Bolton was born in 1954 by a British young lady to a Nigerian young man, who travelled to England for studies. He was conceived out of wedlock by the white mum, who was 19 years old at the time. The mum’s parents rejected the dad, for being a black man and for putting their daughter in the family way out of wedlock. They cut off the relationship between them and took the baby to an orphanage soon after he was born.
The baby grew up without knowing his parents and at adulthood when he began to ask questions, his mother told him she did not wish to see him again and would not help him locate his father.
After searching for 29 years without any headway, he reached out to PUNCH Newspapers and investigation helped to unravel his father’s identity in three days.
The story established Bolton’s father’s identity as Olufemi Odeinde, a successful architect, who died after an accident in 1981. It also revealed that on returning from England to Nigeria, Odeinde married Tinuade, the first indigenous librarian at the University of Ibadan, and they had two children, Oluyemi and Oyinkansola. Oluyemi, an architect like his father, died in 2021 at the age of 60. Oyinkansola, it was found, lives in Italy.
Dear Oladimeji,
Read a story you published in your paper on the 12th (of) March 2022. It is exactly like the story a friend told me about his dad and the lady his father impregnated in England while schooling.
I have pictures of my friend, Mr Muyiwa Odeinde, his dad, Arch Olufemi Odeinde, and his mum, Comfort Iyabo Odeinde. His dad’s obituary is also attached.
His mum, Mrs. Comfort Iyabo Odeinde, lives at Bodija, Ibadan.
His brother and sister are (1) Oluyemi Babajide Odeinde (2) Oyinkansola Odeinde
Ramatu’s mail indicating that besides Oluyemi and Oyinkansola, Odeinde had another child named Olumuyiwa, should have surprised me, but it did not. Back in 2022 while investigating to unravel the identity of Bolton’s father, Olumuyiwa’s name had popped up vaguely. It was mentioned in passing by one of the several persons I interviewed. The person hinted that the late Odeinde had another wife besides Oluyemi and Oyinkansola’s mother. I might have explored and introduced Olumuyiwa in a planned follow-up story but I did not have a sufficient lead. Bolton, who was searching for his Nigerian roots, told me he was happy enough to finally discover, through my investigation, that his father was the late Odeinde, a man from Ikorodu in Lagos State. Now that he knew, Bolton should approach his family in Nigeria and unite with them as he had long desired, but he told me he did not feel confident enough to make the first move. He said he was hoping that his Nigerian family, who was now aware of his existence through my story, would reach out to him first, to guarantee him he was welcome into the family. But nothing happened.
About two years later, I asked Bolton again if he and his Nigerian family had finally met but he replied: “No, unfortunately, there has been no contact from my Nigerian family, but at least I am pleased to be aware of them.”
I encouraged him to begin by mailing Oyinkansola, his surviving half-sister, who lives in Italy, but he would not. He did not want to present as an intruder. He needed the assurance that his Nigerian family wanted to meet him as much as he wanted to meet them.
I recall that in 2022 Bolton’s wife, Jane, had told me: “I hope they will view him (Bolton) as a welcome addition to the family.”
Then on May 13, 2024, Ramatu’s mail came out of the blue. Attached were four portrait photographs of the late Architect Olufemi Odeinde; his obituary and funeral programme were kept from 1981. At the bottom of the obituary were listed the names of his children – Olumuyiwa Odeinde appearing as the third and last child, behind Oluyemi Odeinde and Oyinkansola Odeinde.
Ramatu copied my editor, Mr Dayo Oketola, her mail, which came in just when the frenetic newsroom activities were gathering momentum on that Monday afternoon. The editor needed my attention and summoned me on the intercom to his office. After he discussed what he wanted me for, I then brought up Ramatu’s mail. He said he saw the mail but had not opened it. When I told him what the mail was about, it sparked his interest. After we both examined the mail and the attached photographs and documents, my editor quipped that the lead for the concluding story had finally come and he gave directions on how to proceed.
On the same day, I forwarded Ramatu’s mail to Bolton in the UK, to let him know about his other half-brother, Olumuyiwa. On the morning of the day after, I dialed Olumuyiwa’s mobile line, which Ramatu dropped. He picked on the first ring. He sounded very warm and courteous. When I mentioned my name, he became even warmer and confirmed that I was indeed speaking with Olumuyiwa Odeinde. He sounded so youthful, not anything near his age – 57.
He immediately explained to me why it was Ramatu and not him who mailed me.
Olumuyiwa was planning to mark his late father’s 43rd remembrance on June 1, 2024, and Ramatu, his friend, insisted that uniting with his half-brother, Bolton, would be a great way to honour the dad’s memory. The idea, he said, made sense because he recalled that while he was 14 years old, his late father had mentioned to him that he fathered a child in the UK while he was a student and regretted that he was denied the opportunity of seeing or taking the child.
“He mentioned it to me before. So, now that it’s happening in my lifetime, don’t I owe him that thing to say, ‘Okay, Mr. Paul, yes, indeed, he’s your dad? He was your dad; be at peace with yourself. You have a family somewhere. Be at peace’. In the man’s memory,” Olumuyiwa said.
In late 2023, Bolton survived a stroke. While he has recovered considerably well, he is not fully back to his old self, so Jane does most of the talking.
She opened up an unexpected chapter in the family saga when she mentioned that besides Bolton, another Briton, believed to have also been fathered by the late Odeinde, had been found in the UK through Ancestry DNA.
The man’s name is Tony. He is 68 years old. He bears a striking resemblance to Bolton and their stories are remarkably similar.
Tony was born in the 1950s in the same Hull city where Bolton was born. He was born by a young white woman to an African man strongly believed to be Odeinde. Like Bolton, Tony was given up by his mother after birth and was adopted by a white family named Tong. He has never met his biological parents either.
Jane narrated: “Around the time that we were finding out about the family in Nigeria, my daughter, just out of interest, went for an Ancestry DNA test, which can tell whether you’re 40% African, 20% French, whatever and it can be used to help match you up with people you might be related to.
“Around the same time, another young woman in the North of England, in Hull had done the same thing for her father. So, when Paul’s information came through, within a day or so, he got a message through Ancestry DNA, saying, ‘I think you could be my dad’s half-brother’ because the DNA was showing a sibling match.
“We were a bit confused at first, but we can confirm that you have another half-brother in England named Tony, who is two years younger than Paul.”
Jane said if there were any doubts, such were erased when Bolton and Tony finally met.
She said, “We arranged to meet and immediately I saw Tony, I saw Paul in him and his daughter, Jenny, could be one of my children. She looks like our children.
“I imagine that your father had no idea; he might have had a relationship… but the DNA was quite definitive. So, I am saying you’ve got not just one half-brother but two!”
According to Jane, Tony’s mother, is it believed, was much younger than Odeinde and she wasn’t a fellow student. “Tony believes his mother is still alive and living in the same city, Hull,” she said.
With a bemused smile, Porter, who was with Olumuyiwa at the meeting, remarked “The Odeinde men are known to be quite prolific when it comes to women’s affairs.”
Olumuyiwa did not flinch at the revelation, rather he said, “Nothing is new under the sun.”
For him, the more, the merrier.
“Let’s just sort it all out once and for all. If my dad were to be alive, I believe this is what he would have done, to bring everyone together. He’s an African man.”
I’ve never been to Nigeria,” he said. “I remember one company I was working with and they had a new project that was going to be in Nigeria. This was a long time ago. And they were looking for people that would go to work in Nigeria and I said, ‘I’ll go! I’d go!’ But I wasn’t qualified enough at that time.”
Jane added that their children have always been eager to visit Nigeria. She told Olumuyiwa, “When we told our daughter we would be meeting you today, the first question she asked was, ‘When are we going to Nigeria?’”
She expressed optimism that a visit to Nigeria for a physical union may be about happening finally.
“I’m sure it will happen at some point,” she said.
Before that, however, their first daughter, Kalila, who is 30, will be getting married in London in August, and they would be pleased to have some Odeinde family members around.
Summing up the significance of this meeting, Jane said to me: “We are so grateful for all your help in highlighting Paul’s story and then connecting us with his family …it would make a good film script!”
Olumuyiwa was equally full of gratitude.
Culled from Punch