By Christy Anyanwu
Erelu Abiola Dosunmu will clock 70 years in a couple of days. The delectable titled lady has been Erelu of Lagos for almost 44 years.
In this interview, which full version will be published later, she took time to address key issues regarding the state of the nation. We are serving you her favourites as an appetizer. Please read on…
Favourite food
It’s amala and ewedu and chicken stew and I have always loved it from childhood. My grandmother made it really beautiful and I still yearn for it till tomorrow. I love it but that does not mean I eat it everyday. I love a lot of continental foods. I love foods from South of France and I always like to recreate it myself. I tell my cook to recreate it. One of them is the casili, which are really beans in French.
It’s laced with good liver, all kinds of delicacies and when it’s made beautifully, it’s the most sumptuous dish. Then you have all kinds of salads with various interesting dressing that you don’t get in other places but South of France.
Perhaps, some of these South of France food are available in some Francophone African countries like Senegal (Dakar) and Ivory Coast (Abidjan)
Favourite weather
I love the winter. I never like to miss it. You’ll probably say it’s not African but I love it cold. I feel re-energized in winter when I can wear warm clothing and have my heater and still feel comfortable. My next best season is the rainy season. It’s cool, nice and green. Everything is beautiful. Flowers blossom. I don’t like hot weather at all.
Favourite music?
I cannot live without music. I think part of my wellbeing has to do with music because if anything ever affects me negatively, once I put on my music I just forget it. I love the rhythm of music and I love all kinds of music from Jazz to waltz to old school, sakara and highlife, I just love everything that’s rhythmic. Once it’s music, I sway to it.
I love dancing too. I would dance all night in those days and I think I still would dance if I still have the energy. I just love dancing.
It’s beautiful; it gives joy to my heart and to people around me.
When you laugh, sing and dance, it’s infectious.
Favourite book?
I used to read a lot but these days, I don’t read as much as I used to. I would read a novel daily in the past, especially when I used to travel a lot. I don’t care how long I stayed at the airport. I had my book and I’m reading it.
I met a fantastic, wonderful Nigerian professor, many years ago. I think we were stranded at the airport and I was oblivious of what was happening around me. I was reading my book and smiling to myself. The man came to me and said, “Wow you are an avid reader. I have been watching you; you don’t even care about what we are doing here. You are engrossed in your book.” And that’s the way I am. I just love reading. You learn a lot from reading and, of course, we never stop learning until we go into the grave. Whenever I read, I do it with excitement because I’m sure I’m going to learn something new.
Favourite holiday spot
I love to work hard and when I want to have a break, I go to some wonderful destination. I go to France, Monaco, and Greece and of course I love the Bahamas. I have celebrated a lot of my birthdays in the Bahamas. I have a brother there but I also love the place. It’s a lovely destination for holidays.
Favourite leader?
They might blame me of being a gender sensitive. Maybe because I lived in England at that time and I watched her come in at that time. I watched her perform and stayed on her trail till she died. I would easily say Margaret Thatcher. She was a fantastic woman. To me, aside the queen, of course she’s the next person that happened to Britain, because she took Britain out of the Third World syndrome, screaming and shouting and she didn’t give a damn but brought them out of that recession that was killing Britain.
For me, that was fantastic and I know her country appreciates her but we still have quite a sizeable number of them who still resent the fact that she was an iron lady.
They did not expect that from a woman. Even in death, they resent her but for me, she was an example of a truly committed and dedicated leader that loved her country.