Sunmbo: How I Met 2face, Had His Kids And Lost My First Marriage

I don’t want other girls to make my past mistakes –
Sunmbo Adeoye
You used to be a banker, why did you make the switch to
entrepreneurship?
Having worked in two banks for two years, it became
monotous and I wanted a better work-life balance. It got to
a point in my banking journey that I became really tired
and started thinking of something that I could do.
I realised that I had potential in me that I naturally churn
out by way of service but because I was working in a bank,
I did not pay so much attention to it. In 2008, I started
writing a business plan and I registered the company. I had
children already and I wanted more out of my time. I was
carrying a burden in my heart because I was making
money but I was not spending time with my children and I
did not even have enough time to serve God. I started to
seek God’s face and He told me to resign and go to serve
Pastor Adeoye.
I was struggling with the decision and in January of that
year, I just resigned and the following day which was a
Tuesday, I attended Success Summit in Church. I went to
meet pastor and told him I had resigned from my job
because God told me to go and understudy him. What we
had at that time was a father and daughter relationship
and his late wife was still alive at that time. I brought my
business plan to him and mama to review. Unknown to
me, God had gone ahead of me to also tell him to mentor
me. They introduced me to a lot of people who helped to
fine tune my business plan and I also attended the Lagos
Business School under the Goldman Sach’s scholarship.
Tell us a bit about your background?
I am the last child in a family of seven. My parents are
committed members of a Baptist Church. My parents were
choristers in church so I think that is where I got my gift of
singing from. As a teenager, I became a member of the
choir. As a youth, I became the coordinator of the youth
choir.I lived my life as an altar minister and I was
committed to kingdom service the whole of my life. Even
when I gained admission into Yaba College of Technology, I
still found my way to joining Original Love Choir , which is
the choir Midnight Crew came out from.
What is the focus of your foundation, Esob Heroes?
The fact that somebody helped me to access the Goldman
Sach’s scholarship helped my business to grow. I thought
that if God availed me this privilege, why don’t I extend a
hand of fellowship to other women and support
entrepreneurial ideas. I made up my mind to help improve
people through mentorship and advisory services. I also
started a movement whose focus is to ensure that the
future of the girl child is safe and secure. We have
supported, learned and unlearned people by empowering
them with work tools and cash gifts.
How did you handle the transition from being an
entrepreneur to being the wife of a general overseer?
Everything just fell into place. You can never be prepared
for becoming a mother until you are delivered of the child
and you begin to care for the child. When I was a mum and
a banker was a different phase from when I became a mum
and an entrepreneur. That was also a different phase from
when I became a wife, mother , entrepreneur and running
the NGO on the side. If it is God that has called me to do
all of these, He has equipped me before now. But I keep
learning and improving. I have mentors who are doing all
that I do better and I look up to them. My husband is my
number one mentor and Pastor Nomthi Odukoya is another
person I look up to. The Internet is big and you can learn
from people who you are not even friends with but are
connected to through the social media.
How would you describe meeting your husband?
It is so funny because he had always been my pastor. He
is someone I always went to for mentorship, so when he
came across as wanting to be my husband, I was a bit
scared. Even though I knew I was asking God for a husband,
a father, friend and mentor, I did not know it was my pastor
that was going to fit in because nobody was praying for his
wife to die. When he made his intentions known, I thought
maybe if I stayed away from church, he would forget about
me. I realised that whenever I stayed away from church, I
would lose my peace. I was a committed member of the
church as well as the praise team lead.
Then, I started praying and fasting. I began to ask God if it
was what He wanted for me. I knew my past and I told God
I was going to drop my tall, dark and handsome standard
for whatever He wanted for me.
How did he make his intentions known to you?
What we had was a father and daughter relationship. The
first thing I noticed was that people close to him were
coming closer to me and they would always invite me to
be in their midst. I think it was a strategy for them to
know me because people were saying a lot of things about
me. To so many people who did not know me, I was a club
girl and baby mama. I challenged God to rewrite my story
and He did because I was just a victim of circumstance.
This is me who used to sing in Ebenezer Obey’s church. I
was a spiritual daughter of one of his sons, Pastor Lanre
Obey. I used to lead praise sessions at Obasanjo’s chapel
at Ota, Ogun State. Even when I worked with
Intercontinental Bank Plc, I used to lead praise sessions. I
knew I had the call of God on my life but unfortunately, I fell
in love with someone and instead of me bringing the
person into the light, I was dragged into something I never
bargained for and I started having babies out of wedlock. I
was only a victim of my emotions.
Many will argue that having a second baby is not
circumstantial.
That happened because we were in a relationship. I met
Tuface when I was a student of Yaba College of
Technology. I had just lost my dad and my mum was
living in America. For someone who was a daddy’s girl, I
needed love. This was the only person that was showing
me love at that time. I feel I had that experience so that
other young girls would not make the same mistake. I was
24 when I fell pregnant the first time.
When I got pregnant the first time, I approached the pastor
of the church I was attending then and he brought me out
before the church and judged me. I was asked to go and
bring the father of my unborn child so we could be joined
together. I brought a different person and we got married at
the registry. Everything fell apart when I had a child who
looked nothing like him and my mum came back from
America to ask who gave my hand out in marriage
because she was not a part of it. I had to walk out of the
marriage which I arranged by myself. I moved back home
and by age 25 I was already a single mum and a divorcee.
There was so much shame and reproach.
It got to a point in my life that I felt that the Devil you
know is better than the angel you don’t know, so I went
back to my baby daddy and his mum talked me into living
with him so he won’t have more women and babies. We
lived together for three years and that was how the second
pregnancy happened.
It was not a bed of roses while I was there because I was
trying to put together what was not supposed to be. I think
we broke up in 2009 after I had the second baby. There
were other women who were also going to have babies for
him around that time. I came to my senses like the
prodigal son and I was so broken. I think my baby daddy
was out of the country that fateful day when I returned
from work and I packed all my things plus that of my
children, and I went back to my parents’ home.
How would you describe being married to your husband?
It is a privilege that comes with a lot of glory and
responsibilities. It also comes with a lot of glamour and
commitment. It comes with its own challenges and God
has equipped us to handle everything. This is not the
Sunmbo that got married to Pastor Adeoye three years
ago. I am a better person and I am now refined.
How do you relax?
I do a lot of reading in my spare time. I also play with my
children because I am grooming them so that they can be
very free around me. I also like to watch movies at the
cinema , listen to music and write.
What are your pet names for each other?
I call him baby all the time but sometimes I call him
pastor. He calls me baby or Desunmbo.