As deputy governor sometimes I slept for just three hours in a day – Sarah Sosan

Former deputy governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Sarah Sosan, tells ‘Nonye Ben-Nwankwo about her life and how she got into politics

Your son got married recently, you must have been very happy on that wedding day…

Oh yes I was. Marriage is something most parents look forward to and I had looked forward to that especially for my first son. Even for my daughter, I am praying that very soon her husband would come. When my son showed me his girl and eventually told us that he would like to get married to her, we were excited. Many people looked forward to the marriage. I could feel that a lot of people were looking forward to the opportunity to give me the required support. I was so excited and I give glory to God that I was alive to witness my son’s wedding.

Are you comfortable withyour son’s wife?

Oh yes. She is a very nice girl. In the past, I used to be a bit cautious about inter-ethnic marriages. But these days, you find out that love is the most important thing. You don’t have to choose a wife for your son or a husband for your daughter. You just guide and counsel them on the way to go. Tell them not to look at riches. Marriage is everlasting. Wedding is one day, courtship is for a period of time. It is who your soul clicks with that you should marry. I thank God he found a soul mate, a professional and all the things I looked forward to in a daughter in-law. In fact, she is my daughter.

So you see her more as a daughter than a daughter-in-law?

Yes. I had one daughter before and now, I have two daughters. My husband and even my children took her as one of them. I am happy for the kind of love that we extended to her and we welcomed her into the family.

But don’t you feel she has come to monopolise the attention your son used to give you?

Ever since I grew to become an adult, I knew there is a stage in life that your daughter or son would grow and get his/her family. You responsibility is to assist them to build that family and play your role as a mother. I didn’t have that problem when I got married, so why would I give another person that problem. I know the relationship I have with my son and I know it cannot be affected. Thank God, there hasn’t been anything like that for the few months they have been married.

Was it your dream to become a teacher when you were growing up?

It wasn’t at all, to be sincere. I never dreamt I would be a teacher. It was by accident or maybe destiny that I ended up being a teacher. It is what has helped me to where I am today. Initially, I had wanted to be a nurse.

But both professions are poles apart…

Yes, I agree with you. I had been admitted to the nursing school after I had passed the aptitude test. We had been given admission but on a second thought, I asked myself if I could really face it. I have a phobia for injections. I can’t stand the sight of blood. So I had to think about it real good and did something about it.

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