you see them come and I will say, ‘I don’t have time for you. The person will say, ‘Okay, I will see you later.’ None of them said she was doing that because she was a commissioner. They didn’t see me as a commissioner then; they just see me as their sister, which I appreciate and enjoy so very much. We respect each other’s decision and value each other, my mother’s family too.
My mother is from the large Omisore family in Ile Ife. She was a very tough woman. That family, many of them are very tough, both from my mother’s and father’s side. On my father’s side too, we are from the ruling house in Ijebu Ode. I enjoy the royalty in me, and I give God the glory. And that spur me into so many other things in life. So, growing up, I think I will appreciate God that I got the best from my family, and I thank God for that.
What were the thorns in the course of your journey so far?
There have been so many thorns, especially when I lost my father. It was like the walls wanted to crumble on me. He was my pillar of support in life. I could not imagine life without my loving father; the world turned against me because I used to get everything from him. The man passed away when I was still in secondary school. We were eight from my mother to take care of, and it became very tough. I should have dropped out of school when the man passed on, but because I promised my father that I would make sure that I graduated from the university, I think I was the first daughter of my father that actually went to the university.
There was a time when there was an issue in my school, and my teacher called him. He came to visit me in school. My teacher reported me to him that I was not serious. He felt disappointed, but I promised him that I would graduate from the university. So, that was echoing in my head, that I promised my father that I was going to be a university graduate. I decided that whatever it was going to cost me to be a university graduate, I must achieve it. Yet, it was very tough. Nobody to pay your school fees, you needed to be running from one place to another to get your school fees, and so on.
When I sat my first WAEC and I did not pass, my mother told me there was no need to go to school if I was not serious. I just packed my things, left the house and came to Ibadan to stay with a friend. I started looking for opportunities to enroll for WAEC and JAMB. So, I left the house, came to Ibadan, and I was able to pass WAEC and JAMB before I returned to my mother. It was when I was admitted into the university, because I said I was not going to be that trader she wanted to force me to become.
She wanted me to be a trader; not that she had anything against going to school but because of the finance, so that I could, through trading, assist in training others. I said I was not going to be the sacrificial lamb for others to excel; I would rather find my own feet. So, I just left to pursue my own dream and aspiration. And what was my dream? I just wanted to be a graduate.
So, I left the house at a very young age. I got admitted into the University of Ibadan, but I was first given Biochemistry which was not the course of my choice. I tried JAMB again and again. I just wanted to be a pharmacist. I never wanted to be a biochemist. That is just who I am. Whatever I want to get, I don’t look at the challenges. I need to make sure that I get what I want, unless I am not interested in that particular thing. I don’t believe that there is a challenge you cannot overcome, unless you don’t have the strength to go further. I always tell my young people that nothing good comes easy. So, I love to struggle to get whatever I want.
So, you finished your course as a biochemist?
I did not finish as a biochemist. I left when I got married. I needed to relocate, and at that time, I had got admission into the University of Lagos to study Pharmacy. There was no need for me to stay back. The same year I got married was the same year I got admission to study Pharmacy.
How did you cope with being newly married and your study as a new student?
It was a tough one, I can tell you. But when you are determined, you will succeed. I was able to combine both, and here I am today as a proud pharmacist, and a proud mother.
Was there any memorable incident as a married woman that almost stopped you from achieving your goal?
Well, I can’t remember any, because my drive then was that I would be a pharmacist, so anything that would… I could remember when I had my second child. The third day, I left the hospital and I went straight to school. My mother was crying at home that I had to leave a baby and go to school, and I said the baby would not die; I am already out of the hospital. So, I pursued my dream passionately. Whatever that wanted to stop my dream, I don’t always allow it. I love my son, not that I did not love him, and I knew nothing would happen to him between the time that I would go to school and return. So, instead of me sitting down at home to breastfeed the baby, I pressed the breasts inside the bottle, and I would leave it inside the cooler for him to have. I still make sure that the only thing was for me to wake up early enough to press enough breasts milk for him so that he would have sufficient breast milk between when I would go for lecture and by the time I would return. I practised exclusive breastfeeding despite my schedule.
At a time that I had to stay in school, I had people living with me that would bring my child to the school with the car later in the afternoon to sleep over, and early in the morning, they would return my child home and I would continue my classes. I was able to manage the situation, though it was not easy.
I got married in 1997, got admitted in 1998 and also had my first child in 1998 when I also resumed school. I had to like find a way. I could not finish Biochemistry, so I would now be a dropout from school of Pharmacy again, that I had been nursing to study? No, it was not going to be possible. I had to give it whatever it would take. To the glory of God, I was able to achieve that.
You said you had five male siblings ahead of you. How did that prepare you to play in the political scene?
I was born to be a guy, because I was nurtured by guys. I was in their midst, so I know how tough it was growing up with them. That prepared my journey to face anybody in life because my brothers were very tough. That prepared me. If I could face these lions in my house and survive, I can face anybody. I have never been to anywhere a man would now be a threat to my life or ambition. No, I believe that we are all human beings and equals.
If I could survive the tyranny of my family then, there is no way any man can come and say because you’re a lady or because you are a woman…No, I don’t tolerate that. I don’t feel threatened at all. That actually prepared me for the journey in politics.
