Enitan celebrates 50 with book launch

Recently, Enitan Osibodu launched a book titled Enitan: The Stories Behind The Smile to mark her 50th birthday. The book centres on her experiences which she has chosen to share with the world so people could benefit. The former aid to Gbenga Daniels, a former stockbroker, is now Head of Facilities Management at Dangote Group.

According to Osibodu, “I knew I wanted to write about myself because of the experiences I went through and I still find myself standing here. I know after some people have had experiences they would find it difficult to move on. So, I decided to take notes down and it was flowing as I wrote, even though I didn’t have a title for the book.

“If you ask people who know me, they will tell you I am never unhappy, though sad things happen to me. I don’t know how to be sad. I’m too hyperactive, and so I’m always laughing. If it were fiction, I would use fictitious names, but that won’t do what I set out to do. So, what I put in the book are facts. Some things are controversial, and so I expressed them in an objective way; they are not my opinion”.

Continuing, she said, “Having gone through this much, if you have a discerning spirit, you will know that there is more between the lines. I thought of my name, ‘Enitan,’ which means ‘a person of story’ in Yoruba, and I began to investigate the reason why I was given that name. The Yoruba look at the circumstances surrounding a child’s birth and name them. Enitan, therefore, means there was a story surrounding my birth. My life has been a story. I have one saga after another following me. I never run short of things. So, I gave the book my name, which is good because there are lots of stories in the book though people never knew I was going through that much”.

On how it feels to be 50, Osibodu said, “50 years means a lot to me. I have had a pretty rough life. We were three girls in my family, and my older sister didn’t see 50. By the time she was 48 years, she was diagnosed with cancer and was told to get ready because she was going to die. I lived with that kind of experience. I was with her and we were counting down to her death.

“Ever since, I have been very mindful of my time. So, I know it is a privilege to be alive. For me, it’s like I’m living two lives, my sister’s and mine. When she died, she left her two kids, and I took them as mine.
I always remember that my sister wasn’t able to get here. So, I’am grateful. It feels great, and the fact that people think I’m younger than my age!”