IBUKUN AWOSIKA, celebrating an icon at 60

When you have consistently lived a life of influence and positive impact on several lives, it comes without a doubt, that when you turn 60, there would be several celebrations in honour of you. Such was the case for the first female chairman of First Bank of Nigeria in the history of the bank in 126 years. She is also the Founder and CEO of The Chair Centre Group and member of the global advisory board of Binance, the truly inspiring and graceful Ibukun Awosika.

I was at her celebration service, and it was a beautiful one. The dress code was glamorous in fuchsia, turquoise or yellow and the venue was at her place of worship, Fountain of Life Church at Ilupeju, Lagos.

From the opening prayers to praise and worship, to hymns and bible readings by her sons, Olamiposi Awosika, Olufusika Awosika and testimonies on their mother led by Oludola Awosika, it was indeed a beautiful and insightful day. Ministration of songs by the award winning and seasoned worship minister, Nathaniel Bassey was soul lifting. Others included Tolu Odukoya-Ijogun, The Fountain of Life Church Choir, Gbenga Akinfenwa and Elijah Daniel.

During his speech, her first born, Oludola, certainly had us laughing at different points. It was truly heart stirring watching him share on behalf of his siblings, about his mother and the impact she has on them, and what they have benefited simply being her sons. He shared on how his mother allowed them to be what and who they chose to be, knowing that the most important thing was that they did not do anything that wouldn’t make her proud of them.

It was time for the celebrant to share her story and she had our attention for the few minutes she spoke. She took us down memory lane and shared her journey through life with us.

When her mum died at 58, it shifted her mind in a way. She didn’t know how that affected her until she got close to her 60th birthday and realised she had passed the age her mother died. “I am so grateful to God when I think about the journey of my life. The mercy of God, His grace, I don’t ask before I find, I don’t seek but God seems to make me sought out. I don’t knock, but He opens the door. He wakes people up in the middle of the night in places I have never been to, to find me where I am, and I can truly say without any doubt, that but for the grace and mercy of God, I have no story or testimony without God. I am truly the evidence of the power of God and His love.” Ibukun stated.

Ibukun would tell her friends “aditu ni oro aiye mi” in yoruba language which she translates and adds “my life is a mystery that only God understands. I have come to accept that all I need to do is to follow Him, and once I fully yielded and submitted to Him, because He knows the journey, I am willing to trust Him.” Ibukun shared.

She further narrated how sometimes, her life seems unexplainable, and affirmed it to be so but acknowledges she is just a Jesus follower. “I am just a Jesus follower and that is the truth. I don’t try to make my way God makes my way for me.”

Awosika recalls her youngest son asking her what she was going to do next, to which she responded, “I have realised that God somehow always sets my life up and makes it work.”

She reminisced about her life through the years. Her parents left her when she was a few months old with her grandmother. Her father had gone to England before she was born, her mother was pregnant with her and after he had gone, she was born and her mother wanted to join her husband, but she couldn’t go with her, so they asked her grandmother to take care of her “I am a child of the elderly. My friends say that is why I act old.” Awosika stated.

Her grandmother raised her until her parents came back, but the early years of her life she was very sickly, but she survived it. She went to nursery boarding school at age four because her parents didn’t just want her to be a child that grew up in their family house in Ibadan. She revealed that her friends say it is why she seems so very independent. She however admitted that through it all, God looked out for her through every stage.

“Secondary school had its own, but God went with me even though I hadn’t known Him yet. I enjoyed my journey through secondary school and made long lasting friends. Some of them are here today. God made me loved and gave me talents that made me popular in ways I couldn’t imagine. In secondary school, I could run so fast they called me ‘rabbit’”

Ibukun was a good debater, and she says God was building her up because today, she can preach, and I add, teach too. Then she got to the university, and though she had her struggles, she said she told her dad she knew she was smarter than some of her friends but didn’t understand why things weren’t exactly working out for her at that time. Her dad encouraged her to stay. She finished and went for NYSC and ultimately, she found her business direction where she started from, not knowing it was a way to finetune her skills and to train her in discipline, dedication, and many ways on things to come.

Through her journey, she remembers her sister said to her “Why do you always make things difficult for yourself? Why must you choose the hard way?” Ibukun would laugh but she remembers one day, after getting a major appointment, her sister came to her and said “I used to say you do too much, why do you always choose the difficult way? But now I see that what other people got was probably just money ahead of you, but what you did was to build consistently and to get the things and opportunities the Lord laid before you, but most importantly, He has blessed you with substance.”

Ibukun Awosika got married on her 28th birthday but before then, she remembers someone saying to her, “You are such an ambitious driven woman, you will intimidate most young men your age, I think you are going to marry an elderly person”. She did not care, as long as whoever it was, was the person the Lord had chosen for her, and she would get to do the things that are laid in her heart.

“Then the person told me he had a friend who was married and would love to marry me, and I said I am no one’s second wife, and I can never be. Somewhere in this world, my own husband is waiting for me, and I will meet him. I met him and I have been married to him for 32 years, and he has been a great blessing in my life. From that union, I have three fruits of men and they have been blessings in my life.” she narrated.

To her sons and husband, she said “I am glad to be your only girl, I enjoy the attention of being the only girl amongst you. To my husband, I just want you to know, I love you Abiodun Awosika. I am grateful for you, for your love, encouragement and support. I am grateful that in every way, you allowed me the space to fly.”

Prior to her testimony, we had a session called the celebrant’s worship led by Elijah Daniel and several songs she loves were sang to give praise to God, mostly in yoruba language, one which translates as “My today is speaking, thank You Lord, my yesterday is speaking, thank You Lord, my tomorrow shall speak, thank You Lord, God the depth of the deep, thank You Lord” then another which translates as “Thank You God, thanks for taking care of me, I am grateful” and the third one which translates as “I am the only one who understands, no one can comprehend the reason why I am praising God, I am the only one who understands”.

After her testimony, it was time for the message and it was preached by the lead Pastor, Taiwo Odukoya. We loved how he requested the celebrant and her husband to dance as the choir sang one of her favourite songs, in pidgin English, composed by another amazing worship singer, Mercy Chinwo, and so the music filled the air “I serve a living God o, even the devil knows say na true o…I serve a living God o, everybody knows say na You dey reign o”. They danced and were joined by family, friends and loved ones.

Pastor Taiwo, as he commenced the message titled “Aditu ni oro mi” which translates to mean “My life is a mystery” took us down memory lane on how Ibukun was a founding member of the church, how she has been a positive impact in the church, his closeness with her husband and all that Ibukun stands for. I love when he said to her “We are your family. This house is standing behind you”. Emphasising on the need for men to support their wives, he said “If you don’t empower or encourage your wife, you are a loser. The higher they go, the higher you go. The stronger they become, the higher you become.”

After this, the Awosikas were prayed for, then the Hallelujah chorus filled the air, after which Oludola came back to give the vote of thanks and then we sang the closing hymn.

Indeed, Pastor Kunle Osunkunle did an amazing job as the emcee of the day.

Pictures! Pictures!! Pictures!! Everyone having their moment with the celebrant and rejoicing with her. It was also time for people to catch up with their friends.

Of course, there was ‘Item 7’, beautifully packaged and given to guests with other yummy gifts that came with it in another package.

A beautiful day worth spending with an icon worthy of all the accolades she has been receiving.

Here is to many more years in peace, love and sound health.

We love you Ibukun Awosika!!!!