Encomium
The National co-ordinator, Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Otunba Gani Adams whose family was blessed with a baby boy on Sunday, April 8, 2012, after nine years of marriage has revealed to ENCOMIUM Weekly that his child is not from any deity but God.
He told us this and much more when we visited him in his Abule Ado, Lagos mansion on Friday, April 13, 2012.
We also spoke to his pretty wife, Erelu Mojisola Adams on the joy of motherhood and all the bitter experiences of the past before God finally crowned her efforts.
Congratulations on the arrival of your first child.
Thank you so much, God bless you.
How does it feel becoming a father after long years of waiting?
It feels great. This is one of the happiest moments in my life, having become a father of my own baby. I was highly delighted when my wife put to bed on Sunday, April 8, 2012. I felt so happy because it’s a thing of joy.
Having a child is greater than money because that’s the only thing that will represent you on earth after you might have gone. And anything you might have struggled to acquire will be inherited by your children and others you feel like willing them out to.
So, Sunday, April 8, 2012, was my day of happiness and it’s historical.
How exactly did you receive the good news?
I received it with joy. Not only me, all the people around me that day were also happy. They were all rejoicing with me because it’s something they have been waiting for.
Were you in the hospital at that moment or you’re just called that your wife has given birth to a baby boy?
I wasn’t in the hospital at that moment, I was just called and I felt so happy that God has finally anwered our prayer.
When you’re told it was a boy, how did you feel?
Even though it’s a girl, a child is a child. I am one of the people that don’t discriminate between a female or male child. Sex doesn’t matter to me, all I always pray for is that God should just give me the best of the best children.
We have seen a lot of women becoming president of some countries, we have seen a lot of women changing the fortunes of the society. Some women are even more and more influential than men. So, I have always had it at the back of my mind that God should just give me the best of the best among children either male or female.
Now that God has done it, what is your word of appreciate to Him?
I really appreciate what the Heavenly Father has done in my life, He is the omnipotent, omniscience, the omnipresent, most merciful. He is the one that owns everything on earth and in heaven. He has actually done me proud, He has given me a fruit of the womb at last.
He has given me my own blood. So, I quite appreciate Him and I will continue to thank Him.
Throughout the years you and your wife were without a child, what was usually on your mind?
I am a kind of person that is very strong in my belief. I believe that one day my own child will come. So, I always consoled my wife and I made sure I resisted all pressures from different corners either from the family or friends. When people told me, you need to do this, you need to that, I always let them know that the God I am serving will do it for me one day which eventually has come to pass.
That’s why I am so grateful and thankful to Him. I will continue to serve Him because He didn’t disappoint me.
Wasn’t there any moment your wife felt like I am fed up?
My wife is a courageous woman. Although, she is a human being, she always summon courage. It’s not as if she is barren, she had conceived many times but they were miscarried. I knew my wife could give birth to children, it’s only God’s time we’re waiting for and He has finally answered our prayer.
That means that won’t be her first pregnancy?
Yes, she had miscarriages many times before this one finally stayed. But all has become a success story today.
A lot of people have said so many things about your predicament, some said you have sold out your manhood to acquire spiritual power and that you can’t have a child at all and so on. What’s your reaction to this?
When you have a problem like this, you will hear a lot of rumours, gossips and so on. I was never bothered by such things because I knew there wasn’t an iota of truth in them. If at all, they are not using it to assassinate my character, they will be thinking in that direction, wondering what the problem could be. Sometimes we heard such gossips but we were never bothered.
We were just focused. We didn’t want anybody to distract our attention about what we’re looking for. Can you believe one of the pastors in Lagos asked my wife, are you sure this man can father a child. I don’t need to mention his name.
But my wife believes in me and I believe in her as well. Now God has done it for us, He has silenced our critics. My wife heard a lot but she couldn’t allow such things to demoralize her. She was of the belief that I can give her a child so far she was getting pregnant and only that they’re dropped.
So, we didn’t give up because we believe each other. Thank God, we’re rejoicing today.
Some people still believe the child might have come from Osun, the goddess of the river, they even said that’s one of the reasons you worship her every year, what’s your reaction to this?
It’s God that gives children not Osun. But the power God gave Osun is like that of Holy Mary, mother of all children. In Yoruba land, we call Osun mother of children, ‘Ósun olomo wewe’. Her own department as a deity created by God is to ask for children from God, the creator on behalf of anybody who is in need. It’s God who will now decide whether to grant the request or not.
Osun doesn’t have the capacity to give children directly. It’s just like the case of somebody working under the chairman of a company and you think it’s that person that can give you anything you want from that company. That’s not true. You can’t get anything from the establishment unless it’s approved by the chairman.
Deities are just like intermediaries between God and mankind. They are not Alpha and Omega. In other religions, we have the angels and so on who also serve as intermediaries between man and God. So, it’s not only in the Yoruba traditional beliefs that intermediaries exist. Just like somebody worshipping Ifa or calling on Ifa, thinking that it’s Ifa that gives children, it’s a lie.
Ifa can’t give children. All children are gifts from God. Deities, angels and so on are just intercessors.
So, you believe children are gifts from the Almighty God?
Yes. The Osun river is created by God, the pumping of the water is beyond the capacity of osun, the pumping of the sea water is beyond the power of olokun. They are just messengers of God, simple. I feel bad when I see some mischief makers accusing people of worshipping osun, ogun and start fighting them unnecessarily.
For instance, if you’re a muslim, wherever you pray to Almighty Allah, you also use the name of Prophet Muhammed (SAW) to grant your request before Almighty Allah and when Allah hears Prophet Muhammed’s name, He will be happy to grant you your request.
The same thing goes for Christianity by calling God through Jesus Christ. They are all spirits before God now and they are intermediaries between God and mankind. So, it’s only God that has absolute power to do and undo. But to be honest, I will be the last person to say I have never prayed before all these deities in the process of looking for this child. I prayed all round.
My wife was on a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia two years ago. I believe top on the list of her prayers to Allah was this child issue. We go to church. Had it been you came in earlier, you should have met the pastor of our church, Evangelical Church of Yahweh, Resident Pastor, that’s Pastor Bayo. They are coming by 2pm on Sunday for the naming. Whatever happens that day will be a true reflection of my seriousness about the three religions.
All the three religions will conduct the naming ceremony. We are going to have the traditionalists doing their own very early in the morning followed by the muslims from around 11am to 2pm then Christians would be having their own by 4pm
Any special gift for madam for reproducing Gani Adams?
Definitely, there would be but I am not disclosing that for now.
I overheard you say the naming is going to be low key, why?
Just because my birthday is on the way, we just decided that everything should be celebrated together.
How do you feel that the child shares the same month with you?
I feel very happy about it, highly delighted. The child shows that he is compassionate, he doesn’t want his father to spend extra, he wants me to reduce my expenses. That’s why he came the same month I was born so that we can celebrate everything together. God has a way of planning things, I am very much happy about it.
I am so happy to be a mother – Mojisola Adams
Congratulations madam on the arrival of your first baby?
Thank you very much.
Nine years of waiting for the fruit of the womb is not an easy thing, how would you describe the experience?
I don’t even know how I can describe the experience. All I can say is that it has not been easy. I wouldn’t pray for that kind of a thing for anybody close to me or even my foe. Waiting on the Lord for that long was a terrible experience.
There is no way you will pass through that kind of experience and you will not be spending almost all the time, doing this or that. I have passed through a lot, I have been to so many churches, hospitals and some other places, all in search of the fruit of the womb but I thank God, all the efforts have been finally crowned with success.
How does it feel now being a mother?
It feels so great. I feel particularly happy about it. It’s a thing of joy that I am now a mother, I am so glad that God has finally answered my prayer.
All these years you have been with your husband without a child, what has been running through your mind?
We are all human beings. Atimes, negative thoughts would come but most times I always managed to overcome the situation. I always prayed over it. My husband is always positive about his thoughts, he has a strong belief.
If at all I began to feel somehow, he would encourage me. Atimes, he would ask me if he is the one denying me the opportunity to get a child or he is the one responsible for our problem and so on. But we thank God, it has become history now.
That means both of you had passed through several moments of accusations and counter accusations as to who was responsible for the ugly situation?
Yes, there is no marriage that would experience that kind of delay and will not face those kind of things. We are all human beings. At times, I accused him of being responsible for the situation we found ourselves on account of his involvement in many socio-cultural activities.
At times, I would think may be the problem is from his admirers, I don’t know whether he has girlfriends, I will just be worried. As a woman, you may become frustrated at times in that kind of a situation, you will begin to say what is not expected of you. But that’s over now, I thank God.
How did you cope with the pressure from your husband’s family or was there not time you were harassed over childlessness?
There was never an open confrontation from my husband’s family. He never allowed that. Although, I heard they gave him a lot of advice. Not from his own family alone even those working with us. There was a time I overheard somebody telling him that ‘Ori omo lo npomo waye’.
Meaning he should go and try another woman…
Yes, but I believed strongly that ‘Ori omo kan ko lo ma pomo temi waye’. Every child will come on his own. My Bible doesn’t tell me that, even the Quran doesn’t say that. I don’t believe in that, I always prayed to God and I believed He would give me my own child when it’s time.
Just like you have said, you passed through a lot, can you still recall any of the ugly moments?
How many will I remember, I believe it’s a normal thing when you’re in that kind of situation except you’re responsible for your own predicament. If you are not the one, if they say come and try this, your faith will hang on it because you will believe that if you don’t buy Na lie, you won’t buy Na true.
A lot of moments like that but what my husband doesn’t like is IVF, he doesn’t like it at all, he believes it’s too artificial. By the time I was like trying to convince him, he said no, he said it’s not about money but the fact that it is not natural made him go against it. But we thank God, we give Him the glory.
Some women always love their first issue to be female, what is your take on this?
I have never questioned God on whatever He has done for me. Be it male or female, I believe they are all children from God.
Your husband just told us that the pregnancy wasn’t the first that you had a lot of miscarriages, like how many times you’ve actually lost pregnancy before this one that finally gave you a bouncing baby boy?
That would be like five times.
We believe the door is finally opened now, like how many children do you intend giving Gani Adams?
It depends on God.
The belief of some people is that may be the concoction you took or a deity might have been responsible for the child…
(Cuts in) My child is from God. No concoction, no deity gave it to me, it’s God.
We learnt the naming is going to be low key, why?
That’s how we want it. My husband is old enough to be a father, I am also old enough to be a mother. I believe, we shouldn’t be making any noise about it but the fact that my husband is a celebrity, people just have to know. But we thank God for everything.
Lest we forget, what would you say actually caused the delay all these years?
I am not God. I wouldn’t know. But I believe it’s more of spiritual than medical because there was a time I said maybe it was stress, I now decided to give myself bed rest but no dice. This time around, I was not hospitalized for one day, I remained very strong. All I was doing was to walk around.
I stopped attending events, I only travelled to London when the pregnancy was like four months or there about. I have been going up and down, nothing happened and that’s why I said, left to me, it was beyond orthodox medicine but now I thank God for what He has done in my life.
Your husband told us the naming is going to be conducted by Christians, muslims and traditional worshippers, how do you fell about that?
I am not the father of the child and the child is not going to bear my father’s name. His father has told you what he wants. He is the head of the family, I agree with him in whatever he wants.
-TADE ASIFAT
This story was first published in Encomium Weekly on Tuesday, April 17, 2012
