Meet The First Child Of Prof. Wole Soyinka

His Name na Dr. Olaokun Wole Soyinka na him be the Honourable Commissioner of Health, Ogun State and was a Health Promotion Officer with WHO (2008-2011). A cardiologist, he was sworn in July 2011 by Governor Ibikunle  Amosun. Dr. Olaokun, is also an activist and NADECO member, is a split image of his dad, just that he’s a lot fairer (he also took his voice 99.9%). click to see more

Olaokun third person from left when he was in primary school

Olaokun mama Na a white British woman Barbara Skeath (a writer of English courses, Institute of Adult Studies, University College, Nairobi, Kenya, now late, died 2000s), She and prof wole soyinka met in Leeds.

Olaokun A Politician and an activist

 Dr Olaokun is married to Titilola Atinuke Alexandrah Shoneyin (Lola Shoneyin, a great writer and poet) with four children

When he was asked about his childhood as a son of Wole Soyinka see wetin he talk

"I guess it was an unusual situation because anybody who knows my father’s history, including his incarceration during the civil war, will know that he’s a father who would appear and disappear. You were never sure whether he was on an aeroplane, in a vehicle or in jail. Nevertheless, it was very interesting growing up with a dad like Wole Soyinka. I think one of the interesting things was that you’ll see many people coming to the house. Of course, when he was at home, there were lots of famous people, well-known people, public figures who came to see him. All these made growing up with him very interesting."

Did your father ever spank you for an offence committed?

He never beat me or any of my siblings. He has a scary look when he was angry, that was enough to warn the children not to misbehave. Instead of beating a child, he would punish you psychologically by either confining you to your room or he made us recite a line of words. I once struggled with my sister over a piece of toast. I had a knife with me and when I tried to bring it out of the toaster, the machine exploded. He punished me by making me recite the words, ‘I would not stick a knife into the toaster again,’ 1000 times. By the time I said it 100 times, I was tired and bored. That was a way to make us learn lesson.

Did he in anyway influence your being appointed as a commissioner in Ogun State?

He had no hands in it and it was a shock to him when he heard the news. I had no plan to serve in this administration but I was thinking of getting involved at some stage and that would mean coming back to the West. I was working in Abuja when I got the news that Governor Ibikunle Amosun had appointed me. But I think being Soyinka’s son would have erased all doubts about my readiness to put in my best.

What is your relationship with your father?

It is very good. He is not a conventional family man. He seems to spend more time in the air than on the ground. He is like the absent-minded professor. He forgets things like birthdays, things that are socially important to other people. You expect that somebody has a lot of things on their mind that they don’t have that same mind that would stray into the more mundane details that the rest of us focus on. It is easy enough to forgive him. So, it doesn’t affect the relationship. We are always happy to spend family time together with my brothers and sisters.

It is generally believed that your dad is a women’s man. How do you cope with him when your mum is late?

My father is not a women’s man in the sense that he had only ever had one wife at a time, though he has been married three times. I have not seen him behaving any differently from an average Nigerian man. Don’t forget he is a celebrity, so women will follow him all over the place. And of course, people love to spread rumours about well-known people. So, you can imagine somebody runs up to him and says ‘Can I take a photograph with you?’ and the next thing rumours are being spread round that the two are having something together.