For the ageless society matriarch, Mrs. Modupeola Adewemimo Oguntade, the estranged wife of former Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and retired eminent jurist, Justice George Adesola Oguntade, she never bargained for an array of emotions that she cycles through at the moment. Until recent months, the elderly powerful couple appeared happy together and many were taken aback when news of their difficult decision to separate hit the streets.
Multiple sources said after many months of family squabbles, back-biting and mutual distrust, the 17 year-old marriage of the retired Supreme Court Justice and his wife, Modupe, hit the rocks.
Things, it was gathered, fell apart for the celebrated couple shortly after they returned to Nigeria following the former envoy’s three-year stint in the United Kingdom as Nigeria’s High Commissioner. Modupe was allegedly sent packing from their Lekki, Lagos home on Thursday, October 15, 2020 after a serious altercation with her Octogenarian husband. And since that unfortunate split saga, it is little surprise that Modupe has been the focus of vilifying schemes. The first raft of stories cast her as the chief culprit of her husband’s misfortune —the loss of the honorary Ambassadorial position he has held since 2017. Although no reason was offered by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration for not reappointing Justice Oguntade as Nigeria’s High Commissioner, there was a great deal of accusatory fingering going around the media, the majority of which singled out alleged transgressions of Mrs. Modupe Oguntade. Her traducers insinuated that Modupe turned a new leaf when she accompanied her husband to the United Kingdom in 2017 where she allegedly engaged in many fabulous and several other unprintable tales. If the accusations levelled against Modupe haven’t endeared her to the same level of scorn and contempt enjoyed by the devil, they come really close. But there have been a series of great defences of her persona and conduct by those who experienced Modupe’s good work and charity while her husband held sway as Nigeria’s Number One citizen in the United Kingdom. During their stay in the Nigerian House in London, Modupe successfully combined her influential network and flair for hosting notable members of society with raising huge sums of money for various charitable causes. Sources said this woman does not pose any threat to those who are after her and hellbent on tarnishing her image. As a good woman, her reputation, good nature and immaculate lifestyle will continue to speak well of her, even in the face of hostilities confronting her from many quarters.
Spotlight gathered that though the woman presently struggles with feelings over the troubled relationship with her husband —after several attempts by the couple’s powerful friends to wade in failed— she has decided to move on with her life. Before it all went south, Modupe was one of the darlings of Lagos high society. There is no gainsaying that her relationship with the retired influential Jurist let her move in elite circles across the world. But since the split saga, Modupe has kept a low profile and is rarely seen in public —thanks, and no thanks, to the Coronavirus that has further shrunk the social space. Prior to meeting her influential husband, Modupe wasn’t a push over either but there’s no denying the fact that she started to taste a bit of that “gold standard” social success as Mrs. Oguntade. Though the terms of their split wasn’t made public, the amiable woman is obviously not lacking good things in life. She has however finally settled down to a new life in a palatial mansion of hers on the Island. Sources said Modupe, who now focuses on her business and grandchildren, remains that virtuous woman that carries herself with unequalled friendliness and goes about without offending anyone, irrespective of tribe, ethnicity or religion.
