Hon. Adijat Adeleye Oladapo, a lawmaker in the Ogun state
House of Assembly, opened up about her life, of how she
got pregnant when she was in secondary school, how the
baby daddy denied the child and how she had to relocate
to have her baby only for the child to die 18 months later.
In this very deep interview, Hon. Oladapo talked about
what she did to change her life. Read below...
"While I was in secondary school, I was a brilliant
student. In my primary school I came second best
student in our G2 exams but unfortunately, I started
moving with some people who were more experienced
and exposed than I was. One way or the other, I got
pregnant when I was in SS1. The person who was
responsible denied it because I was young and naive. I
usually keep to myself a lot. My parents didn't know I
was pregnant after four months and the guy also didn't
know until about 4 months, although he equally
impregnated about 2 other girls at the same time. He
was a big boy in secondary school, the Senior Prefect,
very brilliant.
It all started by exchanging novels and textbooks. I had
to leave Akute where my parents stayed to live with my
paternal grandfather in Kajola, a small village which
was hard for me to endure because the viallage had
nothing. I had my baby in December 1991. After the
naming of the baby, my family held a meeting and
asked me what I wanted to do and I told them I wanted
to go back to school. My paternal grandmother was
totally against it, simply because she felt it was a waste
sending a girl child to school after what I had done but
my father was ready to give me another chance which I
will forever be grateful for. I enrolled in a school not far
from my house because of my baby and I repeated my
class. Unfortunately, the child died at 18months in
1993. It was like double jeopardy for me, nothing to
show for the stigma and missing school. When he was
buried, I went to his grave and requested from God to
help me because I was determined to be successful
which was like a vow. I even cursed the boy who got
me pregnant because he denied the pregnancy, that he
would not be greater than me in life. I don't know his
level now but I am grateful for what I am today.
I have forgiven him. After my secondary school, I
decided to leave home to begin my journey. In 1998, I
was admitted into the University of Lagos, things were
tight for me then but someone introduced me to a job
which was thrift collecting and daily contribution. I
started working there and for years, I collected daily
contributions in Ketu market and some other popular
markets in Lagos state. I didn't have enough time to
attend classes. I had to trek some places so my money
would be enough. It was while I was working as a thrift
collector, while coming from the office one day I
stopped at my mother's shop to take some foodstuff
from her shop. I met a man there who bought most of
the foodstuffs and we started talking. That was the man
I married and we have two kids. After then, my life
changed" she said
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