Ibidunni Ighodalo: From Beauty Queen To A Frustrated Wife And Women’s Help

Ibidun Ighodalo (nee Ajayi) had dreamt about becoming a medical doctor just to please her father but when Nigeria’s education system made life happen, she found her name on Microbiology admission list. “I had wanted to study medicine but somehow, my name was on the admission list for medical microbiology. I felt I could stay there and transfer to medicine at some point. However, the opportunity never came. I eventually found out that my name was included in the next batch to study medicine. Meanwhile, Elizabeth R had been birthed by then, so I just decided to finish with the medical microbiology degree“, she recounted in a 2019 interview. There she was when fame found her and she in turn, unleashed her creativity to the world.
Miss Lux
Ibidun rose into the limelight as an 18-year-old undergraduate student of Microbiology at the University of Lagos. She won the maiden edition of Miss Lux, a beauty pageant organised by Lux bath soap and from then, the 1990s, she has graced magazine covers and made news headlines.
Elizabeth R 
In 2003, she founded Elizabeth R in 2003, a public relations and events company and was renowned for her ability to transform mundane and odd settings into exquisite spaces. As a matter of fact, her company and career which has spanned over a decade has handled most of the society’s top notch events and had big brands in her clientele. The company decorates Lagos during Christmas/Festive seasons and during Fashola’s tenure in 2007, she was given the arduous task of beautifying Lagos. She was also once adjudged the Queen of decorations. She shattered glass ceilings to build a huge name in the event management space, and for 17 years, she successfully ran one of the leading events agencies in the sub-continent.
Education
Ibidunni earned medical microbiology degree, received business management training from the Lagos Business School, and was a Fellow of the National Institute Marketing of Nigeria.
Becoming Ibidun Ighodalo
Ibidunni got married to Pastor Ighodalo in 2007, though the union was controversial. Pastor Ighodalo, then of Redeemed Christian Church of God, Christ Church Parish, Gbagada, had just divorced his first wife Lucy-Ann Suinner and the church was reportedly not happy with the situation. This led to his sack from the church as a clergy and facilitated the start of his church Trinity House.
The Frustrated Wife
Marriage was seeming rosy for her and her husband as they were always seen serving couple goals in videos and pictures. It however, was a raging storm when she could not give birth to a child and her husband’s family and friends were on her neck for a fruit of the womb. In 2008, she opened up in an interview that she had 11 IVFs done when the pressure got much but none yielded her heart desire. This led her to adopt her first child and daughter Keke.
The Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation
Many a times, NGOs are borne out of the founder’s experiences or happenings around them and this exactly was the case for Ibidunni. She turned her pain into her passion and founded the Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation. The non-profit organisation raised awareness on issues about infertility and provides grants for couples that require fertility treatments such as in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and intrauterine insemination. “I am going to be 40 soon (my goodness ) 🙈💃🙏 by the grace of God…I was thinking of what I would really want to do and nothing will give me more joy than to help 40 couples go through their fertility journey with prayers and all I have..Such a huge task my goodness how am I going to do this ? I trust in you completely ABBA FATHER.Hmmm Ibidunniiii….God makes all things beautiful in his own time. Kai Kai Kai the devil will wish he didn’t put me through this pain 😂🤣🤣 #PainToPurpose #MyPainToGods Gain“, she said in one of her recent IG posts.
Wicked Death
Ibidunni bid her hubby goodbye 6 days ago when she had to go for a trip in Port Harcourt not knowing that was her official goodbye. She had share a video of the love birds cuddling and having a happy time, noting in her caption that it is usually hard to say goodbye to him. Reports of her death, however came in yesterday. Her colleague and Manager, Elizabeth R Lawal Nurudeen with whom she had gone to Port Harcourt told BBC that she had gone to bed the previous night but did not wake up the next (Sunday) morning.Photos Credit: Instagram