first fe­male SUG president at Obafemi Awolowo University, Olasubomi Iginla-Aina set to create world record

For Olasubomi Iginla-Aina, leadership and a consci­entious sense of char­ity are a credo. Today , she’s on her way to making history as she embarks on a project she hopes will put her in the Guinness Book of World Re­cords by sewing and launch­ing “the largest bag in the world” which she called “bag of hope”. Iginla, was President, Red Cross Society of Nigeria during her days at Lagos An­glican Girls Grammar School, Surulere and later became the first female student union government president of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife , Osun State. Her United Kingdom-based NGO, Ligh­tup Foundation, has resolved to visit some of the poorest na­tions of the world to assist the poor and down-trodden. She was in Nigeria on August 30 at her alma-mater, Lagos An­glican Girls Grammar School, Surulere where she unveiled the “bag of hope” which she hopes would promote happi­ness among the poorest chil­dren in the world and Sunday Sun had a chat with her.
Excerpts:
You have achieved a lot. Could you tell us how you were able to do all you’ve done?
Well, I grew up not having a mother and that increased my sense of urgency and sense of survival.
Being first fe­male SUG president at Obafemi Awolowo University surely impacted your life. Could you tell us about that?
Miraculously, I was num­ber 9th on the admission list and that was how I became a student of Architecture. I told my friends I would be the president of the Student’s Union Gov­ernment and they warned me “it’s not for women, apart from that, they will kill you because most of them are cult guys”. A lot of things could have discouraged me, but because I’m a Christian, by the grace of God, I started to fast. I fasted 21 days in Part one, 21 days in Part 2 and 21 days in Part 3 and when I was supposed to contest, something happened. The first thing I saw in one of the revelations God showed to me were two moons and I saw my surname, Iginla written between them.
Everybody knew me as “Shuby” in school and I was tempted to use “Shubby” but because in that revelation, Iginla was the name I was given, I needed to follow the instruction in-to-to to be able to win the election. Everybody had been showing off, that they wanted to contest and it was just 9 days to election when I heard clearly that it was a part I needed to play even though I didn’t feel too good about my academics. So, I had 9 days to prove to the entire uni­versity that I was around and that I could do it. I asked God the next thing to do be­cause I didn’t have any money. I remem­ber in Part one, while dreaming to become the SUG president, the vice president of SUG and other people that I worked with came to my house and addressed me as “my honorable president” and my siblings wondered if I was president already. They warned and reminded me to be careful be­cause I have no mother and “there is no one taking care of you.You don’t want to put yourself in a mess that nobody will be able to plead for you” adding “Omo ti ko ni iya kii degbo eyin” (A motherless child cannot afford to sustain a wound on the back ). I didn’t understand them because I believed I could do it and there had to be a change. My family knew this and anytime it was election season at the university, they de­liberately deprived me of funds . So, around that time, I told my friend, help me get mon­ey at home, I needed money for school. She got home and told them I was contesting and they did not give me money. Eventu­ally I did not get money for my feeding, so, there was no money for my campaign. So, I stood up and I made my first move. A lady came into my room and I said ‘please, just get me chalk’ and the N200 she had fetched us a pack of chalk and all through that night, myself and a friend of mine in architecture wrote I-g-i-n-l-a everywhere in Ife thinking nobody wakes up within the campus community of Ife that day that will not see Iginla, because I didn’t have money for posters. Even up to the toilets and the most hidden corners, there was no how you would not want to brush your teeth or take your bath and you must see Iginla on every toilet wall, we wrote Iginla everywhere and by the time the day broke everybody was asking “Who is Iginla?” because they didn’t see posters. Because of my economic chal­lenge, I told my friend, just write Iginla on A-4 papers and let’s make photo copies. We made a lot of photocopies and I put them on the trees in Ife, everything had Iginla on it. So, what was the next thing to do? You know I had to follow all instructions given to me by God Almighty because that was the strategy He gave me to win the election, I didn’t have money but I had God by my side. So, it became a divine assignment for me. There was a day, I was walking past Moremi Hall and I saw my opponents with computers writing their manifestos and I was intimidated.
I ran back into my room and said God, please, I am intimidated I want to win this election, what do I do now? God spoke to me and said “Arrange for two people to fight” . I have learnt to work with God to be successful and with due respect, I don’t mean to claim spiritual knowledge, but this is the secret of my success. So, by the time I got the instruction to organize two people to fight, I wondered who these two people would be. I went to Awo Hall and I spoke with one of my friends, Jimi who had a best friend, AIT. I said Jimi, I need two peo­ple to fight and he wondered why and I re­torted I just want you to fight so that we can create a scene and use that to campaign. He was like ‘what do we do?’ Okay maybe AIT and I will fight because we are best friends and everybody knew us in Ife.”
So, I said you guys will fight in front of that intimidating Moremi Hall and two of them went there to create a scene con­testing whether it should be me or not that should be the next students union presi­dent. Even my opponents that used com­puters shut down and all the people work­ing for them abandoned their activities and watched the two guys fight over Iginla saying ‘Oh, don’t fight’ and a lot said ‘Ah, Jimi, AIT edi ree’ (Jimi and AIT, this is some curse at work right in front of Moremi Hall why are you doing this?”. I just came up to that scene and campaigned. People were astonished and they clapped because they were astonished. So, we went to other halls and did same thing. God also told me to use a mascot, that we should get some­body to paint himself white and go round pointing to all the inscriptions of Iginla we wrote on all the tress in Ife and I didn’t have money to employ a mascot but there was a resounding “Who is Iginla?” everywhere and I went to Adekunle Fajuyi Hall and told them about my manifesto and there was this particular guy who did not inter­rupt my conversation and didn’t interfere in any way. My spirit kept going towards the guy. After talking to everybody, I was attracted to him, because he never made a comment, he was just drawing as he was in the arts department. So, I spoke to him that I needed a mascot. He promised to get me one by 9pm. By 9pm, he knocked at my door and said ‘I am your mascot’ and I told him I didn’t have money and he said ‘just go and get me a white fabric and get me paint’ and we did it.
When did you relocate abroad?
I actually started Lightup here as I was involved in a lot of charity projects but not directly with the Federal Government. I was just doing my own thing. That’s my ide­ology and I was able to use my funds to do a lot of things for people and by God’s grace my father was wealthy and bequeathed a lot to his 41 children. We are all million­aires.
Can you tell us about “the bag of hope”?
I was doing a course in Oxford when it occurred to me that we can actually raise funds with a “bag of hope”. That we could make the biggest bag in the world and call it “bag of hope”. I thought we could make it in Nigeria and divide it into parts, take it to different countries and get many young people involved in the project. This is the design of the bag (showing journalists). The lower side consists of a golden sequence with a black background with silver sides and white and all the heads (designed on the bag) consist of different colors repre­senting children from different countries and different backgrounds smiling. This means this “bag of hope” will shed light into the future of the innocent children and put smiles on their faces. So, every child that participates will get an award sticker from Light Up to say that they were among people who broke a world record. So, im­mediately, we contacted Guinness Book of World Records on what to do to succeed and they guided us .
Why were you eager to visit America again?
The reason is I represented Nigeria be­fore in the US and the American govern­ment invited me because they had read a lot about me in the papers, they have seen me on the TV and they appreciated so much my impact on children and women. They felt I should be able to represent my country. By the time I went to Washington, I knew the reason they had serious reserva­tions over my age because the secretary of Colombia represented Colombia, a presi­dential aspirant in Uganda represented Uganda. I saw the high and mighty and I decided to be quiet because I wanted to learn. But the few times I needed to talk, I talked sense. We went to nine states and we monitored the US election and did so many things. When we returned, my orientation changed and that was what focused my at­tention on the US until God changed that. I got to the UK and I met my husband, but I encountered a lot of frustration on my first visit to the UK. I came back with a nega­tive impression and resolved not to visit the UK again, but I realized that God has given me a direction, that UK was where I should go. When I went back, I realized it was the devil that wanted to distract me from my promised land because that was where my husband was. I got there and I met my husband.
What’s his name and how many children do you have?
His name is Dr. Olufemi Adebola Aina, a Consultant Psychiatrist and we have three children who are 8 years old, 6 years old and 3 years old respectively. We have a boy and two girls.
What were the signs that he was Mr. Right?
God spoke and spoke because I was into various relationships . I was known in Nigeria. So, everybody wanted to go out with me and I didn’t know who loved me. He pulled me out severally, because a lot of men came and said “I love you” be­cause God has given me grace. Eventually when my husband was about to come, he announced himself. Months before I met my husband, I received revelations that my husband was around. God gave me his name in one of the revelations. There was a day I was fasting and praying and in fact before he spoke to me, I knew what he was about to say and I said it and he wondered how I knew. God opened him up, so, there was nothing for him to hide. He told me everything about himself and everything he was involved in.
But after that experience, I was hav­ing my bath one morning and something told me that I should fast for three days. I got to the office and this guy (my hubby) had actually gotten my phone number and he called me and said ‘please, I want you to fast with me for three days’. And I just heard it when I was bathing that morning. But as he was speaking, the Holy Spirit was telling me that he was looking for a wife. Unknown to me, at that time, he had actu­ally told three other women in our church to fast with him and he had been saying to his God, that ‘Lord, with what you are tell­ing me to fast on, let the only one that is mine among them fast with me’. So, on the third day of the fasting, the first one walked into the church and he asked her ‘Did you fast?’ “Oh, I forgot”, she said, the second one said ‘I forgot’ and the third one gave another excuse. By the time I was entering into the church, he asked ‘did you fast’ and I said ‘yes’. And his countenance lightened and he said ‘can we go and break together?’ Today we are one and blessed with three lovely issues who are God’s gifts to the mar­riage.