Nigerian singer Teni the Entertainer provides insights into her upbringing in a polygamous family, emphasizing the love and care she received despite the unconventional family structure.
In an interview with the Zero Conditions podcast, Teni discussed her unique experience growing up in a polygamous household and expressed her preference for being raised in such an environment in the future. She commended her late father for maintaining harmony within the family and ensuring her well-being alongside her nine siblings.
“I grew up in a polygamous family with a lot of people so you cannot come and be doing rubbish. I was very protected, I was very loved, and I was very well taken care of. 10 children, 3 wives. Big salute to my bloodline. I’m close to all my siblings, but there are levels of closeness.
[/p]I don’t know any other way, it is boring. If I come back to this life again, I want to come back to the same family. How can I be in a house with one mother, and one father? Ah ah, then all of us will now be sitting down there. Ah ah. There’s no chaos.
[/p]In my house there is love, but we change it oh! Cuz ah, the person wey born us dey crase sha. Do you know what it is to hear gunshots and go to where the gunshots are? That’s not normal.
[/p]My father was very wise. It was like he planned his future, and then he planned his death. So before he died, his wives knew about everything. He taught them everything; one of my mothers knows how to shoot. He taught them how to be, and when he passed, they used the skill. That’s how our family was still able to be intact even after my dad passed.”
[/p]