Ademola Adeleke, Osun state governor, says he initially wanted to be a musician but was discouraged by his father.
In a recent interview on AriseTV, the politician, who is fondly called the “dancing governor”, said he had a childhood dream to be a singer.
Adeleke said he is aware of his musical talent, adding that he passed it on to Davido, his nephew, and B-Red, his son.
The 63-year-old governor added that he loves music so much that “I would just start dancing without knowing it”.
“I was supposed to be a musician right away. But my father, when we were growing up in the sixties, did not allow it,” he said.
“They did not believe that somebody should go and do music. They just wanted you to go to school. So he discouraged me. But I know that I have that talent.
“It is the talent I passed on to my nephew and my son. If you play music now, I don’t know how I would just start dancing. My body would just start moving without knowing it.
“I got to America in 1981. The name of my school at that time in Alabama was Jacksonville State University. It was in the countryside.
“At that time, the school was having its anniversary, and a lot of activities were happening there. So I picked the dancing part and we got to the finals. To cut a long story short, I won.
“I remember vividly, the president of our school was trying to pronounce my name – Ademola Adeleke – he called me Jackson. And at that time Michael Jackson was reigning. So that was how I got the name Jackson.”
B-Red, the governor’s son, had previously recounted how his parents did not initially support his music aspirations.
“Before we started music, my parents did not help us with music for the first two to three years,” he had said.
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