Allure Vanguard 10 July 2016 Edition

R EP ORTAGE
Enitan Oshibodu
- Celebrating Life @ 50
By -Yemisi Suleiman
It is a sad irony that as life expectancy increases, growing old becomes less and less
desirable. However, this is not the case with Enitan Oshibodu who recently turned 50.
For her, turning 50 is something to be celebrated rather than dreaded, knowing that
she is quite lucky making it this far in life. And, to celebrate this milestone, she has put
down her life experiences in a book titled “Enitan - The Stories Behind the Smiles” with
50 shots of herself; each representing her fifty years on earth. She tells us her story.
Where did the 50 pictures idea come from?
The idea was to have a picture for a year. I
have been counting down since I was 45 years
old. Each anniversary of my birthday day, I take
pictures because people say I don’t look my
age and I can’t hear it enough. So, I decided to
make a mother picture; that was how I got into
the 50 shots for 50 years idea.
So, how does it feel to be 50?
It is awesome! We were three girls in my
family; my older sister didn’t see 50. By the
time she was 48, they told her to get ready
because she had cancer. So I live with that kind
of experience; because, I was with my sister
and we were counting down for her to die. Ever
since, I have been very mindful of my time. I
know it is a privilege to be alive. For me, it’s
like I am living two lives - my sister’s and mine.
When she died, she left her two kids who I took
as mine.
So, going to 50 years, I remember that my
sister wasn’t able to get there. So I am grateful.
It’s very great and for the fact that people think I
am younger than my age, it is a good time to let
people know I am 50 years old.
You wrote a book recently about your life
titled “Enitan”. What inspired it?
50 years means a lot to me. I have had
a pretty rough life and coming close to 50
years, I decided I wanted to do something;
to put something on record. I have worked
with important people and a lot of things have
happened to me. That was why I decided to use
the 50 pictures as a step up to another level. I
decided to take notes down and it was flowing
as I wrote. I didn’t have a title for the book when
I started. I just knew I wanted to write about
myself; who I am, my parents, background, why
I am who I am and how I got to where I am;
about the people that influenced me, helped
me around my journey and who have upset me
because I believe I have upset a lot of people
too.
I had to stop, at a point, to ask myself if I was
writing a fiction or real life (story) because, if I
was writing a fiction, I can pluck names (fake
names) but that won’t do what I wanted and I
have always been a bold person. So, what I
put in the book are facts; there are some things
that are controversial so I expressed them in
an objective way; not my opinion. I wrote even
the bad things and challenges that happened to
me because, everybody has his or her ups and
downs.
If you ask anybody that knows me, I have
never been unhappy or sad. Sad things happen
to me but I am not sad. I don’t know how to be
sad and I am too hyperactive so I am always
laughing and messing around. I thought to
myself, having gone through this, if you have a
discerning spirit, you will know that there is more
in between the lines.
My name is ENITAN. In Yoruba, it means ‘a
person of story’, which I am. There is a reason
why I was given that name. For Yorubas,
when they have children, they look at the
circumstances surrounding their birth and name
the children. When you are given the name
‘Enitan’, it means there was death surrounding
the child’s birth.
My life has been a story. I have one saga (or
another) following me; never run short of things
that happen to me. So, wondering what to call
my book, I gave it my name which is good
because there are lots of stories in the book
even though people never knew I was going
through all that.
They say women don’t want to age because
we live in a society where aging induces
fear of physical changes and limited
opportunities. Do you feel that way?
Recently, I was asking myself, now that I am
50 years old, do I want to slow down? Because
I was so focussed on 50 years, maybe because
of my sister, I couldn’t think of anything but 50
years.
All I want to do, I have certainly crossed the
bridge because I have raised all my children
so it’s going to be different ball game. No
more worries, no one makes demands on
me because two of them are graduates and
working. The third one is at University of Kent
and the baby is going to his first year A’levels.
So, I am free now. The answer to your question
is rather than worry about aging, I am looking
forward to doing something tangible with my
time. I want to even know when I will start aging.
Tell us a bit about yourself; where you grow
up, educational background and your job.
I grew up in Ibadan, practically lived my life
there. I studied Communication and Language
Arts at the University of Ibadan. After university,
I felt I had had enough of Ibadan so I carried my
stuff and off to Lagos! I did my NYSC at NTA.
I also did a short time at Daily Times. Those
were the days that people were ‘checking out’. I
also travelled out. I went to the United Kingdom
in 1990 and didn’t come back until I had my
kids. I relocated to Nigeria with my children in
2003. When I got back to Nigeria, I bumped into
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