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Things You May Not Know About Olusegun Obasanjo’s Step Son, Tunde Baiyewu, Of Lighthouse Family
Emmanuel Babatunde Baiyewu is the vocalist of the pop duo Lighthouse Family. Obasanjo’s Step Son
He was born in Willesden Green, North-West London, in 1968.
His father had arrived in the UK a decade before to study structural engineering. He later sent for his wife in Nigeria when he felt sufficiently established in his career.
Mr. Baiyewu was later diagnosed of cancer. He was treated in Britain but it got worse and he went back to Nigeria to get treatment. He never came back, as he died from the ailment.
After the death of the senior Baiyewu, Tunde’s mother, Elizabeth, returned to Nigeria, taking four-year-old Tunde and his toddler sister with her.
In Nigeria, his mother worked at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital as a secretary in the paediatric department.
She enrolled Tunde in the same secondary school as Femi Kuti, the legendary Fela Kuti’s son. They became good friends. They hung out at Fela’s Shrine and socialized with intellectuals, musicians, and political dissidents who came to discuss current events, dance, and get extremely “high.”
When Tunde was in his early teens, his mother, married a man she had known as a child called Olusegun Obasanjo.
At the time, Obasanjo was a household name in Nigeria. He was the head of the military who had ruled the country after a botched coup in the late 1970s that led to the death of former military Head of State, Murtala Mohammed.
In the late 1980s, Tunde moved back to the UK to attend the University of Northumbria in Newcastle where he earned an Accountancy degree in 1994.
It was at the University that he met the musician Paul Tucker, with whom he formed the Lighthouse Family. Both Baiyewu and Tucker were working in bars when they first met.
Their debut album Ocean Drive, released in 1995, sold over 1.8 million copies in the United Kingdom alone, establishing them as a popular easy listening duo throughout Europe.
They’re best known for the songs “Lifted,” “Lost in Space,” “Ocean Drive,” “Raincloud,” and “High.”
The music duo split up in the early 2000s. Baiyewu went solo, while Tucker joined The Orange Lights, a rock band.
Baiyewu married Tope Adeshina, a young British-Nigerian model, in Lagos, Nigeria in March 2007. They live in North London, United Kingdom.Stella Obasanjo’s Son
Tunde and his wife have two daughters, Elizabeth and Rebecca. They travel to Lagos, Nigeria, on a regular basis to meet with extended families.
Tunde Baiyewu says of his stepfather, Olusegun Obasanjo, “He was quite the disciplinarian.” Despite this, he was charming and charismatic.”
Tunde added, “He also accepted me as one of his own.” Obasanjo’s Step Son
