I was told to withdraw from UNILAG but I wasn’t bothered, says Toke Makinwa

Toke Makinwa, popular media personality, says she almost lost her admission at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) due to her nonchalant disposition to academics.

The 30-year-old Ondo indigene made this revelation in her book, ‘On Becoming’, which largely detailed her failed marriage to Maje Ayida, a fitness expert.

She wrote: “University of Lagos was a whole new world for me. I had gotten admission to study English Language (Big Mummy thought I was studying Law and would find out in my second year that I wasn’t) but I never went to classes.

“Then my third year results came out. I had gone to check the results on the notice board in school, and right beside my name, where my Grade Point was supposed to be was ‘Advised to Withdraw’.

“I wasn’t bothered at first. I started planning what I would do as a university dropout; travelling out of the country to start my life again was my favourite option. But I didn’t get a chance to put my plan into action. Big Mummy found out.”

The ubiquitous On-Air-Personality said she was spared on “humanitarian grounds”, and added that the incident marked a turning point in her life.

“A distant uncle was a professor in my faculty and was on the board that heard the cases of students advised to withdraw. When he heard my name, he called Big Mummy that very night. I hadn’t told anyone at home what happened, not even my sisters.

“Big Mummy came to school the next day and she had to go before the board with me to beg. After hearing my story and how I had lost my parents very early, the board decided on humanitarian grounds to let me take the year again.

“That decision marked the turning point of my life. I got my act together and in two years went from having an almost non-existent GP to a second class lower which I graduated with.”