Onyeka Onwenu’s sons, Tijani Ogunlende, and Abraham (formerly Ibrahim), aka Abe Ogunlende, are outstanding artists who showcase their exceptional skills and talent in their fields.
Tijani Charles Ogunlende is an artist, designer, developer, and photographer specializing in visual arts, graphic design, and web development. He is also the sole proprietor of Tijani Ogunlende, an independent graphic design and art photography company. Before his company, Tijani Charles was a web developer at KRT Marketing and a social media researcher at Clear Essence Cosmetics. He also has a Bachelor’s in Visual Arts degree from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and a New Media degree from the Academy of Art University.
Onyeka’s second son, Abraham, aka Abe Ogunlede, is a Nigerian contemporary artist who creates pastels and aesthetic, simple art that combines connections between society and personhood.
Facts About Onyeka Onwenu
She was the youngest daughter among the five children of Nigerian teacher and politician D.K. Onwenu. She was raised in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.
She is the youngest daughter of Nigerian educationist and politician D.K Onwenu. However, it is painful to know that Onyeka never grew up to know her father because he passed away in a car crash when she was just 4-years-old.
Onwenu’s father passed away a week before he was to be named the Minister of Education under the Governor-General, Sir John Macpherson.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Communication from Wellesley College, Massachusetts, and a Master of Arts in Media Studies from The New School for Social Research, New York.
Onyeka worked as a Nigerian Television Authority newsreader and reporter and wrote and presented the famous BBC/NTA documentary “Nigeria: A Squandering of Riches.” She also presented and hosted the shows “Contact” and “Who’s On?” on the NTA network.
She also made her appearance in several Nollywood movies, including Window’s Cot, Half of a Yellow Sun and Lion Heart, Rising Moon, and Government House.
Initially, Onyeka kept her unhappy marriage life a secret. Still, she began to talk about her husband when she reached 70. She opened up about her failed marriage life and how she raised her sons as a single mother without the support of their father.
Many people know very little about Onyeka Onwenu’s marital life while some don’t know that she got married to a Muslim Yoruba man, whose last name is Ogunlende.
Moreover, in an interview, the singer said that she didn’t want her marriage to end with her ex-husband, but staying in the marriage would have ki*led her because it was difficult and made her suffer from depression.
She also said that her husband didn’t pay their sons’ school fees or buy them clothes, and she didn’t even give her housekeeping money. The environment they were living in was not suitable for the children, so she decided to carry the weight of the whole family.
Onyeka further stated that she raised her sons from kindergarten to their master’s degrees without any contribution from her husband.
She won two African Movie Academy Awards in the year 2006.