62-year-old Salawa Abeni, Waka Queen unveils new husband

The 62-year-old grandmother and Waka music veteran, Salawa Abeni has unveiled her new husband, Rasheed Adahunse, the Comptroller and Commandant of the Customs Training College, after a four-year old secret relationship

Penpushing reports that the famous Nigerian singer made the revelation at his (Adahnse) birthday and retirement party held at Eko Club last Sunday, and used the opportunity to let out a secret she had kept for the past four years.

The Waka Queen, as Salawa is known in the music industry had Lateef Adepoju, owner of Leaders Records as her first husband whom she bore two children for, but in 1986 she ended her relationship with the record label’s owner.

Penpushing further reports that Salawa thereafter got married to Fuji maestro Alhaji Kollington Ayinla, popularly called Kebe Nkwara in 1986, also joined his (Ayinla) record label until 1994 when she parted ways with him

The singer was sighted singing praises of Adahunse, congratulating him on his birthday and retirement, and in the same vein, could not hide her joyous mood, as she delivered a speech at the party extolling Adahunse.

Penpushing also reports that in the course of the celebration Salawa revealed they are a couple, much to the surprise of guests, emphasizing that despite their initial perception of each other, love conquered all.

“I don’t have many words to utter; let me thank God; I will just say a bit about Alhaji Abdulrasheed Agbolade, my dearest husband. You are retired but not tired; I pray that as God joined us as husband and wife four years ago, you will live long and have abundance’, Salawa stated.

Penpushing reports that the female musician revealed how she met Adahunse, the Asiwaju Adinni of Ijebu Isiwo, explaining that she saw him then as a complete ‘English’ man, and he (Adahunse) saw her(Salawa) as musician, stressing that love conquered

‘I saw you then as a complete ‘English’ man; you saw me as a musician. But love conquered all. I have not chosen wrongly. From today, call me Abeni Idunu Ishola’, the famous Nigerian Waka Queen emphasised

Penpushing further reports that Salawa Abeni was born 5 May 1961, hails from Ijebu Waterside in Ogun State, and began her professional career in Waka Music when she released her debut album titled, ‘Late General Murtala Ramat Mohammed’, in 1976, on Leader Records.

The label became the first recording by a female artist in Yoruba songs to sell over a million copies in Nigeria, while it is recalled that during an interview in 2019, when asked if she would get married again, she explained that being divorced is not a sign of bad behaviour.

‘I was once married to Chief Kollington Ayinla, but we are no longer together. I don’t want to comment because the union produced wonderful children. Now, I am not married, but I have lovely kids’, she stated.

‘That a woman is successful in her career and still married is good. That’s a plus. On the other hand, it does not mean the woman who is divorced or single is of bad behaviour, she is not abnormal. It could be challenging, and such women should move on and stop seeing everyone as an enemy.”

Penpushing also reports that the late Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi in 1992, crowned Abeni as  ‘Queen of Waka Music’, an  an Islamic-influenced, traditional Yoruba music style popularised by Batile Alake; it is a much older genre than jùjú and fuji.

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