Onyeka Onwenu: I married a Yoruba Muslim in 1984 and we have two children

BY OLUWAMUYIWA OYEDELE

Onyeka Onwenu, an ace singer and actress, has finally opened up on her connubial relationship, revealing that she got married to a Yoruba Muslim in 1984.

The mother of two children, who had always kept her intimate life private, brought this revelation to light in ‘My Father’s Daughter’, her memoir, which will be released on October 1.

In the autobiography, the 68-year-old movie star revealed how they fell in love more than decades ago and how the union brought about the birth of her two sons — Tijani and Ibrahim.

“In this book, I am, perhaps for the very first time, setting the records straight with respect to my connubial relationship. Yes, I was married. I married a man I fell in love with in 1984,” she said.

“We have two children: Tijani and Ibrahim. (Ibrahim later changed the first letter of his name from I to A, and thus became Abraham.) My husband is Yoruba, and was a Muslim when we met.”

The autobiography also documents her life as a musician, activist, wife, mother, and politician as well as her formative contact with feminism.

The author shared how the war between 1967 to 1970 scalded her teenage life, the debilitating effects of successive realities, and how her family remained bound amid the frightening experience.

She also documents her years in America, the conflicts that were the products of being a migrant, her experience with workplace sexual harassment, and her decision to quit her job at the UN.

Speaking about the forthcoming book, Expand Press Limited, her publishers, described ‘My Father’s Daughter’ as a deeply personal account of Onwenu’s life spanning previously unknown details.

“On the marriage front, she explores challenges women face and how she refused to shrink herself to accommodate her husband’s insecurities about her fame,” it said.

“It’s a memoir young persons must read. Women especially will glean numerous lessons from her life experience since successful women in Nigeria rarely share their story in a candid manner.” (Vanguard Allure)