Untold Story Of Sanwo- Olu’s Marriage To Ibijoke

Labule Thomas

A rare insight into the matrimony of popular Lagos gubernatorial candidate Babajide Sanwo-Olu is on parade.

The All Progressives gubernatorial candidate in Lagos state- and former staffer at United Bank for Africa – shared the untold story of his matrimonial life with Ibijoke in part of an interview societynow.ng took from uhurutimes.

Enjoy

Your wife is a medical doctor with 27 years post-qualification experience. Can you recall where you met and what your journey together has been?

Ha! That one is personal. Okay, let me answer. We met in the university. Maybe you do not know I was a DJ. I used to be a paid DJ, meaning that I have my cassette player and other things. You guys now use MP3, flash drive and all. In those days, I used to carry all my cassettes and record box around. I met her at one of the Jambite parties that we used to have for new students. I had been in the university before she came as a Jambite. One of the things that usually happened then was that we always served ice cream in our parties. It was not the conventional parties of rice and plantain you have these days.

The good thing about the whole things is the fact that apart from being the DJ, which means I would give them good music, I was also the person to serve the ice cream and that means I would only give the ice cream to whoever I wanted. So, it was in the course of serving ice cream that I spotted her. I saw her and said to myself, ‘wow, this little one”. She was very innocent and looked too little. Today, she is a Medical Doctor. As a medical student then, after the first year at Akoka, she moved to LUTH at Idi-Araba to continue her medical studies. So, we continued. No telephone then, so I had to do the trips. It had to be measured trips of every two weeks. You need to say to yourself that I will be back in two weeks, you better be there. That was how our relationship grew. We dated for a long time, about 8 to 9 years before we married. Like they say, everything is now history. Our lives together have been a rollercoaster. We have had our ups-and-downs like other people, which I think is part of life. Life is not a bed of roses. There have been times I have not been the perfect guy. I am human. One of the things that I know is that she is the stronger one in terms of family orientation.

She is the one with the kids, and takes care of them, while I go hustling like every man does. I am like your regular hustler. When I was in banking I had to hustle, and in government you had to stay pretty late. She has been very consistent with the children, even with her work, combining everything together. What most people do not know is that she went to the university more than me. She has so many degrees and professional qualifications. You know the nature of her job where they take Oath of Service to humanity, to always care for the people. She had to do all the night calls, and was still able to combine them well with her role as a mother and wife. On several occasions when she had to do her night calls, I also played the night call duty at home with the children too. In all, it has been an interesting journey together. We have different parts to play and we are doing excellently well together. We have grown to become stronger and become better persons. We have become better husband and wife. We have become better friends. We understand ourselves, even better as friends than as husband and wife. I am happy she turned out to be the person I call my wife today.

You have lived a very busy life for almost three decades. How will you describe yourself as a family man, and do you get to spend good time with your wife and children?

It is almost three decades. Almost 30 years now. Well, to be very honest with you, my wife has been the stronger person with the children as I said earlier. She has been around the children more than I have been. I have missed few tea parties with the kids. You know when your children are in primary and nursery schools, there were tea parties they had at 7 o clock or 9 o clock in the morning. I really cannot see how I would attend some of them – the meet and greet parties for primary 3 or 2 pupils that parents have to attend. She was always there for the children, but once in a while when I show-up, the children were always happy.

The little time that I get to spend with them were quality time. We go on a few planned vacation together within and outside Nigeria. We make sure the children are with us during such vacations and we enjoy such moment together as a family. In terms of being a perfect family man, I really don’t know what a perfect family man means or who one is. I have run my race and I think if you see my children, you can ask them how I have done as a father. I cannot sit here and begin to judge myself. My children have turned up very well with God helping us. A lot of credit must go to the Almighty God for protecting them and for helping them to become great human beings they are all turning to. A lot of kudos to my wife and some kudos to me as well.