Asake’s Mother Narrates How Singer Chose to Study at OAU Ife Over Travelling to the United Kingdom

Asake's mother has revealed that she had arranged to send the award-winning singer to the United Kingdom before he insisted on enrolling at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Osun State.

Speaking on Korty EO's YouTube podcast, his mother, whose name Asake has adopted as his stage name, described gathering funds and obtaining an international passport for her son before he changed course entirely.

"Because he was stubborn, I decided to gather money here and there and told him to go to the UK. I had gotten his international passport," she said. "So I was in my shop one day when he stormed in saying, 'Iya Ahmed, they asked me to go to school, I want to go to school'."

She said she was initially resistant to the idea, having expected him to continue his education abroad. It was a family acquaintance, the popular Yoruba movie industry actor Muyideen Oladapo, AKA Lala, who was a student at OAU at the time, who eventually persuaded her and facilitated Asake's admission to the institution. "I said, can you handle him? Because I won't be able to handle him," she told Korty.

Asake, born Ahmed Ololade, went on to study Performing Arts at OAU. He has since credited the university with shaping his artistry, saying that while God gave him a natural gift, school enhanced it.

The singer's attachment to the institution was evident in December last year, when he returned to the Ile-Ife campus for a visit received by Vice-Chancellor Professor Simeon Bamire and senior officials, including Dr Oluwatoyin Ogundeji of the Theatre Arts department, where his creative journey began. 

At the OAU Amphitheatre, he performed for a large crowd of students, drumming and offering a traditional Yoruba prostration that drew loud cheers across the venue. His mother accompanied him on the visit.

Asake is currently one of Nigeria's biggest music exports, with a string of critically acclaimed projects and sold-out international shows to his name. His mother's account adds a personal dimension to a career that, by his own admission, almost took a very different path.

On the podcast, Asake also spoke about the meaning behind his nickname Giran, which translates to stubborn in Yoruba, and expressed equal love for both his parents despite his mother and father not currently being together.

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