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| Asabeafrika’s Gbenga Dan Asabe with Kayode and Linda Ajala inside their Lagos appartment |
memoir-like tale of encounter with Nigeria’s King of Romance Journalism, Kayode Ajala @ 50 ends with a memorable
aspect of his movie-like life as a romance journalist. It is the tale of the
last battle that nearly sank his personality in year 2001 and at a point, the
crisis almost snatched his sanity off him but for divine intervention which
rescued him and brought him back to life with a new assignment in the vineyard
of the lord. Sixteen years after the controversial romance chapter of Kayode Ajala with Mrs. Linda Akinwunmi (Now Ajala) who’s Chiquita Eatery was the talk of the town at the time; the man at
the center of the entire crisis had the pleasure of narrating his story to Asabeafrika. How he ran into her? “I went with my friend, Bode Mebude, we went to her eatery. Bode wanted an advert for his magazine.
I simply tagged along with him, even though I was editor of HINTS. But if I wanted an advert from
her eatery, I thought I will send one of my advert executives”…..In actual
fact, it was a mix of coincidence and luck that brought Kayode Ajala in contact with the mother of his new three children.
Find your favorite spot, get a drink and snack along as you enjoy the
concluding part of the story of one of Nigeria’s most interesting personality
on your Africa’s number 1 celebrity encounters blog Asabeafrika. Enjoy!
“If I say it is God’s decision,
people will say how can God’s decision be what happened at that time? How can
it be God’s decision for a woman who is married to someone to leave her husband
and come and marry you?”
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| Kayode Ajala to Asabeafrika….’My relationship with Linda started on a platonic level, i didnt know when it grew out of it’ |
controversial episode of your life and this one, I guess if you put it in your
memoir, everyone will like to read about it; the controversial encounter with
your present wife and former Chiquita Eatery boss, Mrs. Linda Akinwunmi now
Mrs. Linda Ajala. Few years ago when I interviewed her, she said you were
destined to marry her. Would you say that is true?
is God’s decision, people will say how can God’s decision be what happened at
that time? How can it be God’s decision for a woman who is married to someone
to leave her husband and come and marry you? People would say ‘how can that be
God’s decision? But the same people forget that the Bible says “God’s ways are
not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts”. And that ‘as the heavens
is far from the earth, so are His ways and His thoughts far from ours’. It has
been sixteen years down the line, three children in between; that relationship
is still as strong as ever. It continues to wax stronger and stronger everyday.
So, if God’s hand is not in it I don’t know if it is the devil’s hand that is
making that possible. That is my humble response to your question.
“And one thing led to another and we
became friends. It was purely a platonic friendship. At what point this thing
began to grow, I don’t even know. But I knew that from day one, I was very
cautious. I was very cautious because I am always very careful when it comes to
relating with married women”
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| Mr and Mrs. Ajala |
to your encounter with her?
with my friend, Bode Mebude, we went
to her eatery. Bode wanted an advert
for his magazine. I simply tagged along with him, even though I was editor of HINTS. But if I wanted an advert from
her eatery, I thought I will send one of my advert executives. Besides, since
my friend was going there to canvass for advert, I did not think it will be
right for me to also canvass for advert. So, I thought, let me leave the field
for Bode to get his own advert. What
if I started canvassing and the woman said ‘ok, I will give you and I won’t
give your friend’. I didn’t want that kind of a thing to happen. So, I just
tagged along and I kept quite as my friend canvassed and she kept on talking
and talking and talking and I just kept quite I was watching both of them. That
was how we met. But incidentally, she was later to now tell me, that when I got
to her eatery with Bode on that day, some of her staffs had run into her office
to tell her that Kayode Ajala was in the building. And I didn’t know all
these…they said ‘Oh, Kayode Ajala, the Hints guy is here, is here, is here and
all that’. So, after my friend (Bode) has finished, she asked me what I
wanted and I said ‘no, I don’t want anything. I came with my friend, give my
friend the advert, it is okay by me. I am just here to support my friend’. And
we got talking and I saw her as a very intelligent woman.
“Then, somewhere down the line, she
also began to develop that kind of confidence in me and as fate would have it,
she was going through her own nightmares in her marriage. I think it was a
mutual thing for both of us; and we became quite intimate. Then, the burble
burst and then it became a scandal”.
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| The Romance King in a very relaxed mood |
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| Daddy and Mummy & the children |
I admired her for
what she has achieved at that time, at that age. And we left. Then I think I
sent an advert representative to go there from HINTS to talk to her for an
advert and they had to call me from her office and I had to wade in when the
rep was not making the required success. And one thing led to another and we
became friends. It was purely a platonic friendship. At what point this thing
began to grow, I don’t even know. But I knew that from day one, I was very
cautious. I was very cautious because I am always very careful when it comes to
relating with married women. So, I was always on my guard. But we became
friends and as we became friends we began to talk a lot; and one thing I find
very interesting about the whole scenario is that I found it very easy to
confide in her. I found a true friend, a genuine friend in her and there was
absolutely nothing I could not tell her. Even at that time, if I had committed
rape or murder, I would have confided in her; that was the kind of relationship
I had with her. Then, somewhere down the line, she also began to develop that
kind of confidence in me and as fate would have it, she was going through her
own nightmares in her marriage. I think it was a mutual thing for both of us;
and we became quite intimate. Then, the burble burst and then it became a
scandal.
“The police people will go to where I
throw it, they will piece it together and they will read what she wrote to me.
When I write to her in her own cell, she will read it, tear it and throw it
away, the police people will go and pick the pieces where she throws it, and
they will put it together and read it”.
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| A lovely Kayode shares atmosphere of love with wife and kids |
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| Kayode Ajala aka Baby Kay giving his wife, Linda, The Romance look! |
The Deluge….
one the deadliest crisis that struck his personality and nearly took his soul
along. It was the deluge. The scandal. “It was the most terrible scandal of my
life; of all the scandals that I have had that one really shook me. It shook
me; it landed me in police detention. I was accused of murder and attempted
murder. Crimes I did not commit, I landed in police detention; both of us
landed in detention. And did you know, for me, that was the experience. That detention
experience was what sealed that relationship. That detention experience at Zone 2 was what tightened that bond.
Maybe if that detention thing had not happened, we would not be married today.
But we were in that police detention; she was the one who was first arrested
and I went myself to report and I was hauled into jail. They put us in
detention, she was in the female cell and I was in the male cell and we would
exchange notes. You know how it is in Prisons, you can send notes out. We did
not know that the police men had set us up. I used to write notes to her and
she would send notes to me; not knowing that the police men were putting
together all the exchanges that were going on between myself and herself.
Perhaps through the couriers; they will bring a note from her to me in the male
cell. They will take a note from me to her in the female cell but they were
keeping a record of the things we wrote to each other, we did not know. So, it
was when they took those exchanges between me and her in the cell and they put
them together, they keenly came to conclusion that ‘this people did not commit
any crime.
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| One of the blessings of the 16 years marriage with Linda |
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| Kayode Ajala…The dotting father |
These ones just appeared to be in love with themselves’ we will
exchange those notes, tear them, if she sent a note to me, I will read it and
then tear it and throw it away. The police people will go to where I throw it,
they will piece it together and they will read what she wrote to me. When I
write to her in her own cell, she will read it, tear it and throw it away, the
police people will go and pick the pieces where she throws it, and they will
put it together and read it. That was the experience. So, the police people
came to the conclusion that these people were innocent. You know if we had
committed any offence, we would have expressed it in the note and say “how are
we going to get out of this situation?’ We would probably would have discussed
the plan and say something about our past and all that; but we were not talking
about that, we were writing ‘how are you? I hope you are well? Don’t worry, we
are going to come out of this in good shape etc. so, we eventually came out of
it; and when we came out of it, I said to myself ‘her marriage was gone, I was
separated’ after that experience in the cell, I was not going to let go. I was
not going to let go. Weather there is an assassination or anything, I didn’t
care. I just wasn’t going to let her go and she felt the same way too. That, I mean, if we could have gone through
all that for a crime we did not commit, men! It is better to go the whole hug.
And I am happy we took that decision; sixteen years down the line, we are still
as strong as ever.
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| Kayode Ajala to Asabeafrika….’Our affection for each other developed after the Prison Yard experience’ |
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| Kayode and his beauty, Linda in a tete-a-tete inside their Lagos home |
“While going through that 7 days confinement, another divine message came through that if I resist
to do the work He instructed me to do, the next thing that will happen to me
will be more severe than a heart attack and that He wont take my life which
means I could go paralyzed or I could even go blind and yet God will still keep
my soul because He needed me to do the assignment”.
context now, what would you say life has taught you at 50?
taught me so many, many, many, many lessons. But if I begin to talk about those
lessons we won’t leave here today. But the most important one which I find
worthy of mention for the purpose of this interview and for young people to
learn from is that life is not a hundred meters dash. Life is a relay race, you
can win this lap, and someone else will win the next lap. Someone else can win
the next lap and the race is not over until you finally run the final lap and
whoever wins the final lap becomes the winner of the race. So, if you think
that life is a hundred meter dash, you are fooling yourself. You think you just take off from here and get
there, that is life, no.
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| Linda, the beautiful woman who stole Kayode Ajala’s ‘Heart’ in the times of crisis |
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| Kayode Ajala to Asabeafrika….’Meeting Linda must have been a divine arrangement even if no one agrees’ |
You later started syndicating your
romance column in major newspapers, why did you stop and is there a room for
re-starting it all over again?
journalism today is not the same thing when I started and when I was making
waves and I see that there is a powerful drift towards the online media. I see
that the future of the media is online. Even if I am going to do anything in
journalism, it will be online because that is where the future of the industry
is.
“Life is a relay race, you can win
this lap, and someone else will win the next lap. Someone else can win the next
lap and the race is not over until you finally run the final lap and whoever
wins the final lap becomes the winner of the race”
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| Another of Kayode and Linda Ajala’s kids after 16 years romance |
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| Tayo, Kayode Ajala’s first daughtter from his first marriage |
Are you thinking of writing a memoir?
am already putting that together.
mark strategic birth land marks?
put a date to it but by the time I am through with it, it is going to be a very
impressive document. It is going to be done right. I don’t know weather it will
be ready when I am 55, I don’t know weather it will be ready when I am 60 if
God gives me the grace to see that age. But I am slowly working on it; I am not
in a hurry. I am taking my time.
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| Kayode Ajala…a happy family man |
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| Kayode Ajala to Asabeafrika….’Meeting Linda must have been a divine arrangement even if no one agrees’ |
How God called me…
the vineyard of GOD, you go around churches ministering to souls and converting
souls for Christ, at what time did you got the divine call to be an evangelist?
call to work in the vineyard of God came for me a very long time ago. And when
I say a long time ago, I am talking about ten years ago. And when it came I did
not take it serious and when it came I did not respond to it. I have been a
constant worshiper in the Celestial
Church of Christ for over two
decades now. And like I said, I was just a nominal worshiper. Constant but I
was just there. But you know the Celestial Church is a very spiritual church
and we do not do things without hearing from the Holy Spirit. I began to get the call about ten years ago to work
for God but I did not hearken unto it. And then, subsequently I began to hear
the call and it came with warnings of terrible consequences; of things that
would happen to me if I did not heed the call. Again, because of my nature I
did not heed the call because I taught ‘why would it be me?’ ‘Why does God want
to call me when there are other people who know the Bible inside-out, who can
fast for 7 days and 21 days?’ ‘So, what is my own problem with this thing? God
is calling me? God cannot call me’. So, when it came with consequences of this
and that, if I did not do it, this will happen, that will happen, again I brush
it aside. Then, I began to work as an interpreter in church; I did not know it
was a lazy way of doing it. I was trying to deceive God. I felt if I worked as
an interpreter in church, I would have done God’s work and the MAN will leave
me alone to live my life the way I want. But when those consequences began to
happen, I knew that I had to heed the call. I suffered two heart attacks within a span of two years; I suffered two severe
heart attack and when I suffered the second heart failure and I was on the
hospital bed and the doctors were pumping me with all sorts of injections and
drugs, I told them, I said ‘you people are going to kill me with all these
injections and they said ‘we are trying to make you well, you say we are going
to kill you’ I said ‘I am not sick I know what is wrong with me. I am not sick,
I am not going to die, it is this injection you are giving me that is going to
kill me’.
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| Kayode Ajala to Asabeafrika….’By the time i am out with my memoir, it will be an impressive document’ |
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| Senior Evangelist Kayode Ajala to Asabeafrika….’i tried hard to dodge God’s work but two hearts attack was enough for me to heed the call’ |
I said to them ‘what is happening to me is between me and God and if
He gives me the grace to leave here, I will go and make amend and then you
people will see that, there is nothing wrong with me” (Laughter) The Doctors
did not listen to me, they kept giving me the injections and they kept me there
for quite a long time. Even while at the
hospital I knew the solution to my illness was for me to just hearken to the
call and follow suit. I knew if I did that, the illness which was proving
stubborn at that material time will go. So, when I came out of hospital, I
received clear instructions in a revelation from God that I should go for 7 days confinement in church and all through the confinement I should be
asking God for forgiveness because He sent me an errand and I refused to go. While going through that 7 days confinement,
another divine message came through that if I resist to do the work He
instructed me to do, the next thing that will happen to me will be more severe
than a heart attack and that He wont take my life which means I could go
paralyzed or I could even go blind and yet God will still keep my soul because
He needed me to do the assignment. So,
with all the terrible options before me, I was actually left with no choice
than to quickly submit myself to His will. And since when I started doing His
work 3 years ago, I have not been sick for one single day; even the doctors who
treated me and said I should be coming every month to check my heart and review
my drugs are still surprised till date, anytime they see me, they cant believe
what is happening because in the last 3 years I have been as strong as fiddle.
No medication, no check up, nothing. God
has seriously disappointed them. So, this is the story of my call to serve as
an Evangelist in God’s vineyard. I am
happily serving him and even if I am to write romance again it will be to the
glory of God.
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| The GDA with the Ajalas |
Who are those friends of yours that
influenced you in the last 50 years?
former Ogun state Governor, Otunba
Gbenga Daniel, Femi Awoyemi, Reuben Abati,
Demola Bruce, Ayo Sogbuyi, Bashorun Dele
Momodu, Lord Mayor Akinpelu, Gboyega Okegbenro and so many of them.
They have played several roles in my life and I am forever indebted in
gratitude to this people. I have many of them out there.
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Kayode Ajala to Asabeafrika….’I never knew I could end up marrying the owner of Chiquita Eatery’
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