Page 20 - LKM70

SPECIAL FEATURE
either. There were no Ubers at that time’ he said laughing.
That relationship didn’t last. That was not the love story he wanted to tell. Tony asked a friend to help him look for a good girlfriend. My friend was a doctor in Benin and knew
this girl with whom their families would spend summer holi- days together in London every year. She was a medical stu- dent at the University of Benin. ‘A few months after I asked him to help me, my office sent me to the stock exchange in Benin and I asked my friend to arrange dinner with this young girl.’ ‘This was the era without cellular phones. I had to send him a DHL to fix the dinner and I had to wait for him to respond via DHL’.
The news wasn’t good. The girl refused to have dinner with Tony. They had to find plan B. They decided to invite her with her friends so she wouldn’t feel alone. She came to dinner. ‘I met her and I was like Wow! This girl is hot!’ She gave him the cold shoulder immediately but that was enough to keep Tony going. ‘I just couldn’t stop thinking about her. We started to date. That was the first time I felt love. I couldn’t stop thinking about this girl and everything about her. She would call me from a pay phone for 2 minutes from Benin and then hang up whilst I longed for more’. He confesses that it was the first time he had ever felt such intense love. He married Dr Awele a couple of years later.
‘We got married and initially it was difficult to have children. I became almost a doctor and could tell a lot about pregnan- cies. The trimesters and other aspects of pregnancy. It was an interesting journey achieving pregnancy that crossed the first trimester. But I’m a long term person in everything. I always believe that in the long run things correct themselves. I was not bothered about it. Every stage was a struggle but I knew it would be alright in the end. When we were designing our first house in Ikoyi, we had no children, but we had rooms for the children that we would have in the future.’
Reminiscing on the birth of his first child, Tony recalls what he was doing when Oge was born. ‘I was on a two week training course at Harvard and Awele was in Philadelphia. It was during lent. The last day of lent, on good Friday, Oge arrived.’ “I was stressing so much during the birth and the doctors kept telling me to calm down. I was worried about Awele too. When you see a woman go through childbirth, your respect for them mul- tiplies and you understand why children respect their mothers so much.’ ‘I was so elated when I cut the umbilical cord. I was the first person to carry the baby’. ‘I wanted my first daughter to carry my initials. She is Tamara, Ogechukwu Elumelu. Her mother as a good catholic, also named her Marie’. Tony and Awele originally planned for two children, but today they have 7, Oge, Ogo, Nnnena, Ugo, Onyinye, Tony and Tobi. ‘Watching them run all over the place today is like heaven’ says Tony.
Tony Elumelu seems to have it all. It hasn’t always been the smoothest of rides but he has always risen above the tribulations and emerged stronger. I asked if he would do anything differ- ently if he turned back the clock 20 years. He paused for a few seconds and came up with nothing. He has very few friends because he is cautious about treachery. ‘Sometimes you don’t know who you are befriending. I hate unnecessary betrayal and lies. It makes me withdraw and my life becomes my work and my family. I believe strongly that the family place should be a peaceful unit.’
Tony dreams about good health and family happiness. ‘I want well brought up kids who will make their family and country proud and who will have hearts for humanity.’ He dreams about a prosperous Africa. As an Africapitalist and one with a heart for humanity, I want to see a respectable and well respected African continent. Not one that is pitied. My dream is for an Africa that restores our dignity and honour’. ‘The future of Africa is in the hands of the youths’ he says as the interview ends.
FAVOURITE FOOD:
Beans and plantain. The ability to buy plantain
was important to me at one stage. Today I wish I could control my eating habits better. When I’m in London,
I eat muesli all day and in America, Cinnamon and raisin bagels and omelettes.
BEACH OR MOUNTAIN:
Beach of course. But I want to climb the Kilimanjaro.
If I can close a deal I
have been working on since 2013, I will climb Mount Kilimanjaro this
year
WHAT IRRITATES HIM:
I hate office politics
and diplomacy. People
should not be campaigning
for popularity or populism at the work place. I don’t like to ask how things are and people say it’s okay when it really isn’t.
KAFTAN OR SUIT:
Suit 100 times over! I believe the reason most of our leaders have pot bellies is because kaftans are accommodating. And when you wear kaftans all the time, you don’t know your belly is growing until it’s too late. I measure myself with my suits. I don’t use scales. I have snug suit sessions. If I can’t button a jacket, I know I haven’t done well with weight loss.
WHY HE WEARS HIS HAIR SKIN:
Growing up, skin cut was in vogue but now I see young guys with afros and big beards. However, I am used to skin.
WHAT WOULD HIS PERFECT HOLIDAY LOOK LIKE:
One where I am with the family and they go out and leave me to sleep after a heavy breakfast! In the evening we have movie time or I take them shopping.
PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY:
Don’t stop something good going someone’s way so that nobody will stop what’s good coming your own way.
20 | The Lion King | Commemorative Edition | January - April 2019