By Musbau Rasak
She is a woman of grace, a woman of substance, a woman whose life is synonymous with setting records of achievements. Yet, she is the one who can just be lost in the crowd. She does not raise shoulders. She is very humble. Sometimes, you would have passed her before you know who she is. She is even of the royal blood. She is a Princess of the Egbeda and Idimu Royal Kingdoms.
Princess Victoria Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire is a woman of substance, yet she carries herself in the most dignified, humble manner.
She is called Mama Alimoso not just because she is from Alimoso, for all her political life, Adejoke’s trajectory has always been to transform the lives of anyone who comes across her and making the society a better living place for people.
Being raised from the famous Orelope political family is a solid foundation. Being a committed and loyal progressive is a positive feature which has endeared her to those who have met her, her humility, perseverance and diligence are special features of a woman who has lived and continues to live a life of service.
Orelope-Adefulire is gentle but firm, a mother hen who covers and shields her children from dangerous hawks but always ready to discipline and call to order when anyone misbehaves.
Her life is synonymous with record-setting and milestone achievements.
When she was elected into the Lagos State House of Assembly to represent Alimoso State Constituency in 1991, she alongside with the Agege representative, became the first woman legislator at the state level ever in the history of the most populous, richest and most sophisticated state in Nigeria.
In 2003, when she was appointed Commissioner by then Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, she made history again as the first former female lawmaker in the state House of Assembly to become a Commissioner.
In 2011, when she was elected the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, another history beckoned at the graceful ‘Awori Girl’. No member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, either former or serving, male or female has attained the position of the Number Two man in the state. Adejoke clinched it and served meritoriously, one of the highlights being steering the state a successful hosting of the National Sports Festival in 2012.
In 2016, when she was appointed the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SSAP-SDGs) and was re-appointed in 2019, she made history again, becoming the first person to hold the office twice, she extended that record when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu re-appointed into the same office.
In October 2022, Orelope-Adefulire was conferred with the national honour of the Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) which made her alongside with Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola as the first former Lagos Assembly members to be so honoured.
To cap it all, the Charming Princess is also a Guinness World Record holder. She holds the record for the most children reading aloud with an adult at a single location which she achieved while reading with 4,222 school children in 2011.
Hers has been a life of service, a life of milestones, a life of setting records.
Happy 65th birthday to our Princess Charming, happy birthday Victoria Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire
