I never kept my third marriage secret – Salawa Abeni

Veteran musician Salawa Abeni has said she did not keep her third marriage a secret.

Salawa Abeni took many by surprise at an event last weekend, when mentioned that she had been married for four years.

At the event, which was the retirement and birthday ceremony of her third husband, Rasheed Adahunse, who was the Comptroller and Commandant of the Customs Training College, Salawa showered praises on him.

She had said, “I don’t have many words to utter other than to thank God. I will just say a bit about my dearest husband.

“You have retired but not tired, as God joined us together as husband and wife four years ago. I pray you will live long and have abundance.

“You saw me as a musician and I saw you then as a complete ‘English’ man, but love conquered all. I have not chosen wrongly.”

However, in a brief interview with Saturday Beats, she stated that she did not keep the marriage a secret.

She said: “The event was my husband’s retirement and birthday ceremony.

“Who did I keep it (news of the marriage) away from? The people who knew, knew. I have confirmed to you that I am married, and that’s what is important.”

Salawa’s first husband was the owner of Leaders Records Lateef Adepoju, with whom she bore two children.

She continued recording for the label until 1986 when she ended her relationship with Adepoju.

She married Kollington Ayinla and joined his record label, staying with him until 1994.

In 2020, a man blackmailed her with her ‘nude pictures’, asking her to pay him some money, in exchange for not making the pictures public. She eventually called the blackmailer’s bluff and released the pictures herself.

The blackmailer, who turned out to be a 19-year-old graduate, Olufowoke Emmanuel, was later arrested by the police.