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.
They are very stylish, wear the same outfit and are always together, it is very rare not to see them together most especially at functions.Their husband is always part of their entourage who leads the train whenever they are going out. 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.
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.
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.
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