Obasanjo: The Wives, Mistresses And Baby Mamas

Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo has a reputation as one with a soft spot for women. His extensive list of romantic liaisons with women is eloquent evidence of this. In his controversial book, My Watch, released in 2014, he listed the names of his 21 children. However, the Ebora Owu left out the identities of their mothers.

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In this piece, we highlight, from investigations, the mothers of the children of the country’s two-time president, as well as other women who he had had affairs with.

Oluremi Obasanjo

Remi Obasanjo was Olusegun Obasanjo’s first wife. They met at the Owu Baptist Church Choir when she was 14 years old and they courted for 8 years. They married on 22 June 1963 at Camberwell Green Registry, SE London without the knowledge of their families. She was 21 years old at the time. Mrs. Oluremi Obasanjo is the mother of six of the 21 children of the former president. They include: Senator Iyabo Obasanjo (b. 1967); Busola Obasanjo (b. 1968); Olusegun Obasanjo (the first son) (b. 1969); Olugbenga Obasanjo (b. 1971); Enitan Obasanjo (b. 1975); and Damilola Obasanjo (1982).

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She assumed the role of First Lady in February 1976 following a coup that resulted in the death of Murtala Muhammed. She and her husband separated shortly after. In 2008, she published an autobiography titled “Bitter-Sweet: My Life with Obasanjo” in which chronicled her life experiences with Olusegun Obasanjo portraying him as a violent womaniser.    

Stella Obasanjo

Obasanjo married Stella Obasanjo in 1976 when he was the military head of state. Though she wasn’t the first lady then, however she was the First Lady during Obasanjo’s second stint as Nigeria’s ruler. On 23 October 2005, Stella Obasanjo died from complications from cosmetic surgery at a private health clinic in Marbella, Spain. This happened a few weeks before her 60th birthday For the former president, she only had one child, Olumuyiwa Obasanjo, who was born in 1977.  

Gold Oruh

Ms. Gold Oruh was a former director of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). She met the former president as a reporter in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during the Nigerian civil war. During their marriage, she had three children for him: Dare Obasanjo, Funke Obasanjo and Nathan Obasanjo. She died on March 16th, 2022 at the age of 76.  

Taiwo Obasanjo

Taiwo Obasanjo was one of the wives of the former President. She is the twin sister of Mr. Kenny Martins, the politician and former Chairman of the defunct Police Equipment Fund. She is also the mother of two of the former president’s children: Olujonwo Obasanjo and Esther Olubunmi Obasanjo. Mrs. Taiwo Obasanjo has reverted to her maiden name, Martins, in recent years.  

Lynda Obasanjo

Lynda Obasanjo (Nee Soares) was married to Obasanjo. On February 14, 1987, she was assassinated by armed robbers in broad daylight in Lagos. She was 45 years old at the time of her death. She had two children for her husband. We have no idea what the names of her two children are. Obasanjo later promoted her cousin, Priscilla Soares, to Managing Director, NICON.  

Mabel Okosode Obasanjo

Another woman who has children for the former army commander is Mabel Okosode Obasanjo. We don’t know how many children she has for him, nor do we know their names.  

Titilayo Obasanjo

Titilayo Obasanjo is another woman who who bore children for the retired General.  

Elizabeth Obasanjo

Before she married the fomer President, Elizabeth Obasanjo was once married. That was before she moved to Nigeria with her two children after losing her husband. One of the children is British singer Tunde Baiyewu of the Lighthouse Family. She met Obasanjo when he was still an army officer. Their affair resulted in the birth of Kofoworola Mojisola Obasanjo. Kofo Obasanjo, married Peter Kenneth Blackshire, a British Baptist minister, in 2002.  

Mojisola Adekunle-Obasanjo

Mojisola Adekunle-Obasanjo is an ex-wife of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. She retired as a Major in the Nigerian army. Their marriage lasted from 1991 to 1998. In 1998, she founded the political party Masses Movement of Nigeria. In 2003, she ran for the Presidency on the party’s platform. She was on the ballot as the only female contender for the 2007 presidential elections. Moji Obasanjo died on Thursday, June 4, 2009 in Ikoyi, Lagos after a brief illness. She was survived by four children: Adekunle, Adetokunbo, Abimbola, Abiodun, Yetunde, and numerous grandchildren.  

Bola Obasanjo

Bola Obasanjo is the woman currently living with Chief Obasanjo at the moment. He got married to Bola in 2009, exactly four years after former first lady, Stella Obasanjo, died. Bola used to live in London, but she had to move to Nigeria to be his resident wife. She also has a child named Funsho Obasanjo for him.  

OTHER WOMEN IN HIS LIFE

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo had other ladies in his life, though they did not have children for him.

Mowo Sofowora

Mrs. Mowo Sofowora, a lace fabric trader and a married woman, began dating Obasanjo in 1973, when he was a Lieutenant Colonel in the army. In her book, Mrs. Oluremi Obasanjo mentioned Mrs. Mowo Sofowora as one of the women who caused problems for her in her marriage. She was said to be older than Obasanjo.

Labo Salako

Mrs. Labo Salako was the late Captain Salako’s wife, who died in a car accident near Argungu in 1972.  Captain Salako was Obasanjo’s course-mate in London. Following her husband’s death, she moved in with the Obasanjos into their Ikoyi, Lagos, home on Obasanjo’s advise. and the wife, Remi, agreed with her husband. Labo was already having a wild affair with Remi’s husband before she realized what was going on. To add insult to injury, she wrote Obasanjo a letter advising him to divorce his wife, Remi. Remi obtained a copy of the letter and photocopied numerous copies to send to friends and relatives. Remi’s decision to leave her matrimonial home for several months was prompted by this. All these stories are contained in the book, Bitter-Sweet, by Mrs. Oluremi Obasanjo.  

Lamide Adegbenro

Mrs. Lamide Adegbenro is the wife of Chief Niyi Adegbenro, a kinsman of Chief Obasanjo and former Commissioner for Agriculture in Ogun State. Mrs. Oluremi Obasanjo, in her book, identified Lamide Adegbenro as one of her husband’s many mistresses. During his debate with Obasanjo, former Vice President Abubakar Atiku mentioned that Lamide Adegbenro received a gift of a brand new Peugeot 607 and $110,000 from Otunba Fasawe, which was put into her NATWEST Bank, UK account in 2003.  

Mrs. Alo

Mrs Alo, a former Vice Principal of Queens College in Yaba, Lagos, was also alleged of being Olusegun Obasanjo’s mistress. When Obasanjo’s daughter, Iyabo, was a student at Queens College, Mrs. Alo was the Vice Principal. So, if it hadn’t been for her mother’s intervention, Iyabo would have assaulted her the day she saw her in a bathing trunk at her father’s pool in Ota Farm, Ogun State. Mrs. Alo is a member of the board of directors of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s school, The Bells, and is said to be close to him.  

The Princess

After the demise of the late First Lady, Mrs. Stella Obasanjo, a popular Lagos Pincess who is a lover of white apparels was reported to have been romantically involved with the former president. In fact, when the First Lady died, rumours circulated that she practically took over the president’s private life and was placing herself as the deceased president’s wife before. This was until one of the man’s children told her she wasn’t welcome in the family. The children banded together to persuade their father to marry another woman in order to counteract the princess’s influence in his life. It was in order to wave off the influence of the princess in their father’s life that the children came together to impress on him to marry another woman. It was this pressure that brought about Mama Funsho (Bola Obasanjo) relocating from London to Nigeria to be his current wife.

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