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| Love made in heaven |
For Linda Fash Ajala a half Nigerian, half South African, old things
have passed away and new things are taking place in her life as she clocked 50
last Sunday August 24th 2014. This very beautiful woman and wife of
Nigeria’s King of Romance Journalism, Kayode
Ajala can be conveniently termed a philosopher-queen in today’s Nigeria as
she has seen the good, the bad and ugly sides of life and society with an early
marriage that wouldn’t give her the nerve to write a good story of it. She was
one of the women who breezed into the Y2K Millennium year with money, style,
innovation and lots of good aura as she was one of the leading pioneers of the
food eatery business in Lagos. Her CHIQUITA
eatery brand was a household name with head quarter in the Egbeda area of
Lagos. Then she was Mrs. Akinwunmi until a major trajectory of life altered her first
marriage with life equally compensating her with another relationship with no other person than
the widely acclaimed Nigeria’s King of Romance journalism, Kayode Ajala whose name is like a an anthem in a section of the
Nigerian media industry.
lovers are both married with a new life and equally blessed with new set of
promising kids (Linda equally has three kids
in her botched marriage with
first husband, Akinwunmi who is said to have relocated to the United Kingdom
since 2003) Linda who is presently a consultant on food eatery business and
interior decoration was 50 last Sunday August 24th and for real, her
face book account was full with good wishes from friends across border wishing
her all the best things of life and more. Her very handsome husband was equally
one of the well-wishers who made merry with the love of his life and mother of
his children. Of course Linda Ajala
hardly grants press interviews but thanks to an old encounter we had with her
couple of months ago which we kept in our archives.
The opinions she shared
with us then are still very relevant to event in her life today as she clocks 50
and due to this reason, we have decided to re-publish the exclusive details of
what she shared with us back them plus exclusive family pictures of the
charming woman you wont find anywhere in the world except on your Africa’s
Number 1 Celebrity encounter blog asabeafrika.
Enjoy the tales and pictures of one of Nigeria’s innovative woman, Linda Fash Ajala and her family as she
marks her golden jubilee on earth.
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| Linda and her Kay….The pet name she calls the Romance Journlist |
profile, Linda told us why then; hear her response “Well, I have never been a
socialite. I would never classify myself as one. What threw me into the
limelight was my Chiquita experience. It was my Chiquita days that brought me
all the fame in the world. I had always loved my quite life style but when you
run a hospitality business that throws you into having to face so many people,
there is no way you can run away from it all. The business was all about people
and services; I was too prominent in it. And of course that brought me into facing
so many people. I was the waitress, I was the service lady on the counter, I
was the cleaner, I was the manager, the supervisor, the security person because
sometimes, you see that I am controlling traffic outside. So, obviously people
would ask ‘who is that lady?’ and all that, that was how I came into limelight.
Otherwise, I like my quite life”
“But unfortunately, here on our own side of the world, it is believed that the man has to be the one doing it all the time. It is not supposed to be so in marriage. I repeat, ‘in marriage’. It ought to be a combined effort between the man and the woman, it makes it easy and it makes marriage sweeter”.
one regret life has given her , Linda thought for a while and echoed “Regret”
before she summed it up with a “Hmmm”
before submitting “The only regret I
have is the one that has to do with my kids. Having not seen three lovely kids
in eleven years is not a joke. It is about the only regret that I have
concerning my past”. So, why would her ex hide her legitimate children from her
for such a long time, we asked “I don’t know, I can’t be him and I cant speak
for him. But he will tell me he is their father still. So, he can do what he
wants but in God’s own time, things will come to normal state. The children are
not getting any younger, they are getting older. Before you know it, they will
be old enough to ask questions and look for their mum. God is really in charge
of their lives” Linda concluded with an assurance that showcases her faith as a
Christian.
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| Linda Ajala…..My children schedule takes part of my early hour |
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| Linda…The only regret i have is not being able to set eyes on my children from my earlier marriage |
mother, Linda will not shed a bit of expression to express her sad feeling over
her inability to see her children from her first marriage as a result of her
ex’s high handed nature over the kids who have all been relocated to the United
Kingdom. Hear her again “I have two boys and a girl. It is really painful; it
is very painful because you don’t know their state of mind now and all kind of
stories they have been fed with. But all said and done, it is so good as long
as God is there, taking control. It is a life time experience, we have too many
experiences and many people have gone through this same route.
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| Linda….Life has treated me the way it treated others |
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| The Veteran Romance Journalist Kayode Ajala savors the beauty of his wife during the encounter with asabeafrika |
There is nothing
that has happened to me that has not happened to so many other people, I won’t
be the first and I won’t be the last as well; in God’s own time, He would take
care of it” The very charming Linda became a bit diplomatic as she gave kudos
to her ex over her kids, a rare feet that can only be done by very few women. Hear her “One thing I must say here is to use
this opportunity to thank their father, to say that they are okay because I
know that they are being taken care of properly. That alone makes me happy. I
know that they have a hundred and one percent care where they are and I
appreciate their dad for taking good care of them. That is very kind of him. I
also look forward to their step mother for giving them care on my behalf; I appreciate her as well, at least, I have
been hearing that my kids are doing great in school. My kids are having the
best of life which for me gives unlimited joy. It makes me very happy hearing
that. I am really, really grateful to their father and their step mother for
such a great job”. The children Yosola (20), Bolu (18) and Nife (15)
are said to be studying abroad.
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| Daddy and Mummy with the children |
Linda had shared a thought on documenting her life experience in a book but not
without the consent of the new man in her life “I believe life itself is a
theater and every one of us is only playing a role. We are all actors and
actresses; we all have our scripts and we must all play out our roles. And
until that is achieved, you are never going to go anywhere, until you have
finished and God said ‘this is where it ends’. Now, my journey in life from
when I got married. I mean my first marriage to the second, I think has a hand
of God in it. I say this because… I mean, I was in my first marriage for ten
years and I am in my second marriage now for the eleventh year, that is a whole
twenty one years. For the mere fact that I met Kayode (Ajala) at all, was divine. For me meeting him is destiny. For me,
meeting him is a role that has been scripted.
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| Mrs. Ajala speaks to the GDA |
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| Linda, hubby with the kids |
As far back as a year after my
marriage, even though, spiritually, one could not interpret it then. They
showed me live and direct, it was like a trance. I saw the vision that I got
engaged with someone but of course, one was not even spiritually matured enough
to grab the message but the message eventually came to pass. I just knew that I
dreamt and this was what I saw and I was like ‘ah, ah, what am I doing with
another man when I just got married to somebody? That was in 1992 that we had
our marriage (Between her and Mr. Muyiwa Adewunmi). I just could not interpret
it to whatever or whoever. But when the entire roles began to play out in 2001
that was when I knew ‘oh, so, this is the interpretation of what I saw or the
message that came at the time. So, like I said what would be would be. It is as
simple as that”.
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| GDA with Mr. and Mrs. Ajala in their Lagos abode |
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| Linda Ajala…..I cant stand fetish people |
her ex- was not meant for her and probably didn’t value her person? “No, I can’t
say that. That would be too outlandish, I am not him. Do you understand?
Obviously, he had issues with me; I probably had mines with him. But in the
long run there are no issues that are un-resolvable. If you know what I mean,
there are no issues that are un-resolvable. Anybody could have erred. There are
stories we heard of people who caught their wives in bed, on their matrimonial
bed with another man and it didn’t shake that marriage. Do you understand? It
depends on your take; it depends on what you can take. It depends on your own philosophy;
it depends on what God has destined for those couple. You see our own parent
today, they tell you stories that you probably did not meet.
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| Linda Ajala in a happy mood with her children |
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| The GDA shares photo with the Ajala kids |
Deep issues that
cropped up between them in their journey of life, if they begin to tell you
stories, you would be amazed. So, for me, it is all about the individual.
Infidelity is even the least of issues that breaks a marriage. It is not every
marriage that is not working broke up on the account of infidelity; there are
so many other reasons. Thousands of thousands of reasons for marriages that
breaks everyday. Some will tell you that their wives are fetish or their mother
in-law, father-in-law or one in-law is fetish. There are lots and lots of
issues in marriage. Enough issues in marriage. But the bottom line is that at
the end of the day one should just be able to reach a compromise and agree to
disagree, disagree to agree and just move on”.
lot and what I dream about gives me hope, it gives me a ray of light. What I
pray to God to do for me, He can meet me at every point of my aspiration. God
is good enough for me”.
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| Linda….Tolerance is the life current of a great marriage |
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| Making sure everything counts |
(Winfrey) is one woman for me. She is my role model, I am looking at her
achievement as a black woman, her success story, her philosophy, above all, her
giving nature. I pray that God would put me in a position to be as giving as
Oprah Winfrey”.
nature, a good heart. I like a person that has good heart.
see the next person grow, I can’t stand them. I dislike people who beef you
because of success; People who are very unhappy when they see other people
grow. I don’t want to sit around such people.
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| Mrs. Ajala |
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| Linda… I strongly believe that at the right time, my children will ask for me |
day begins with prayer then the preparation of my kids’ movement to school and
ensuring Daddy’s meal is ready. My kids are Tumininu, Iseoluwa and Tamilore and
I also have Temitayo and Segun (Her step Children).
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| Linda….I have taken life as a thartre stage |
a reading person. I don’t read.
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| Kayode and Linda Ajala with their lovely children |
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| Linda Ajala….A man should not shoulder the family responsibility alone |
sure that whoever it is you are going into marriage with that you are in full
agreement with each other on what you are going into. If you can not endure
yourself and tolerate each other, then there is just no point. There are times
when it is good there are times when it is worst. But the key is to be able to
balance together. When one lacks, let the other be there to support. If this
one doesn’t have let the other person be there to support. But unfortunately,
here on our own side of the world, it is believed that the man has to be the
one doing it all the time. It is not supposed to be so in marriage. I repeat,
‘in marriage’. It ought to be a combined effort between the man and the woman,
it makes it easy and it makes marriage sweeter”.
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| The G D A stepping into the home of the Lagos home of the Ajalas |
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| Linda in her best element |
