Akeem Lasisi
It has been celebrating galore for Erelu Bisi Olaleye-Fayemi as the human development expert, writer and wife of Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, clocked 57 on Thursday.
Online and offline, a lot of folks have continued to celebrate with her, with various images circulating doing justice to her natural beauty.Of course, her husband never fails to remind anyone who cares to listen that she is not only cerebral, but that she is also lovely and very beautiful.
Some of the photos also remind one of the story of how their love started, right inside the library of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Indeed, theirs is a tale of what the book or library has joined together.
This is how Erelu recalled the genesis in an interview with ‘ThisDay’ when the marriage clocked 30 last year: “It started in Ife. He attended the University of Lagos, UNILAG, and came to Ife to do Master’s in International Relations. I did a Master’s in History but I did elective in the Department of International Relations. I knew him in my class as someone very quiet and good looking. One day, I was in the library and I needed to borrow some books from the library and I was not with my library card and I looked around to see anyone who could help me take the books out.
“I saw Kayode sitting on the other side. I walked up to him and very politely asked if he had his library card on him and he said ‘Yes’ and I told him that I needed to take some books out and asked: ‘Do you mind borrowing the books for me?’ And he said, ‘Of course’ and I gave him the list of the books and l told him I would come and pick the books from his room and that was it and the rest is history.”
The hubby also noted, “Actually, when I met my wife, I was 22 years old. We met in the librar – the Hezekiah Oluwosanmi Library, University of Ife (Obafemi Awolowo University). I had my first degree at 20 years and I was doing my Master’s degree at 22 years. I was a graduate student in International Relations and my wife was a graduate student in History but she was taking some courses in International Relations. We had joint courses, and I kind of knew of her in class and we related from a distance but then on this fortuitous occasion, I was in the library and she was in the library and she needed a library card to borrow some books she wanted to use for an assignment, because she had forgotten her library card, and I came to her rescue and, as they say, the story developed from there…
“If you know my wife, you’ll know that she is very intelligent, quite attractive and pretty. We connected at an intellectual level first; I said we met in the library. For me, I cannot really connect to anyone if I can’t connect at that level. So, it can’t be the sheer beauty of a woman or attractiveness in the dressing or makeup or mannerism, it has to be something deeper, and I think that happened at the very first level.
“She is still very bright; you only need to listen to her to know that she is. That often gets me into trouble in politics, because when you’re a political leader, you are supposed to have a sedate, quiet wife who is only seen and not heard. I wasn’t fortunate to have that kind of wife and my people can be quite conservative, even though we are well-educated in Ekiti, some found my wife challenging… because she was very resolute in pursuing causes she believed in and she spoke loudly, she didn’t speak in whispers.”
Meanwhile, enjoy this love poetry video!
