Born
to the prominent Adediran family in Lagos, Princess Adunni Adediran has always
had a soft spot for the less privileged in society. The s uccessful
businesswoman, mother and philanthropist just a few months shy of her 70th
birthday met a lot of brick walls over the years after she launched a
non-governmental organization (ngo) celebrating chastity before marriage which
she called Nigerian Virgin Girls; and has had to rest the program for some
years.
This
year, by “popular demand”, she is revisiting the annual celebration which would
culminate in the Miss Virginity Pageant. Speaking to Vanguard, she shares her
journey. Excerpt
How did
celebrating virgins come about?
Princess
Adediran
At a
point, I started thinking of our old people in this country, so I published
‘Fragile Fit’, a magazine that was dealing with weak limbs of the elderly.
Alhaji Lateef Jakande loved it and said the publication was even over due. As I
was doing that, I dreamt 11 times where I organised ‘Recognising and
encouraging the virgins in Nigeria’. That is how I started the project in 2007.
Why has
there not been consistency in organising the annual event?
I spoke
to the who-is-who in this country for sponsorship such Princess Erelu Dosunmu,
Late Ambassador Segun Olusola and many others. A lot of them indicated their
interest to help but we did not get sponsors except for the owner of Emily
Millionaire cosmetics, Joe Brown, who was giving us cosmetics.
Rado was
giving us wrist watches to distribute to the virgins. The one that really
touched me was the help we got from the former Arch Bishop of Lagos, Diocese,
Olubumni Okogie (rtrd). I am glad he appreciated that we are doing something
good.
We wrote
a letter to the Lagos State Government but didn’t receive a reply but they gave
us the Banquet Hall where the event took place. Financially, an important
personality in the Lagos State Government gave us N250,000 in 2009. We would
also like to collaborate with NACA. This project is supposed to be a collective
responsibility of every Nigerian.
In spite
of the challenges we are facing in organising the annual celebration, a lot of
virgins came from Enugu, Aba, Delta, Onitsha, Port Harcourt, Lagos, Kaduna,
Kano and Abuja. I even sold my house in Ikorodu, Lagos to host and encourage
virgins. We also got threatening phone calls from some highly placed men in
society threatening to kill me if I did not stop celebrating virgins. They said
I am disturbing their fun.
So what
changed your mind?
For
years, I was walking like a living corpse because I could not continue to host
the annual event for virgins. It is unfortunate.
To see a
virgin in the modern day Nigeria is not common. How do you ascertain their
virginity?
A
gynaecologist, Dr. Naheem-Deen Ekemode, who has practised for more than 40
years, was doing that for us. Within a second, he will know whether someone is
a virgin or not but some parents started frowning about it.
But are
there still virgins amongst ladies of marriageable age?
I have
virgins even in my home. My own daughter got married as a virgin at 29. There
are many virgins in this country but they are shy to come out because their
wayward friends mock at them. They call them fools because they want to spoil
their lives before marriage and there is nothing more interesting and good one
would be proud of than keeping one’s virginity. In fact, God loves it because I
heard the voice several times, urging me to go and encourage virgins and I will
not stop it till my demise.
Most men
complain that marrying a virgin gives them concern. To them, it is like
relating with somebody who cannot satisfy them sexually.
They are
saying it because they are in doubt of the authenticity of our claim that there
are still virgins. They know that if they marry a virgin, they have assurance
that they are marrying somebody who has not tampered with her womb or who has
not contracted sexually transmitted diseases. You cannot compare used engine
with a brand new one. Men are not realistic. All these they are talking that it
is difficult to get virgins is not true. Some men will use these girls,
de-flower some of them and at the end of the day, they will jilt them and run
after another girl.
We are in
year of 21st Century with internet associated sexual activities. How do we
check that?
Our
business is to encourage virginity, to wake up parents and tell them to make a
change in life of a girl in their hands. It is like Sodom and Gomorrah. Men
will do it and go free, although some of them will contract virgins and won’t
be able to impregnate their wife. Men too should remain virgins till they
marry. In pre-marital sex, men will waste important children including
presidents in their body before getting married.
What do
you teach these girls?
How to
keep away from the prying eyes of their uncles, teachers, lecturers and
friends. We will teach them how to minimise going to places where they will put
something in their drink and rape them.
But how
long can one remain a virgin?
It is not
good to remain a virgin till above 30 years. When you are in your 20s, pray and
ask God to give you a husband. Don’t go in the late hours. I have a 21-year-old
virgin living with me. I always advise her to keep her virginity.
Have you
ever been challenged because of this project?
I have
got a lot of embarrassing questions and comments but I am not perturbed.
Some
people sent me text messages and some of them called me and said that I am
crazy. One of them said, “Why are you blocking us from enjoying the virgins God
made available for us?”
What are
the criteria for winning the first prize at the Miss Virginity Contest?
The
intellectual prowess, legs, faces and carriage are parts of the criteria. We
are more interested in the beauty from inside so we want to know how
intelligent they are.
What
advice do you have for ladies in Nigeria?
If you
are a virgin, remain so until you are married. If you are not, put a stop to
having sex till you get married. If you have been cheated by an opposite sex,
take heart.
We want
to catch them young and make sure that some sexually transmitted diseases are
reduced to the barest minimum in Nigeria. They are doing it in Ghana, South
Africa, Japan and so on.
I want
Nigerians to come together and help curb sex before marriage to save our
future.
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