Amongst the wives of Nigeria’s first class Obas, the 3 Oloris of Oba
Adedapo Adewale Tejuosho, the Osile Oke Ona Egba are the closest. The 3
Oloris are Olori Omolara who is the 1st, Olori Yetunde, the second
while Olori Olabisi is the third and the youngest.
Saying they do things
together is simply stating the obvious because they have proved this
beyond reasonable doubt in all the years they have been married to Oba
Tejuosho.
The unity that exists among the 3 is
second to none.
Recently, Society Editor, TAYO FAJORIN OYEDIJI caught up
with Olori Omolara,the first Olori who talked about her life as Oba
Tejuosho’s wife plus her relationship with other wives and her marriage
of over 30 years. Excerpts:
You have always been a stylish person, how has this evolved for you over time?
It is the instinct in me, it tells me what to do. I love to dress
well, it makes me feel good and it has been effortless. It does not
take much time for me to dress up since I know what I want to combine
and wear. I love to look good, my mum loves to dress very well, and she
will even tell us when we were young in an adage that says a child can
not see the way her mum is dresses and she dresses differently, so
mostly one takes after the way her mum dresses.
How have you been able to achieve your youthful look at close to 70?
I am in my mid 60s looking up to 70, I really can’t say I have a
beauty routine, I just take my bath and dress, I think its just God
because he has endowed all of us with different genes in our body. It is
always good for one not to abuse her body, if God blesses you with a
good body,achieving a youthful look is very easy. Some people with good
bodies have abused it and therefore it becomes difficult for them. I
take care of myself, I eat well and I maintain my skin.
Your husband is one of the respectable Obas in
Yorubaland, knowing fully well that he gets many invitations every week
and you all attend with him, how have you been able to jostle all the
events together?
The first thing is to know yourself and coordinate yourself very
well, if you are a discilplined person, you plan your time very well,
many people don’t make use of their potentials in doing things, knowing
what and how to do things.some people don’t plan,now you met me at this
event, we still have another place we are going after here so we plan
our time very well. We take our time and look at all the invitations and
plan ourselves towards it. So it takes discipline in planning.
What has been your staying power with the other Olooris? How have you been able to live together for so long?
Background matters a lot , and if you have people with the same
background with you,things will not be that difficult, I had a very good
upbringing and they too have good upbringing,so we all came from
families that trained us very well, to know how to relate and respect
other people’s feelings.
Our husband has played a huge part in our unity so he is one the
forces that has held the house together thus far. That is how we have
been able to cope, marriage comes with a lot of responsibility so
patience is key and with God on our side, he has helped us this far.
At the time you wanted to marry kabiyesi, did you have any rethink that he will marry another wife after you, how did you feel?
I did not marry an Oba ooo, I married a Doctor and we have been
married for almost 20 years before he became an Oba so I did not marry
him as Oba. I did not even know he came from a royal home.
Did it come as a surprise to you when he was to become an Oba?
It did not come as a surprise to me because he himself did not even
proclaim the royalty in him until the last Oba was about to die and they
said he will be the next to become Oba. It was then that it dawned on
him that he will become an Oba, then even that time when you talk about
Oba, he does not count himself as an Oba, when we were going in as Oba’s
wives, the 3 of us have been in place then. The 3 of us had been
married to him before he became an Oba and he has never married anyone
else while on throne.
What has sustained your marriage for this long, precisely for over 40 years?
Home management is from God and the 2 persons in the home, respect
each others feelings,do what you are suppose to do, give rooms for
mistakes and forgive, Let love and discipline be the watch word and the
most important thing is let God rule your home.
Why do you and the other 2 Oloris wear the same outfits all the time?
We live together in the same house, how can we dress in different
outfits? that is colour riots.since we are living together, we have
almost all the dresses together,we do things together and we love each
other, we eat from same pot,pray together, there is no home without
fights but love and forgiveness is what we use to deal with it. We are
very close so that necessitate us to do things together.
How was your growing up years like?
My growing up years was fantastic, my parents were merchants, they
work very well. they lived in Idumagbo avenue in Lagos. They trained us
to be hardworking. I went to Regan Memorial Baptist School, Yaba for my
Primary education and from there to Mayflower School Ikenne. They taught
us everything we should know about God and people. I love my growing up
years because it was fun, my Parents trained us, disciplined us and
spoilt us silly with gifts.
I was a trained Teacher, I taught but afterwards became a full time housewife.