EXCEPT for her beauty and aristocratic looks, nobody would have linked this 55-year-old, the Yeye Maye of Ile-Ife, Chief Iyabo Funmilayo Adedoyin, with the President of the Oduduwa University, Dr. Ramon Adedoyin. Unlike her husband, an extrovert, who is well known, Mrs Adedoyin is an introvert. She is contented to be at the background and she does not see any big deal about it.
At 55, she still remembers how she first met the young and handsome Adedoyin in the early 1970s. Like a 16-year-old girl who is falling in love for the first time, her mien changed while trying to reminiscence how they met. “My mother’s shop and her mother’s shop faced each other in Ife, Osun State. During the holidays, he would come to her mother’s shop. I too would come to my mother’s shop.
“Anytime I closed at my mother’s shop, I normally took a road beside her mother’s shop to my house. Each time I crossed the road, he would follow me. He would interact with me. The following day, he would repeat the same process. Gradually, we became good friends. Later, Adegoke Adedoyin formally approached me to be his friend.”
Up till today, it is difficult to explain what really attracted Adedoyin to her. While revealing that Adedoyin’s profession could be a factor, the insistence and grit of the young and handsome Adedoyin also played a major role. Dr Adedoyin was a teacher when they first met. “When we started, he used to say something, ‘Iyabo, I’m going to marry you. There is nowhere you can go. It is me that you are going to marry’. At times, I would be quarrelling with him. I don’t know, maybe, he was looking at me that time, thinking, ‘Maybe, this is the woman I can cope with.’ And I was looking at him like, he was handsome, would I be able to cope with him if I marry him?”
Both Yeye Maye and Chief Adedoyin bond very well, but that does not mean they don’t sometimes disagree. “We do disagree because my husband is a very stubborn man. People always wonder how I cope with him. I’m the reserved type. I don’t talk much. That is why we’ve gone this far. My husband is a frank person. I like him for one thing. If he is angry with you, you will know.”
Religion has been an issue in many homes. In Adedoyin’s home, it is an exception. Yeye Maye, who is a devoted Christian, told The Nation that unknown to many, her husband has a liberal attitude to religion. “He knew before he married me that I would not miss any church programme. We never disagreed based on religion. We have mutual understanding. When it is time for a Muslim festival (he is a Muslim), we would go together. When it is time for a Christian festival, we would go together. He is coping and I’m coping too.”
While Yeye Maye’s husband is in the limelight, Yeye Maye is satisfied being at the background.” What I believe is that anything that God has a hand in, there can’t be any problem and since God has a hand in our relationship, I’ve always been coping. He runs around; I stay at home, taking care of the home front.”
The idea of Yeye Maye being at the background didn’t start today. Her husband had always wanted her to take care of the family. “What he was always telling me was that he would not allow me to work and I would tell him that there was no way I would not work. I said I would work; he too would work because I believed in working in a bank then. I told him that my ambition was to manage a bank and he could not stop me from realizing my dream.”
One of the prices to be paid for being married to a successful man like Adedoyin is the fact that many people, especially women, would want to seek his attention; she is not oblivious of this. “One thing about me with women moving with somebody’s husband is that I believe the man is good and handsome. And the person may like to be seen with him. I believe that women may be running after him, but he is my own. Those women running after him are just running after him. They are just taking care of him for me, once it is not affecting my life, it is not affecting my children, it is not affecting my home. I believe God has made me and him together.”
Though she did not realize her ambition of being a banker, at the moment, she manages some of her husband’s businesses.
She is aware that Dr. Adedoyin’s carriage and frankness are being misunderstood in certain quarters. Yeye Maye said contrary to the opinion being held in certain quarters, her husband is one of the best human beings in the world. “Sometimes when outsiders look at him, they think he is full of pride or arrogant, but he is not. If you are close God, God will be close to you. You cannot assess anybody at a distance, unless you are very close to the person. If you’re close, you will see the person very well.”
Unknown to many, Yeye Maye said Dr. Adedoyin is the type of man that is always ready to assist anybody that is hardworking. ”If you are doing something and you call him, he will answer you and advise you. He will support you. But you must work very hard. If you’re not doing anything and you expect him to give you something, he can’t do that. You struggle first. When you do that, he can now support you.”
As good as Dr. Adedoyin is, Yeye Maye insists that her husband is not the type that is given to open affection and she prefers it that way. “My husband is not the type that shows open affection because I don’t too. It could be because of his job. He does not have to tell me ‘sweetie’, ‘My darling’ or ‘let me take you out to so so place’. I prefer it; I like it because I wouldn’t like myself to be so exposed to people. I like it the way he is doing it.”
So what is the most expensive gift ever collected from her husband? “The most expensive thing I can’t say; it is not something I can quantify. But the most expensive thing is my children and I like it that way. Though he buys me cars, he gives me money from time to time; he gave me some areas in the business to be managing.”
