WHAT HAPPENS TO BOLANLE AMBODE’S BAKERY, REHOBOTH?

Many a man or woman who had won and tasted power or had it imposed upon him or her, with much understatement, find it extremely difficult to adjust to life without power. Stripped of the accoutrements and delightful frills of office, they wander about donning masks of moral fiber and nurturing behind their masks, an appalling and impregnable conceit of themselves.

Yes, they find it even more cumbersome to relate with ordinary folk they had known before they came by power. Ultimately, they choose to live lives of quiet displeasure if they no longer have access to the corridors of power. Caught amid ordinariness, if they do not blow their own trumpets, it is because they feel you are not fit to listen to the performance.

However, Bolanle Ambode, former First lady of Lagos State, is remarkably different from such characters. Since she left office with her husband, Akinwunmi Ambode, at the expiration of the latter’s first term as Lagos governor, Bolanle has been very quiet.
Funnily enough, if I there is an angel in Bolanle, only her husband, Ambode, her children, family and few friends enjoy the good pleasure of her (the angel)’s company. She was that strict when they were in government. Little wonder, many worshiped the ground she treads on while praying and hoping that they didn’t incur her wrath because her word was law. She had that kind of power and she allegedly wielded it to relieve the venerable Femi Taiwo, former chaplain at the Chapel of Christ the Light, Alausa, Lagos State, of his position. Like King Oedipus, the consequence of this decision was devastating. Mrs. Ambode enjoyed the privileges of power. It lasted briefly, she couldn’t sustain it. This power, it gave her fame. It gave her influence. It gave her pride. Now that her husband, Akinwunmi Ambode has passed the touch to his successor after losing his reelection bid, and now without the power of the first lady, Mrs. Ambode had lost not just his power but her influence, clouded by anonymity. Suddenly, without any trace of political relevance, she had vanished into thin air.
However, when they were in government, her bakery called Rehoboth, was convergence point for Lagosians and top politicians who loved to patronize her bread.Until recently, the bakery was an instant success and preferred place for Lagos’ high society. Rehoboth undeniably blazed a trail that other bakeries found too hot and pacey to follow; it was as if they held a magic wand that turned their enterprise into a cash-cow of sort. At the height of their success, many people envied them and flocked around them like packs of fowls over tasty cornmeal. However, few months down the line, nothing is heard about Rehoboth bread. Patronage has nose-dived probably due to the economic meltdown or conflicts of interest or probably the patrons do not find the bread fascinating anymore. Only time will tell.