Meet Bola Tinubu’s Children: Seyi, Habibat, Jide Tinubu, and Folashade Tinubu-Ojo

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria’s 16th and current head of state, was born on 29 March 1952 in Lagos to a Yoruba Muslim family.

Tinubu is 74 years old, though his exact age has long been a subject of public dispute among political opponents who insist he is older than official records show.

He is the son of Abibatu Mogaji, the trader and community leader who later became the Ìyál’ọ́jà (Mother of the Market) of Lagos before her death in 2013 at the age of 96. Little is publicly known about Tinubu’s father or his siblings, as he has rarely discussed that side of his upbringing.

Tinubu’s early education took him through St. John’s Primary School in Aroloya, Lagos, and then to Children’s Home School in Ibadan. In 1975, he relocated to the United States, where he studied first at Richard J. Daley College in Chicago before transferring to Chicago State University.

He graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting, a credential that has itself been the subject of years of controversy and legal disputes in Nigeria. After stints at American firms including Arthur Andersen, Deloitte, Haskins & Sells, and GTE Services Corporation, he returned to Nigeria in the early 1980s and joined Mobil Oil Nigeria, rising to an executive position before pivoting fully into politics in the early 1990s.

Tinubu is married to Senator Oluremi “Remi” Tinubu, whom he wed in 1987. She served as First Lady of Lagos State during his governorship (1999 to 2007), later spent over a decade in the Nigerian Senate representing Lagos Central, and has been Nigeria’s First Lady since 2023.

Before his marriage to Remi, Tinubu fathered three children through earlier relationships; his union with Remi produced three more, bringing his widely reported total to six children, three sons and three daughters, one of whom, Jide Tinubu, died in 2017.

Beyond this, detailed information about Tinubu’s dating history before his marriage remains largely private, with only fragments of it ever surfacing publicly through the mothers of his elder children. His exact height has not been independently verified or documented in any reliable public record.

Here is a closer look at the four of Tinubu’s children who are most visible in Nigerian public life.

Seyi Tinubu

Oluwaseyi “Seyi” Tinubu, simply known as Seyi Tinubu, is the third of Bola Tinubu’s children and his only surviving son. Born on 13 October 1985 in Lagos, he is the product of one of Tinubu’s relationships prior to his marriage to Remi Tinubu, with his biological mother identified in numerous reports as Bunmi Oshonaike.

As the sole surviving male heir, Seyi has become the family member most associated with continuing his father’s public visibility outside formal politics.

Seyi’s schooling began at St. Saviour’s School in Lagos before he moved to the United Kingdom, where he attended Holmewood House School and then Milton Abbey School, where he was active in rugby, athletics, and hockey. He went on to earn a law degree and later a master’s in corporate and commercial law from the University of Buckingham, and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2013.

Rather than practising law or entering elected politics, Seyi built a career in business, co-founding Loatsad Promomedia, one of Nigeria’s leading outdoor advertising firms, in 2012. He also founded the Noella Foundation with his wife, a philanthropic outfit focused on youth empowerment, education, and healthcare access across Nigeria.

He married Layal Jade Tinubu (née Layal Holm), a Nigerian-Lebanese entrepreneur, in 2016, and the couple have two children together. Though he has repeatedly denied any personal ambition to run for office, Seyi remains closely tied to his father’s political machinery and is often at the centre of youth mobilization efforts for the ruling party.

Habibat Tinubu

Habibat Oyindamola Tinubu, simply known as Habibat Tinubu, is one of the three children Bola Tinubu had with Remi Tinubu, making her among the youngest of his six children. She is a graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, having completed her studies there in 2013, and has since built a public profile as a model based in the United States.

Habibat has kept a far lower political profile than her elder half-siblings, Seyi and Folashade, and is rarely seen at official state functions. She has, however, drawn public attention and some controversy in Nigeria for her social media commentary and modelling work, given that she is the daughter of a sitting president in a country where certain forms of public expression she engages in remain outside the legal and cultural mainstream.

She has also faced media scrutiny, alongside her sister Zainab, over property acquisitions in the United States that raised questions about their funding sources, allegations that have not been substantiated by any official investigation.

Jide Tinubu

Kazeem Olajide “Jide” Babajide Tinubu, simply Jide Tinubu, was Bola Tinubu’s eldest child and first son, born on 12 October 1980 to one of Tinubu’s relationships before his marriage to Remi Tinubu. He read Law at the University of Liverpool in England and later earned a master’s degree in Maritime Law from the University of London, before being called to the Nigerian Bar in 1999.

Unlike his father, Jide led an almost entirely private life, based mostly in London, where he worked in maritime and legal circles, including a stint in the legal department of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited and later in shipbroking and logistics. He stayed away from Nigerian politics and rarely appeared in the media despite his family’s prominence.

Jide died suddenly on 31 October 2017 in London at the age of 37, reportedly from cardiac arrest. His father confirmed the cause of death in a personal statement, describing him as intelligent and full of life, and noting that he had “followed his own course.” Jide was survived by his wife and three sons, and Tinubu and Remi Tinubu travelled to London to be with the family in the aftermath of his death.

Folashade Tinubu-Ojo

Folashade Tinubu-Ojo is Bola Tinubu’s first daughter, born on 17 June 1976 to one of his relationships prior to his marriage to Remi Tinubu.

She is arguably the most publicly influential of Tinubu’s children within Lagos’s traditional and commercial structures, holding the chieftaincy title of Iyaloja-General of Lagos, meaning “Mother of the Market,” a position she inherited directly from her grandmother, Abibatu Mogaji, who selected her as successor before her death in 2013. She was formally installed in the role in October 2013 after receiving the required approval from the Oba of Lagos.

Folashade studied Home Economics at the Federal College of Education (Special) in Oyo before proceeding to the United Kingdom, where she studied English at the College of the North East in London and later earned an undergraduate degree from Middlesex University. She subsequently obtained an MBA from Intercontinental University in the United States. Before ascending to the Iyaloja-General role, she served as Deputy President General of the Lagos Market Men and Women Association.

She is married to Oyetunde Oladimeji Ojo, a politician from Ekiti State who has served in Nigeria’s House of Representatives and was later appointed head of the Federal Housing Authority by her father, an appointment that drew criticism over perceived nepotism. The couple have two children together.

As Iyaloja-General, Folashade has overseen market reforms and security initiatives across Lagos, though her tenure has also attracted controversy, including disputes with market leaders over levies and allegations of financial impropriety that she has denied.

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