Early this month, Lokoja was brought down to a standstill when Tosin (the Team Manager cum Secretary and Media Officer of Kogi Confluence Queens) dragged her heartthrob, Olorunleke Ojo – former Flying Eagles and Giwa FC goalkeeper – to a fairy tale wedding ceremony in the capital of Kogi State.
A love story that started on Facebook and consummated on their abiding passion for the round leather game -make the Ojos one of the most-talked about relationship on the social media.
In a lively conversation with our correspondent, the effervescent Tosin described her husband as a rare find from the football firmament adding their unquenchable love for the beautiful game have bonded the, lime Siamese twins. After their wedding ceremony with theme and all the trappings of a football match, the couple spoke to Tunde Shamsudeen on how they struck relationship. Excerpts.,
Meeting Olorunleke Ojo
I met Olorunleke Ojo via social media Facebook precisely as a friend. Though, as a journalist I have heard about him because he is a Kogi State indigene, and it’s so easy to have information about someone who is from your state playing football as a journalist. So, I have heard about Olorunleke Ojo, who plays for Giwa FC, but my first encounter with him was through Facebook where we became friends. He followed every of my football news. I can tell you that he likes almost every of my posts on my wall. He was the one who sent me a friend request, which I accepted. We kept talking for a while but saw each other for the first time during NNL Super Four where Giwa emerged as champion in 2013.
Nothing attached being namesakes
Names have nothing to do with Love. The name we bear and our personality are two different things. Though, according to him, he decided to send me a friend request because of the surname, because he was new on Facebook, he decided to search for people with his surname, where he found Tosin Ojo, that happened to come from same state with him.
Our level of friendship leads us into loving each other. Before we begin to show sign of interest to one another, there is already high level of understanding between us, to the extent that most close friends thought we’re already dating even when we’re not.
The name was just a co-incidence, it’s all about understanding, respect, real feelings and truthfulness during our cause of friendship that led to affair between us. It’s normal for a man to make the first move and the woman to play hard to get even when her feelings don’t lie to her.
It took him time to talk me into having an affair with him because I was not really ready for that then. He told me straight what he wanted. According to him, he wanted a real affair with someone who will be his mother, sister and friend instead of flirting around with girls as a footballer, and I was like, wow! A footballer? Could that be real? I took my time and discovered the answer is yes, and it’s real.
Falling in love
I fell in love with him when I got to discover some qualities he possesses as a man which are very rare. Even as a friend, I noticed them. Things like his simplicity, gentility, caring, religiosity and truthfulness. He is also trustful, respectful and generous. Okanmi (My mind), like I do call him, is a very simple guy, he has respect for anyone who comes his way. If you know him, then you will agree with me on that. He gives when he has; he doesn’t hide things. If you ask him something and needs to know, he will tell you the truth and rather apologise.
Okanmi is the most caring guy I have ever known. He always calls to know your situation, checks on me at all times as expected of a lover. He likes to share with his woman and doesn’t want his woman to lack. He loves to surprise with gifts and appreciates good look.
Keeping it hot despite long distance
Honestly, it has not been easy but there is a saying that ‘distance doesn’t necessarily ruin a relationship. You don’t have to see someone every day to be in love’. The way we communicate doesn’t make it look as if we are far from each other. One good thing that has kept us going despite the distance is trust and sincerity. If you trust someone, your heart will be safe. Less to worry about the person cheating on you and also, if you are sincere to someone, your heart will always beat fast each time you attempt to do something funny. Sincerity will make you get scared to cheat. So, trust and sincerity kept us close even while we are apart.
Motivating him to be better
Each time his team plays, the first thing I do is to encourage him. As a person who wants the best for him, I always ensure I play that role very well, because there are certain words that spur him up that even his coaches can’t play such role like I do. In my own way, I make sure I give him some words of encouragements to get the best out of him. Secondly, I analyse him based on his previous matches. As someone who has full knowledge of what he does, I try to be fair in my analysis without adding sentiment to it. I do tell him his faults if there is any before his next match. I try to balance it up by also telling him the areas where he performed better in his last match, while I also tell him areas he needs to improve upon.
Thirdly, I always pray for him. Prayer, they say, is very important in everything we do. There is a need to always put God first. Once he tries his best to work hard on the field, we have to back it up with prayers. So, I always pray for him and encourage him, too, to always pray and even fast before matches. Lastly, there is no time his club plays that I don’t monitor their scores and his contributions. I follow various sites and social media medium such as Facebook and twitter to get the details of the match. Funny enough, whenever my club play at the same time with his team, while I’m doing the live updates of my club match, I do sneak to the twitter and Facebook just to know what is happening at their match centre. So, it’s all about interest.
Friendly-family ties
In actual fact, my father and that of Leke were friends but we never knew our parents knew each other, not to talk of being friends while we are getting along. It was later we discovered that. Both of us were very happy the moment we knew that and I must confess our parents are also happy because it’s like a family thing. Funny enough, they are friends and bear same surname.
No wonder most people do think we are married, while some even find it difficult to believe we are not brother and sister. Our parents are happy because there is friendship between the two families.
What type of a man is Olorunleke Ojo?
Olorunleke is a type of man that is rare. Not all men are caring, loving, respectful, trustful and gentle. He doesn’t drink, smoke, club or live a bad life like some footballers do. He has really corrected the impression that footballers are bad boys or girls. No! Not all footballers are bad. What more does a woman want than a man or husband who is always there to share her pains, solve her problems, show some love, care and understanding? A man who doesn’t drink, smoke or stay in a bad company. Olorunleke is a good guy.
His type of person that I earlier mentioned stole my heart; caring, loving, truthful, simple, and gentle. To crown it all, his looks are good. He is neat and always looks presentable. Trust me, every woman wants a man she will be proud of, and am happy I have one. Another thing is that, we have almost everything in common. We share same favourite colours which is red and white, we support same football clubs. Wear same perfume, our drinks are same brand. In fact, our likes and dislikes are similar. And we are so much fond of each other and people around us can testify to that.
Olorunleke’s favourites
Olorunleke likes to appears very simple. Especially, dressing in jean and a simple top to complement it. He is not a type of person who wears traditional clothes like that. He loves men’s polo T-Shirts, green stripped, sleeve stripped and Adidas designs.
Deciding to marry a footballer
It’s all about choice. I decided to go for someone who understands my nature of job. It’s always good to deal with someone who has total knowledge as I do. I don’t want a situation where by I will have to deal with crisis just because my partner has no interest in the nature of my work. We share same interests as sport persons. We know each other’s programme schedule. I know when to disturb him or not.
You don’t expect me to call his line while his club is playing! Sure, I know it won’t work. But in a situation where I have no knowledge about sport, it could lead to misunderstanding between us because I might be requesting for his attention while he is working, which is not possible. Same goes to him. Our knowledge and interest of work help to complement each other very well, which has kept us going.
