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| Alhaja Sadiat Akanke Oloto with husband, Chief Buari Oloto |
Oloto is one of those special Lagos
celebrity women in their own class with clout and connection in high places but
her simplicity and humility buries her personality. This very busy
international business woman is the wife of one of Lagos most prominent estate
developer and land merchant Alhaji
Buari Oloto. Her husband who is
of the Oto Awori stock in Lagos is a
famous socialite who enjoys maximum fellow feeling with various musicians in
the last four decades. From Late Alhaji
Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, to Commander (Now Evangelist) Dr. Ebenezer Obey, King
Sunny Ade, Alhaji Kollinton Ayinla,
Sir Shina Peters, Adewale Ayuba
and several others, all of them had at one time or the other rendered a tribute
in their album to this prominent Lagos
land merchant.
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| The GDA meets Hajia Sadiat Oloto aka Iya Oyo |
Akanke Oloto aka Iya Oyo, his
wife, nobody ever knew that this Lagos born socialite of Awori stock is a much disciplined monogamist. His life style has
never ever been revealed as much as this until your soar away Africa’s number 1
Celebrity Encounter blog, Asabeafrika
gave a hot chase to the very introverted Iya Oyo for couple of months.
we cornered her after her return from the Holy land of Mecca, Saudi Arabia with her darling husband. This
woman of valor opened up like never before in a two hour encounter with Asabeafrika. Alhaja (Chief) Mrs. Sadiat Akanke Oloto who is the Yeye-Luwa of Ido-Osun in Oshogbo-Osun State, Yeye Wura of Ikate land in Surulere-Lagos State and Yeye Oba of Ado–Odo, Ota, in Ogun state among several other honorary traditional
and religious titles took us round the very interesting romance story of
herself and her husband in thirty years. It is a story of trials, hope and
courage.
interesting as the very reserved Iya Oyo
equally took the pain to give a marriage lecture to many society women through
this blog. Enjoy the excerpts.
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| Sadiat (M) her husband, Buari and one of her pretty daughters |
have a brief of your background vis-à-vis that of your husband?
to start by addressing myself as Alhaja Sadiat Akanke Oloto. I was
privileged to be born in Oyo town in Oyo state (Southern Nigeria). I had a
privileged background coupled with a good upbringing through God’s divine
blessing. I was lucky to have married a very good man, a great man whose
sojourn on earth has been blessed by God. I think we are compatible in many
ways. He is a free giver, a kind man. I am also a free giver and that has
helped us to come a long way in marriage. I am a business woman with many years
of experience; my husband is a real estate merchant. He is a building
contractor and a successful business man.
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| Hajia Sadiat Oloto to Asabeafrika….’I am called Iya Oyo because i hail from a royal linage in Oyo’ |
Oyo” which says much about your root. Tell us why you are called Iya Oyo?
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| Hajia Sadiat Oloto shares a joke with the GDA |
actually from a polygamous home. It was a tradition then, like you know. I was
the last born on my father and mother’s side. My mother was the first wife but
other wives equally had a good number of children. I have step brothers and
sisters and they are all successful. But, for me, I was the last child of my
mother. My father’s lineage is called Adeleke in Oyo town. They are Adeleke-Oladigbolu-Gbadegesin.
They are from the Oke-Apo lineage in Oyo
town. My mum is a royalty. She hails from a royal family; they are called the Ayanwale
family of Oyo town. For my
husband, he is also a royalty. He hails from the Ooto and Itire royal family.
This particular Aguda town you where
you are talking to me belong to their forefathers. They also owns Oregun
(Ikeja) they own Ojota, they own Itire-Ile. They also own Ado-Odo-Ota
in Ogun state; you know they are all
from the Awori stock. So, my husband is a full blooded Lagosian.
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| The GDA talks with Buari Oloto’s Wife |
princess is married to a Lagos prince?
I am very proud of our different backgrounds and heritage.
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| Iya Oyo listens to the GDA |
name is Alhaja Awawu Adeleke while my father is Alhaji Jinad Adeleke.
They are now late. My mother passed away few years ago and for my father, he
passed away more than twelve years ago.
your husband, Alhaji Buari Oloto?
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| Sadiat & Buari Oloto….Love made in heaven |
God that destines human encounters; we met ourselves twenty something years
ago. He actually came after me, wanting my hand in marriage. But I was
seriously discouraged by many people, who claimed he is womanizer. Very funny,
life is indeed funny. One of my friends; May God bless her soul, she is now late.
She was the only one that gave me the courage to marry him. She advised me to
try him, that I might be lucky. She said ‘he
might stop chasing women after he
marries you’. She passionately advised me that ‘this man has bothered much, chasing you. Take him as he is and marry
him etc’. But I was still skeptical about him. I said “Ah, they said he is a womanizer and you want me to go marry him, do you
want me to have a turbulent marriage?” I refused to oblige her request but
she was very persistent in her conviction.
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| Iya Oyo speaks to Asabeafrika |
She said she was sure that he will
not chase women again if I marry him; my husband later accosted me and asked
why I was not yielding to his advances. I told him straight away that I was
afraid of his adventures. I said “Sir, I
have heard that you are a super-womanizer and I don’t think I can stand your
status”. It was then he told me not to be afraid, that he was ready to keep
to me alone once I agree to marry him. that he was equally ready to take me to
the registry and do a proper marriage for me. And in all fairness to him, he
came true with all his promises. He didn’t falter in all the promise he made
with me.
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| Iya Oyo on her wedding day to Buari Oloto |
any other woman after he took you in?
you. He is a very honest man. On getting to marry me, he stopped the chasing
game. All he promised to do were done verbatim and I was really surprised because
I initially nursed fear for him, he gave me a love ring, he took me to the
registry and did a proper marriage ceremony for me. In fact, (Late) Sikiru
Ayinde Barrister was the one on the band stand on our wedding day. A
lot of people even made jest of our union, they said “don’t mind her, he will soon get fed up with her and get another woman”. But God shamed them, my
husband turned out to be a very honest man. He stood on his promise that, “I will never marry another woman on you;
I will make you my one and beloved wife etc”. He said “I have dated so many ladies, I have been involved in many
relationships but right now, I am taking a leave. I am not marrying any woman
again. If they tell you they saw me with a woman, don’t break your head. It
could just be a flimsy relationship and nothing beyond that”. And that has
been his stand till date. We just returned together from Mecca recently.
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| Iya Oyo & her heartbeat, Buari Oloto, marriage made in heaven |
So, if we travel abroad, we go together. It doesn’t
mean a man can not have his adventures once in a while but your wisdom and
maturity saves you from running into trouble. My husband used to say that his
wife is not the type that listens to gossips. If someone tells me she sees my
husband with one woman somewhere, I won’t be bothered. It is never my priority
to start policing my husband over his external affairs. What bothers me is his
peace of mind.
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| Iya Oyo meets Asabeafrika |
I care for peace in this house and that is the work of a woman,
a real woman. If he is always there for me as husband, and I can do my
business, what am I bothering my life for? If he won’t bring any other woman to
shatter my matrimonial peace, I think I owe him his peace too. That is the lot
of a good marriage. Even when we have events, we do it together as husband and
wife. We attend occasions together. Even if he invites his “guests” I won’t
even know where they are seating, so, why should you worry? You know I used to
tell my friends that if you see ladies at your party, you don’t need to be
jittery. You don’t know if they are your husband’s guests or business
associates. It is not a crime, since he won’t bring them to meet you at home.
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| Iya Oyo and her friends pose with her Spiritual Father, Oba (Dr.) Lamidi Adeyemi The Alaafin of Oyo during the wedding ceremony of one of her daughters in Lagos |
The lady you see at your husband’s party might be his bank account manager or
his business manager, she could even be his business partner; she might be a
customer. You must not be too observant and intruding. If your husband respects
your privacy as a person, I think it is also right to reciprocate such gesture.
You must understand that your husband has given you your own respect in his own
right. It is when you try to pock nose into your husband’s deepest affairs that
you will be emotionally shattered. May we not be emotionally troubled In-Sha-Allah?
I used to advice young ladies to tow that line of philosophy because it has
worked for my own marriage as well.
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| Iya Oyo with husband Alhaji Buari Oloto with Oba of Lagos, HRM Rilwan Akiolu during the wedding ceremony of one of her daughters |
has you as his one and only?
nose. I don’t do it at all. Alhaji
can be in his family house at Itire (Surulere) and I will visit
the place without even bordering to check on him, I will just go play with
every other person in the family and zoom off. I don’t need to disturb him
because he might be having a very crucial family meeting and since I am one of
them, I just go playing, and then leave. Even if I am going to my office on Lagos
Island, Alhaji could ask me to branch and see him at his own office. As
a humble wife, I will branch and see him and immediately we are done with our
matter, I am gone. If I am also the one that need to see him, I will tell him, “Please before you leave home, I have an
issue to discuss with you”. He will say ‘ok,
why don’t we seek it out in the office, why don’t you want to come around?’
The reason is that I don’t want to see something that will upset my emotion.
There is no man without his own shortcoming in term of adventures, especially a
man that is really blessed like my husband.
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| The very amiable Iya Oyo received a call during the encounter |
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Even if he decides to ignore them,
they will come for him. So, if I need to see him in the office, I book
appointment. I may call him on the phone and say “Daddy, you left quite early than I expected after the Morning Prayer”
and he will reply, “You that you were still
sleeping when I left home, you were so busy in your sleep that you even coiled
on the bed” (Laughter). Because I often go back to bed to catch few sleeps
after our 5am Morning Prayer. That is
the time I often enjoy my sleep before I step out by 9 am. So, he will be the
one to say “come around, come to the
office and see me” and I will do exactly as he wished. But he must invite
me over or else I don’t need to intrude his official privacy. That is how we
have been leaving in the last 30 years of marriage. If I want to visit my
friends, he doesn’t stop me. He respects my discretion simply because there is
solid trust between us. There must be trust in your relationship for you to
have a wonderful matrimony. If there is trust, the relationship will last
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| Iya with husband with the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi during one of her daughters’ wedding |
found irresistible in him that made you marry your husband?
in Alhaji when he wanted to marry me
was the fact that he is a very truthful person. He is too straightforward and
truthful to a fault. Alhaji does not
tell lies he hate lies. All he desires from a person is truth. If Alhaji ask you something, tell him the
truth. If you come out clean with him, you will find his favor. He hates lies with a passion and he does not
trade in it as well. And I think that is what has helped him go far in
business. People will say he is
wicked, he is wicked, this and that but it is simply because he embraces truth.
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| Iya Oyo to Asabeafrika….’You cannot befriend my husband if you are a liar’ |
You can’t be his friend if you are a liar, never. If he notices that you are a
sincere person, if he is clarifying something from twenty people, he will say ‘don’t worry, I know the person that will tell me the whole truth’.
Anything you tell him, he takes because he knows you are sincere and he himself
is sincere as well. So, my husband abhors lies. Talking about his anger, it is
never up to ten seconds. Once he is angry and he shouts it out at you, the next
moment he is indulging you in another assignment. So, I asked myself, ‘what am I looking for in a man?’ I mean
if you annoy him, he corrects you immediately. He shouts at you and in the next
5 minutes he will be apologizing to you. He will say “But you know I am a noise maker, the noise is the only weapon I have.
I don’t have any other weapon than that. That was how I was born and it has
become my character”. He would be the one to even beg you and the matter
ends there. So, because of his truthfulness, I said to myself, I will rather
stand with this man. Everything he promises me, he fulfills and he does not
inconvenient me, what am I looking for? God also blessed me with the gift of
patience. But more importantly, I chose to close my ears to hear-say and shut
my eyes to film tricks (laughter)
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| Iya Oyo to Asabeafrika…’I don’t try to find out if my husband chases women or not’ |
habit of praise singing your husband. From Juju musicians to Fuji Musicians
down to Islamic Musicians, what do you think is responsible for this?
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| Iya Oyo to Asabeafrika…’My husband empowered many Nigerian Musicians’ |
Yes, I think that is how God created him, he is a great man. He loves music and
he shows it. He is a veracious listener of music. He enjoys both old and
contemporary music, both young and old artistes. He is so in tune with music
that at times you will think he is the composer of the album (laughter).
Another thing is that he encourages all the musicians. No mater your status,
you are new or old; Alhaji will
encourage you with whatever he has. Both veterans and new comers, Alhaji will give you the same kind of
money to encourage you; he will never look down on you. Even if you just
recorded your album today, Alhaji
will encourage you. That is why you see all of them praise singing him.
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| Iya Oyo to Asabeafrika….’My husband is a lover of Music’ |
He
supports them in all ways and if you invite him to your launching, no matter
how small or new you are Alhaji wont
ignore you, he will be there in person and launch the album for you. He will
pray for you and give you what he can. So, he is like their father and they all
love him. Another interesting thing about him is that if he invites artistes A
for his occasion today, if any member of his family is doing something, he will
invite artiste B. He will ensure that he distributes the wealth round to all of
them. If a friend wants to do an event, he will say “oh, we have not invited this person for a long time, Alhaja, let’s patronize
him for this event”. And if it is their club that is celebrating, he will
say we invited artiste A or B last year let’s invite artiste C or D this year.
He is very compassionate when it comes to helping musicians and that is why you
see that kind of massive love from them towards him.
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| Iya Oyo to Asabeafrika….’My marriage has succeeded on the rock of trust in 30 years’ |
moments in this marriage?
experienced hard times like it is in any other relationship. There was a time I
imported some fabrics from South Korea
and the whole cargo was seized at the airport. It was a huge investment with
lots of money gone the drain. It was one very sad moment I can never forget.
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| ‘I lost big fortune under Abacha’s Government while returning from South Korea’ |
during the Abacha regime. It was such
a terrible moment but we thank God. At another time armed robbers came into
this house and looted everything I was selling. Then, the vogue was to put all
your fabrics and jewelries in the house for onward distribution to customers.
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| ‘I lost a big fortune to thieves and robbers who robbed my house several years back’ |
That time, this house used to be filled with articles of trade. I was selling
gold, jewelries and fabrics. I had my own gold line, some for my customers,
some for my friends who begged me to help them market and sell; all was gone
with that robbery incident. They came into this house that was in 1995, they
stole everything without leaving a dime. All the valuables belonging to my
friends were gone. I and my husband had
to pay them back and we are talking of heavy fortune here. It was such a
terrible period and phase of my life that I can never forget. But with God on
my side and hard work, I was able to bounce back. So, that is what I can recall
about my most challenging moment in marriage.
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| Iya Oyo with King of Fuji Music, K-1 De Ultimate |
threatened by external forces? Maybe someone wanted to take your husband off
you at all cost?
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| The Yeye Luwa of Itire Land…. |
that ever happened. Since I married my husband, he has been faithful and loyal
to the vow. I am not ruling out that he has female admirers who crave for his
attention. But I can tell you that he has never left this house one day for any
form of adventure and there has never been a row over one woman or the other.
If they are even around him, he will rather keep them in the dark. He respects
our marital vow. He is a good man. There is mutual respect and high regard for
our marriage and he never broke the vow
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| The GDA meets Iya Oyo, Chief Buhari Oloto’s wife |
