Who are Wizkid’s Parents: Meet Jane Balogun and Alhaji Muniru Olatunji Balogun

Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, known globally by his stage name Wizkid, is one of the most celebrated Afrobeats artists.

He was born on July 16, 1990, in Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria, and is 35 years old. Of Yoruba ethnicity and raised in an interfaith household, Wizkid grew up navigating the beliefs of both his parents, a Christian mother and a Muslim father, an experience that helped shape the cultural depth heard across his music.

He is the son of Jane Dolapo Balogun and Alhaji Muniru Olatunji Balogun, and has two biological sisters, Yetunde Balogun and Lade Balogun, alongside ten other step-siblings from his father’s other marriages, making for a large and lively household in total.

Wizkid received his early education at Ijebu Ode Grammar School in Ogun State before enrolling at Lagos State University, where he studied for a while before dropping out in 2009 to pursue music full-time.

He later briefly attended Lead City University in Ibadan but left after just two sessions, choosing his craft over the classroom. Standing at 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 m) tall, the compact-framed star has never let his stature limit the size of his ambitions.

On the personal front, Wizkid has never been formally married, though he has been in a long-term relationship with Jada Pollock, his former music manager, whom he has publicly referred to as his wife on more than one occasion, though the union has not been officially confirmed.

His romantic history is well-documented and includes relationships with Shola Ogudugu, Binta Diallo, and Justine Skye, among others. He has also been linked, to varying degrees of credibility, to Tonto Dikeh, Kenyan singer Victoria Kimani, Ugandan-Kenyan model Huddah Monroe, Nigerian pop star Chidinma Ekile, and fellow Afrobeats star Tems, though Tems publicly described their relationship as strictly brotherly.

He is the father of five children: Boluwatife Balogun (born May 13, 2011), known as Champz, with Shola Ogudugu, Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun Jr. (born January 18, 2016) with Binta Diallo, and Zion Ayo-Balogun (born October 28, 2017), AJ Balogun (born August 1, 2022), and Morayo Balogun (born December 2024), all three with Jada Pollock. At the heart of this remarkable life and career, however, are the two people who gave Wizkid his foundation: his parents.

Jane Balogun

Jane Dolapo Balogun was the biological mother of Wizkid and one of the most quietly significant figures in his journey from a Surulere boy to an international superstar. She was born in the 1970s in Nigeria and grew up to become a devoted Pentecostal Christian, a faith she held with deep conviction throughout her life.

It was that faith, and the warmth with which she expressed it, that made her such a powerful presence in Wizkid’s life. He famously referred to her on social media as his “prayer warrior,” a term that captured the quiet force she represented behind all his success.

Jane met and married Alhaji Muniru Olatunji Balogun, and together, they remained a family unit for over 30 years, raising their three children, including Wizkid, who was born as her last child. The marriage existed within a polygamous arrangement on Alhaji Balogun’s side, with Jane raising her children within a household that straddled two religions and multiple family dynamics. Despite the complexity of that environment, those who knew the family described Jane as a grounding presence, someone who kept her children rooted in faith and family values.

Wizkid was open about his love and admiration for her. He regularly shared photographs of his mother on social media and made no secret of the emotional debt he owed her. Her influence is perhaps most visible in the title and subject of his 2024 album, named Morayo, a direct tribute to her memory.

He also named his youngest daughter Morayo Balogun after her, a gesture that underscored just how much her loss had affected him. Jane Dolapo Balogun passed away on August 18, 2023, leaving behind a legacy that lives on not only in her son’s music but in the children and grandchildren she nurtured.

Alhaji Muniru Olatunji Balogun

Alhaji Muniru Olatunji Balogun is the biological father of Wizkid and a man whose quiet dignity has made him a respected figure in his own right, entirely independent of his son’s fame. He was born in the 1960s in Nigeria, raised in Lagos, and belongs to the Balogun family, a lineage with roots in the Ojuelegba area of Lagos.

A practicing Muslim, he took three wives over the course of his life, raising a large extended family in Surulere. It is within that large, faith-driven, polygamous household that Wizkid grew up alongside his many sisters, listening to the sounds of Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, and Bob Marley through the family home.

Like many Nigerian parents of his generation, Alhaji Balogun was initially skeptical of his son’s decision to pursue music over formal education. He believed in structure, hard work, and the kind of stability that came with a credential and a clear career path.

When young Ayodeji began chasing studio time instead of textbooks, the father’s concern was genuine rather than dismissive. However, as Wizkid’s talent translated into undeniable commercial and artistic success, Alhaji Balogun became one of his son’s most visible supporters, attending shows and family events and speaking openly about his pride in what Wizkid had built.

In one candid public appearance covered by GoldMyne TV, Alhaji Balogun used the moment to speak directly to Nigerian youths: “I just want them to please, even if you don’t have education, try to have something to do.

They should try to develop their talents and leave all these arrogant lifestyles. Let them face whatever they are doing.” The statement was met with widespread admiration and was seen as a reflection of the values he had tried to pass on to his own children.

Wizkid reportedly purchased a mansion in Lekki for his parents as a show of gratitude for their years of sacrifice. In a moment that says much about the man, Alhaji Muniru Olatunji Balogun declined to move in, choosing instead to remain in Surulere, the family’s long-time neighborhood. It was a quiet but telling act of humility, the kind that reveals character without requiring explanation.

Beyond the music and the fame, it is this kind of grounded dignity that Wizkid appears to have inherited from his father, alongside a tendency toward fathering children across multiple relationships, a parallel that observers have noted with some amusement.

Alhaji Muniru Olatunji Balogun remains a private man who has never sought the spotlight his son commands. But his influence on Wizkid’s work ethic, his values, and his understanding of fatherhood is evident to anyone who has followed the singer’s story closely.

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