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Eldorado boss, Bolaji Eso speaks on joys of fatherhood, five years of marriage – ‘This blessing is incomparable’

BOLAJI Eso is the socialite and owner of Eldorado Night Club, Ikoyi, Lagos.  His delectable wife, Olamide delivered a baby boy on Saturday, June 8, 2013, at Brooklyn Medical Hospital, New York, USA after waiting on the Lord for five years.  In an exclusive chat with ENCOMIUM Weekly, he opened up on the joys of fatherhood, the numerous controversies trailing Eldorado and more…

 

Congratulations on your new baby boy, how do you feel being a father at last?

I give God all the glory and I feel a fulfilled man.  There is nothing a man or woman profieth in the world without a child or children.  All your riches, success, endeavours and suffering can’t be compared with the joy of a child.  It’s even in the Bible that children are the heritage of the Lord.

How did you get the news and what was your reaction?

I knew she would give birth during that period because she had called me about three hours before, when she was going into labour.  I was at work because I had a show for one honourable.  As soon as I got home to sleep, I got the message, I could not really do anything than to just knee down at the spot and thank God that His blessing is with us.  That means nothing will take it away from us. I was at home from 3 a.m till 8 a.m before I left.

Is he Bolaji Eso Jnr., or what name have you decided to give him?

I am a typical Yoruba man and I have not done the christening.  When it’s time to name the baby, I will definitely invite you.

What’s the secret of this success?

It’s God Himself. If the time is not right, God will not answer you.  Some people just labour in vain. I tell people something, I don’t owe anybody any explanation. The talk was between God, my wife and myself.  And when God decided to give us at the right time, He blessed us with a baby boy.  It’s only in this part of the world that people believe you must have a baby exactly nine months after wedding.  It doesn’t work like that.  God’s time is the best.  To others looking for the fruit of the womb, I know theirs would come.  Let them use our own testimony as a point of contact.  We see people who have babies after 25 or 50 years.  The issue is wait upon the Lord and you shall receive your blessing.

Many people believe that because of your kind of job you could have cut corners with one of the numerous female clients patronizing you, why didn’t you opt for that?

My job does not interfere with my family values.  I married my wife knowing full well the kind of job I do.  And she understands the kind of job I do.  Because we don’t have a baby on time was just part of the process of learning more about God and appreciating Him.  I always give glory to my wife for being an understanding person.

What were some of the lessons learnt during the trying period?

The greatest lesson is that there is nothing God cannot do.  One should just hold on to Him and hope in Him.  There are no two ways about that. If you trust Him, He would answer you at the right time.  He doesn’t sleep nor slumber.  He always uses some of us as testimonies. This persons is popular, successful and rich, let me even test his faith to see if he will go through other means to get a child.  I always encouraged my wife that my parents gave birth to me and her parents gave birth to her surely we would give birth to our own.  And this is just the beginning of more children to come.  By God’s grace, we would have more.

Were there pressures from family and friends to look outside for a baby?

Right from the day I got married to my wife, we didn’t marry under pressure.  We understand each other and relate as such.  It’s only God we appreciate.  No man or woman could have put pressure on us because we know what we want and we prayed to God to let us understand each other and He answered us.

The first day she broke the news to you that she was pregnant, how did you react?

I was at home when she told me. I just opened a bottle of champagne, drank it and slept off.  I got the news around 3 a.m, I went straight to my bar, drank the champagne and slept off.

Funny enough, many people did not know you didn’t have a baby until a media wrote that your wife had delivered which we later discovered it’s not true?

I was so surprised that the magazine could carry such an embarrassing story.  I was sleeping that particular Monday morning when my lawyer, Tokunbo Wahab called me and said what has he done that as the closest person to me I didn’t tell him my wife had delivered.  I was shocked.  I told him I will call him back.  The reason was that I just spoke with my wife three hours before the news. I called her, she was sleeping but later confirmed it’s not true.  In between the one hour, I went to get the paper, friends and associates had snapped the picture of the page and sent to me. I was now wondering if we now practice junk journalism?  Along the line, I got in touch with them and was shocked when the publisher sent me a message apologizing that he was away during the publication.  I asked him that as a publisher, don’t you see at least the cover page before production? It’s a global village with enough information technology facility anywhere in the world.  Before they go into printing, they should have sent the materials to you for vetting.  Thus, if they have written something about the government without proof behind you, you would have been arrested.  That’s not an excuse.  That’s why they can’t do any follow-up because of the embarrassment.

You are one of the pioneer club owners on the Island and is still standing, what has kept you?

You will be surprised if I tell you that the sustaining factor has been God.  And I tell people when they call me chairman that God is my own chairman.  He is my pillar and strength.  No man can guarantee you success including men of God.  Also, I do not compete with any other person doing my line of business. I stay focused.

We discovered that unlike other nite clubs on the Island, you inculcate juju, fuji and others to your clubbing activities?

Eldorado is the only bar that we do entertainment not just clubbing.  It’s the only place on the Island that we promote juju, fuji, gospel and other genres.  It’s more than a bar or club. It’s an entertainment arm.  We are the only one that combine all, that’s our unique selling point.  And we thank God we have received awards for uplifting entertainment in this industry.

How is Eldorado faring in the market?

It’s a 50/50 thing.  We should put into consideration that it’s in front of the beach. It’s only a business that runs once in a week, Sundays.  Eldorado is the first on the seaside that runs an all night event.  We opened the way for others.  We were the first bar at Elegushi Beach that started since three years ago.  We started doing shows by bringing Pasuma, Atawewe, 2Face and others.  And we have Eldorado 3 on the Mainland.

It was reported that you closed down Eldorado, what happened?

I am happy this interview is being carried out at Eldorado.  You can confirm that there is no construction going on to show any sign of such thing.  I don’t know where they got the information. I think it came out when I took St. Janet on a tour.  And in this kind of business people always associate with the owner’s face. When they don’t see you maybe for like three days they believe you are out of the business.  Entertainment is not about the person but the brand. It still comes down to junk journalism.  When you have any information ask the parties concerned. It’s only when the person decides not to answer you that you can conclude that silence means consent.

-FEMI OYEWALE

This story was first published in ENCOMIUM Weekly on Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Encomium

Written by Encomium

A media, tech and events company.

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