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•I wouldn’t have married him if he weren’t romantic
By Yemi Bankole
Olori Rashidat Olayinka Ladoja is one of the wives of the former governor of Oyo State and incoming Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Senator Rashidi Ladoja.
Born to a spymaster, who retired as a Director of the State Security Service (SSS), Ogun State and a businesswoman-mother with roots in Offa, Kwara and Ibadan. Olori Rashidat read Law at the University of Benin after primary and secondary education in Lagos and a stint at Kwara State Polytechnic then known as ‘Kwaratech’ for A-Levels.
She had established herself in legal practice and international business by 1998 when she met Oba Ladoja through a mutual friend of her sister shortly after the monarch returned from political exile in Britain.
Reckoned as the intellectual sparing partner, ally and one of the figures around the new Olubadan, the young, witty, highly cerebral, delectable lawyer and astute businesswoman speaks, in this interview, on her romance and marital life with the monarch.
Why did you settle for Law?
I was at the University of Benin, in the English Department, studying English and Linguistics. One day, my father’s friend came visiting with his son, who was in Ife studying Law. After they left, my father said, “Look at someone studying Law, and my daughter is somewhere learning how to speak English, as if all of us cannot speak English.” I told him, “Any fool can do Law.” He replied, “Why don’t you be a fool and go and do Law?” I was already in year two in Benin, but because of that challenge, I went back to seek admission and studied Law.
So, what happened after your call to the bar?
I was in Lagos with A. Bayero & Co. Mr Bayero is my senior colleague. I actually did my internship with him after I left Law School. I was still with him until I got married and moved to Ibadan.
One would have expected that as a woman, you would prefer a career as a state counsel, perhaps, ending up on the bench as magistrate and judge?
I had my hands in many pies. I am a miner. I’m also into business. I became a miner by accident in year 2000. My husband was invited by the then Nigeria Mining Corporation to come and partner with them, so he took me along, and my interest started right there. Up till now I still mine. I try to juggle business with my marital duties. People call my husband “Baba Alankara”, because they assume that he has an Ankara factory. No. It’s not him that produces Ankara, It’s me. It has always been me. The Ankara thing came after we left government. I used to make the designs, produce in China and then bring it down. There was a ban on importation of that kind of fabric into the country. Later I had a warehouse in Topa market, Cotonou, Republic of Benin where I stored the fabrics later on. Traders in Gbagi and others were mostly my customers.
For a girl that grew up in a technocrat’s home, how did you come by your sense of enterprise?
From my mum. She was a versatile trader. She did so much – she sold fish, supplied bottles for bottling medicines to hospitals. I went with her all about and thereby learned the ropes. When I was in high school, she put me in the afternoon session. Then we had morning and afternoon, so that I would be able to help her in the morning before I went to school in the afternoon. We were living in Victoria Island, beside 1004 apartments. In fact, we were there when 1004 was being built. That’s the ‘alakowe’ setting. But from the trading part, I was able to gain some ideas and passion for business from her. She traded at Onikan, Lagos Island. I helped to sort and clean the bottles before delivery to the pharmacy departments of the hospitals.
Were you given the name Rashidat because you married a Muslim?
My mum was a Muslim. She passed on recently. Her father was an Imam in Offa. But she converted to Christianity when she married my father, a Catholic – not because he forced her, but, as she told us, “in honour of my husband.” When my father died, she reconverted to Islam. I think it was 2005. By then, I had also married into a Muslim family, so both of us went to Hajj at the same time. In spite of our Catholic background, my siblings and I all also underwent the Muslim naming rites. That was the agreement my father had with my mum’s father. My elder sister is Risikat, my elder brother is Bashiru, I am Rashidat, my younger sister is Basirat, and the last child is Musbau.
How did you meet Oba Ladoja?
I met him In 1998, shortly after he returned from political exile in Britain and we got married in 2002. I met him when a friend of my senior sister, Tina Owolabi that we had both met in Cotonou, Republic of Benin, brought him on a visit to my sister who coincidentally had a house at Ondo Street, Bodija where Oba Ladoja lived. Unknown to us, they were neighbours. I was staying with my sister who worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the time. Apparently, the friend who we fondly call ‘Baba Cotonou’ had told him about me.
So, when he (Ladoja) came he declared that he wished to make me his wife.
Why did you agree to marry him?
At that time, it was his simplicity. He may have liked me at first sight, but for me, it wasn’t like that. He was persistent, kind, and he always appeared very simple and knowledgeable. You know, most men will run away when they meet a woman who is intelligent, but not him. He would engage you, and that was what actually started the attraction. He’s very smart, and I was able to relate with him. He would not look down on me. It was something gradual. Then he proposed and that has been it.
What manner of a husband and family man is he?
He may have his many flaws, but I won’t trade him for anyone in the world. I’m glad I made that choice to marry him. Like every other marriage, we have our highs and lows, but I won’t trade him for anyone. As a family man, he’s like a tree; he has many branches. His family even transcends the biological. I try to accommodate many things and many people. But once in a while, when I tell him something I feel strongly about, he comes back, sits down, and takes a second look at it, even if he had said no before. And most times, he finds out that I’m not just saying it. So, I’m very lucky with him.
How romantic is Kabiyesi?
If he’s not romantic, I won’t marry him.
In what sense is he romantic?
It’s just the compatibility for me. We relate very well both intellectually and on the emotional level.
Doesn’t the age gap come between you?
No, nothing. There’s fulfilment in every aspect of my marital life; the emotional support and all the support I need. I only have to tell him, ‘this is it.’ If he has anything against what I want to do, he voices it. And if I feel I have a superior argument, I tell him. Despite the age gap, he still found in me a very mature lady. I’ve had my time, party days… So, I met him as at the time that I was not even planning to settle down, but he came and kind of toned it down.
What should we expect of his reign as Olubadan?
He loves Ibadan, he loves his people, and he will do a lot for Ibadan. He has a clear vision for Ibadan. He wants to leave behind a legacy that will be remembered long after he is gone. He doesn’t just want to pass through—he wants to lift Ibadan up. There are so many things he saw as wrong within the traditional circle and the political circle. He tried to address them when he was in active politics and did all he could. But now, it is just Ibadan. His vision is to restore Ibadan to the greatness it enjoyed in the times of old.
In which of your two vocations do you feel more fulfilled— business or legal practice?
Well, business has taken more of my time and interest. Understandably, also, performing my role and duty as a wife to my husband and family. My law office is still in Lagos—the same office I share with Mr Bayero. But I don’t know if I will still be able to go back and practise full time, but I enjoyed it. Once in a while, as a partner in the Law firm, when I go to Lagos, I’d say, “Oga mi, elo le pa? e mu owo wa. (My boss sir, how much did you make? Please bring the money!).
Oba Ladoja hinted that you were of great help during the legal battle against his illegal impeachment, offering legal advice and relating with his defence team
Well, I thank him for saying it. He’s my client, he’s the only client that I have now, in fact, that I have had since I got married to him, (laughs), so, it’s only natural that I did all he said I did, among other things.
Tell us about your courtroom experience?
It was very nice, I enjoyed practice, and Mr Bayero was able to teach me some of those things that were not taught in Law School, that aspect of law, of practice, that we didn’t learn in school. I enjoyed working with him. But there were two aspects of litigation I would not touch even with a long pole – divorce cases and land matters. We had this client, a lady. The husband sued for divorce on grounds of adultery.
So we now told the lady, ‘Tell us everything you did.’ She talked and talked. The husband joined her boyfriend in the matter. We had already prepared her on how to respond to questions in the chambers before we went to court.
When the other counsel tried to cross-examine her, she diffidently tried to justify her conduct by saying her husband failed to satisfy her in bed unlike her new lover. The court erupted in laughter with the carefree and what I consider vulgar manner she said it. “My Lord, e yin na e wo, two minutes o ti wa!” (My Lord, you too look at it, in two minutes, he has come!) It took a while before the court could settle down. I said, “What? I can’t do this, Oga mi, no, no, don’t put me on this type of case anymore.” The rest of the matter was heard in the judge’s chambers. We couldn’t do it in open court anymore. The vulgarity and drama were out of this world.
On the land matter, it was supposed to be just a straightforward land case. But Mr Bayero and I found that whenever we went to court, we would be sleeping in court. We suspected some diabolical action by these Alfas we were up against. They came with their big turbans and were just quietly mumbling something we didn’t understand. At such moments, we would just start sleeping. It was very funny. Since that time, if I can avoid it, I won’t take land matters and divorce cases, because those are the kinds of difficult cases where you can’t predict the outcome.
