A married woman with many friends may be eased out of her marriage – Feyikemi Niyi-Olayinka
By SAM AWOYINFA
Published: Sunday, 3 May 2009

Big and bold actress and broadcaster, Feyikemi Niyi-Olayinka, got her first movie role in 1997 in Tunde Kelani’s hit film, Ole Ku. Since then, she has not looked back. The University of Ibadan geography graduate and mother of two tells SAM AWOYINFA her story WHEN it comes to acting and broadcasting, Feyikemi Niyi-Olayinka ranks among the best in that terrain. Though she came into limelight with her role in Tunde Kelani‘s film, Ole Ku, in which she featured as one of the lead characters, the plump Ibadan, Oyo State-born Niyi-Olayinka tells you that she started as a freelance broadcaster before she later hit the limelight through acting.
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Feyikemi Niyi-Olayinka

”I would say that I am comfortable with both acting and broadcasting. Actually, I started as a broadcaster while I was an undergraduate in the University of Ibadan. I was on freelance with the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State, working as a newscaster, duty continuity announcer and presenter of programmes. I had equally done a few stage plays. But I hit limelight in 1997 when I featured in Tunde Kelani‘s film titled Ole Ku,” she says.

Ironically, the beefy artiste was a science student while in secondary school, and read geography in the university, but she knew early in life that she was sold to the arts. While her father was indifferent to her tilting towards the entertainment world as she grew into adulthood, her mother had her fears. But according to her, she was able to sway her mother to her side by being able to live above the scandals that pervade the two industries she has found herself.

”Even while I was freelancing with the because, I was making so much money. But I knew if I kept at it, my breakthrough would come one day. However, my mother never liked me being in the entertainment industry. She had her fears about the industry; she believed that it was for dropouts and other unserious characters. But my dad was indifferent. Thank God I was able to keep my head,” she stresses.

But remind her that she has not been featuring in movies of late and she has a robust defence. She had been on a nine month matrimonial course, and now she‘s back hot and smoking.

”I was pregnant, though in this condition, I featured in one or two movies. But at a point my husband had to ask me to stop acting because of my condition. He did not feel comfortable seeing me carrying a pregnancy around movie locations. But now I have been delivered of the baby, I am now ready for movie roles. I can‘t wait for the scripts to start rolling in,” she says.

Niyi-Olayinka says that though she works in the world of make believe, she has not allowed the limelight and fame which comes with it to becloud her sense of decency and decorum. And to this she notes that her upbringing has a lot to do with it. She explains that her parents are disciplinarians and they are not materialistic, and these are the virtues she has inherited from them.

”It has to do largely with my upbringing. My parents are disciplinarians and they taught their children to be content. I am not from a family that runs after material things. We cherish morals and good name. I am content with whatever I have, and I believe everything will fall in place at God‘s own time. I don‘t know why people lose their dignity in an attempt to belong to the reigning fad, which does not give happiness,” she states.

The voluptuous actress was part of the quartet who conceptualised a breakfast grass roots television programme called Owuro Lawa, on Lagos Television. She says the underlining philosophy behind the programme has to do with their love to preserve the Yoruba language and the need to disseminate information to the people at the grass roots.

While expatiating on this, she explains that the programme has really been an agent of change, because according to her, ”We discuss several topics on politics, health, and culture among others. And some of the viewers do call us at the end of the programme and tell us that we have really expanded their horizon on some national issues using their mother tongue.”

Niyi-Olayinka says that the passion and love for the job are the two things that drive her in her chosen career. She stresses that she is not super human.

She says, ”Are you sure I am a role model? All I would say is that it‘s not been easy making it to the top. Again, I am not a super human, I fall at times and I pick up and move on with life. I want to tell the youngsters that they should pray that whatever profession they choose to pursue in life, their spouses should be very supportive. That is the only way to build trust and achieve success. I pray they get married to understanding wives and husbands that will not listen to hearsay or gossip. This is because the world of arts is a world of gossip.”

Niyi-Olayinka believes in family values. She says, ”I strongly believe in parents regulating the number of children they should have. Because you need to have the number of children you can adequately cater for, in terms of giving them good education and lots of other benefits. If you bring the children you cannot cater for to this world, at the end of the day those children will curse such parents. Besides, I don‘t believe in gender discrimination. Some people end up with certain number of children today because they are desperate to have a particular sex. For me now, I have two girls, and I call them princesses. I love them and cherish them; I take them everywhere I go.”

She appeals to women to always give respect to their husbands, because God has made them the head of the family.

Listen to her, ”To have a successful marriage, a woman must respect her husband. She must carry him along in everything she‘s doing, as a partner in progress. Besides, she should minimise the number of friends she keeps. A married woman who keeps so many friends may soon be eased out of that marriage. Above all, she must be prayerful. She must stand in gap in prayers for the husband and the children.”

While talking about the challenges of marriage, she says ”one person can no longer take decisions by himself any longer,” and there is the need for men to carry the wives and children along. ”You know someone that is still single can just decide and say I am travelling to Ibadan and off he goes. But if you are married, you have to consider your spouse, and if you have children, you must consider them also,” says Niyi-Olayinka.

Niyi-Olayinka does not share the belief that women are weaker vessels, she argues that ”when you look at it critically, you‘ll discover that women are stronger, better and wiser in decision making. Women are more tolerant. But it is unfortunate that women are not being given fair share in government appointments. One can only see women in the ministry of women affairs, education, and health. I will like to see women in the ministries of works, finance, agriculture, environment, and even in Aso Rock.”

She tells SUNDAY PUNCH her philosophy of life, and that she says ”is to do to others as I want others to do to me.” She adds, ”Be good to all you come across in life. Pay evil with good. Again, I believe in the law of karma. Whatever you do comes back to you. It‘s like a boomerang.”

And what about her hobbies? ”I love to read a lot, from motivational books to autobiographies. I also read religious books. I make sure before I sleep everyday, I must read a chapter of a book. I have books in my toilet, in the bedroom, and the sitting room. In the car right now, I have two books, What a Country! by Kunle Ajibade and He Still Moves Stone by Max Lucado, that I am reading. My first daughter is also imbibing this trait,” she says.

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Listen to her, ”To have a successful marriage, a woman must respect her husband. She must carry him along in everything she‘s doing, as a partner in progress. Besides, she should minimise the number of friends she keeps. A married woman who keeps so many friends may soon be eased out of that marriage. Above all, she must be prayerful. She must stand in gap in prayers for the husband and the children.”

Na today? Your friend will be the next wife.

if i guess right, dat Feyikemi was d one who acted Asake in Oleku movie

Ok