•LAGOS Society Woman Reveals
When the news broke a few weeks back that popular Lagos Society woman, Princess Comfort Folashade Abiodun Omotade had gotten married to Lagos Police Commissioner, Hakeem Odumosu, it came as a big surprise. This is because they didn’t make noise about it. Both of them are quiet and easy going people. The Lagos Police CP is not a party person. He doesn’t go to parties. He is what you will call An Officer & a Gentleman. He is a tough cop and a strict, no nonsense Police officer. The bride is also a quiet and easy going celebrity woman who is very stylish & fashionable. She is a society woman who attends A Class parties. She chooses the parties she attends. She is stupendously rich. She is well connected in the corridors of power. And she is very influential. She is one rich woman who can make things happen. She has the key that opens doors in high places. She lives in her own palace inside Banana Island, the haven of the rich in Lagos.
As you read this, both of them have become Husband and Wife. And they are fun to be with. Both are very intelligent. If you have met and interacted with the Police CP before you will know that he is one of the most brilliant Police officers that the Nigeria Police Force parades. He is a Lawyer also. Princess Folashade also is one of the rare businesswomen in Lagos and Abuja who combine brilliance with beauty. She sits atop a flourishing business empire that is the envy of other society women. She was once married, but her husband died in a Bellview Airline Plane Crash in October 2005. Since his death, she has refused all these years to fall in love, or remarry because of her children, until she met her old friend, Hakeem Odumosu. He proposed to her twice and she turned down his proposals. She only agreed recently after the 2nd proposal. The rest is history.
What made her accept to marry the Lagos CP? What did she see in him? How did their paths cross? These and many more were the questions City People Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE asked her inside her Banana Island palatial mansion, a few days ago. Below are excerpts of the 2 hour interview.
Congrats on your recent wedding to Lagos CP, Hakeem Odumosu. How do you feel?
I feel fulfilled. I feel happy. I thank God that I have my friend as my husband. So, I am happy and I give God all the Glory.
You dated for how long?
I have known him since early 90s, when he first joined the Police. He was working with my 1st cousin in Zone D in Mushin, AIG Adisa Bolanta Baba. He was a DSP then. I dated him briefly. And because my parents said they will not allow me to marry a Policeman, we had to part. We met again after the death of my husband. I was living in Abuja and he was working in Abuja. So, we met again and he said, can we start again? I said No. I don’t want to have any affair again. Infact, in the history of my life, he is the only Policeman I ever dated. And I know a lot of Police officers. There is no I.G that has emerged in the last 30 years that I don’t know or that does not know me, both past and the present one. He said we should start dating again. He said I want to marry you. He said do you remember when I first met you, I said can you be my wife? And your parents said No. So, can we start again? He said your mother is late now, your father died thirty some thing years ago. So, I am fee to marry you. But I still refused. We began to talk about it, but we were not dating, before we started in 2017.
So calculate from 2017 to today.
What is the attraction? What do you see in him?
Well, he is the kind of man that I like. People that know me know that I always like a tall man. And he has a lot of things in common with my former husband. I always like a 6 footman. I like a smart, intelligent man. He is very smart and intelligent. And I also like a kind-hearted man and a hardworking man, because I too, I am a very hardworking woman. We must complement each other. Those are what I knew about him in the early 90s.
So, before I considered him now, I had to talk to 2 of my friends. I said can you tell me about this man again because I don’t know much about him. These my 2 friends said he is like this, he is like this. They told me nice things about him. They confirmed all I know about him. One of them calls him, My senior brother because they are from the same Ijebu. So, I realised that he is the same man that I knew in the early 90s.
What took you so long to remarry?
Because of my children. No 1, my children are my priority. Their education is more important to me than anything because their father was a very brilliant person. He went to the University of Ibadan. He read Economics and he came out with 1st class. Those that went to school with him are still much around, like the present Alake of Egbaland, was his roommate. They stayed in the same room for 4 years at U.I. in Ibadan. There is also Dr. Femi Majekodunmi. He also went to U.I. He knows him. The Ekiti people as you know go to school a lot. Also, we from Abeokuta, my people go to school a lot. So, the children’s education was my priority. There was a time I granted an interview where I said I will never remarry.
Why?
Because there is no man I will marry that will not have children or had not have married somebody before. And I don’t want a situation where they will say, ‘oh our father helped you to train your children.’ I don’t want it. So, I made sure my children’s education was my priority. They all schooled abroad. I am a mother of 3 girls. They all went to school abroad.
Today, my last baby has grown. I was pregnant with her when my late husband died. Today, she is in secondary school, Form 5, now, abroad.
I didn’t have them in Nigeria, so there is no reason why they should school in Nigeria.
I had them in America and England. They also went to school both in America & England.
So, it was when I felt okay, they are now matured enough that I decided to remarry. In fact, they are all taller than me. I am the shortest in the house. They are the ones begging me that, Mummy, please remarry, because once they go, I am always the only one left in the house. And I always call them to complain that I am bored and they always say mummy you need somebody to be talking to.
So, luckily for me, I met my former friends. So, we started again.
How did you plan the wedding?
Because both of us are adults, both of us are over 50 years of age, so we don’t see it as a new thing. There was no need to make noise about it. There was no need to elaborate it. So, we first went to my family house in Abeokuta to meet my people.
We did Introduction & Traditional marriage in Abeokuta in August. The present Olutoko, of Itoko, the Oba of Itoko is my 1st cousin. I am nee Madojutimi. So, we went to the family house. I introduced him. He did the normal traditional marriage. It was after that we now did the Nikkai here in Lagos because he is a Muslim. And he said, if we don’t do Nikkai, during the fasting period, I cannot cook for him. And he knows I love cooking. That was when we went and discussed with Sheikh Muyideen Bello to come and join us together as husband and wife in a Muslim way, here in Banana Island. Many don’t know I am a Lagos woman. I grew up at Obanikoro. My father’s house is at Obanikoro.
I grew up both in Obanikoro, in Lagos and in Ibadan. I went to school in Ibadan, but whenever I am on holiday. I come to Obanikoro. My father has his house on Pa. Kassim Street.
