On Saturday, businesswoman, socialite and traditional aristocrat, Erelu Abiola Dosunmu the Erelu IV of Lagos, feted the creme of society to a grand 2-
On Saturday, businesswoman, socialite and traditional aristocrat, Erelu Abiola Dosunmu the Erelu IV of Lagos, feted the creme of society to a grand 2-in-1 celebration.
It was her 75th birthday party as well as her coronation as the Yeye Oba Odua, that is, the Queen Mother of the House of Oduduwa.
The title was bestowed on her by His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II.
Over 30 monarchs, regents and royal blue bloods left their enclaves to celebrate with Erelu Dosunmu in Lagos.
Present at the ceremony to felicitate with her were former president Olusegun Obasanjo; the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo; former Minister of industries, Chief Mrs Nike Akande; first ladies of Ekiti, Kwara States, Erelu Bisi Fayemi and Folake Abdulrazaq; All Progressives Congress gubernatorial candidate and co-founder Sahara Energy, Tonye Cole; former Ogun State governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel; General Overseer of Covenant Harvest Church, Pastor Dotun Ojelabi; CEO of House of Oduduwa Foundation and Senior Special Adviser Economic Council of The Ooni of Ife, Jide Fadairo etc.
Looking ageless without an obvious sign of a wrinkle, Erelu Abiola dazzled her guests as she exuded grace and strength all through the duration of the party.
On hand to entertain guests was King Sunny Ade who sent guests into a frenzy with songs from his repertoire.
As the Yeye Oba Odua, Erelu Dosunmu has now stepped into the shoes of late Chief Mrs Hannah Dideolu Awolowo, the late Yeye Oba of Ife and wife of the first Premier of the defunct Western Region, late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
According to the Ooni, she was chosen because she has proved herself to be an outstanding woman of integrity and far-reaching influence.
When she was just 26 years-old, Dosunmu was crowned as the Erelu Kuti of Lagos by late Oba Adeyinka Oyekan, the traditional ruler of Lagos State who was her uncle.
Erelu Dosunmu also holds other traditional titles and honorary titles. She holds a national honor of the Royal Kingdom in Belgium and she is also an Erelu of Egbaland, a title she earned as a result of her maternal grandmother being an Iyalode of the Owu Egba. This perhaps explains why Obasanjo was a special guest of honour at the ceremony.
Erelu Dosunmu was married to Major Adekunle Elegbede. He passed on in the early 70s, prompting her to marry late Chief Antonio Deinde Fernandez. The marriage lasted for 15 years before it collapsed.
It however produced a daughter, Antoinette Oyinkansola Fernandez, who is a London-based writer and filmmaker.
The suppsed second child she had for Fernandez isn’t recognised as Fernandez’s as she refused to subject the child to a DNA test as requested by her inlaws.
Years after the marriage ended, Fernandez denied he was ever married to the Erelu despite the wedding being very well publicized and having taken place at the palace of Oba Oyekan. The duo engaged in a public spat with Fernandez formally ordering her to stop using his surname.
The Erelu also birthed a child with the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade with whom she was in a relationship with, but the child died at birth.
