‘Tapgun proposed to me 10 years after we met’

Rosalyn Tapgun is a businesswoman, and wife of former governor of Plateau State, and one-time Nigerian Ambassador to Kenya, Fidelis Tapgun. In this interview, the former first lady of Plateau State speaks on the misconceptions about her husband, his love for trees and the things he does for fun. Excerpts:

Daily Trust: How can you describe the Ambassador as a husband and father?

Rosalyn Tapgun: He is a very caring and loving husband; he encourages you when you have the passion for something. He is amiable and accepts me for who I am. As a father, he befriends his children because he wants to understand them. He is a very accommodating father, he hardly raised his hand to smack any child and on the one occasion he would give you a smack, then you don’t get to do that thing again because you would know that you must have done something very bad.

DT: How did you meet?

Rosalyn:  That was in 1978, but I would say I had known him before then. His younger sisters and I were in the same primary school and we lived in the same area in Jos, so to say. Until some 10 years after that, when I suddenly met with him again, but this time he came with an interest. Before then, I knew little about him until we met in 1978. He didn’t come as someone who wanted to be a boyfriend. He said he wanted marriage, and the rest is history.  

DT: What is his daily routine like?

Rosalyn: In the morning, he takes his bath and breakfast. But he is not really a breakfast person. Just a cup of tea, or sometimes cereal. He goes to church at about 11:30am every day. If he has a visit then fine, he entertain, his guests. Otherwise he is at home reading. He has an office in the house in case he needs to do some work. And he also used to play squash for about two hours every day.

DT: Is squash his favourite sport?

Rosalyn: Yes, but he had a surgery and on doctors advice, he had to stop. However, he has a mini gym in the house as well as his stationary bicycle which he rides. He is very conscious of what he eats, usually just one main meal a day.

DT: What is his favourite food?

Rosalyn: Seafoods like fish, shrimps etc. He also likes the very traditional ones, like okro. But we have a way of preparing it. You have to cut the okro in big sizes and we prepare it with a lot of fish and meat. He eats it with any swallow but it is not something he eats always.

DT: What is his connection to flowers?

Rosalyn: He loves trees and flowers. Anywhere we have lived, he would say, let’s forest the house. You will find that inside the house is always cooler than outside. That is how he likes it, and we have all grown to like it.

DT: What kind of books does he like to read?

Rosalyn: Political and philosophical books, most of the time.

DT: What was his career path before politic? 

Rosalyn: He started as a teacher, even though he said he didn’t have it at the back of his mind to be a teacher. He said he wanted to go to the seminary, but in those days when the missionaries and educationist come, they sort of plan your career and somehow they asked him to go to Kafanchan Teacher’s College. So he didn’t get to go to the seminary. From the beginning, he would have gone to the seminary but it wasn’t his destiny. He then went to ABU Zaria and became an administrator and it was while he was doing that, that he had the push from politicians, so to speak, who encouraged him to go into politics.

DT: What other profession do you think he would have excelled in?

Rosalyn: I think it would have been the teaching line. He would have been a very good educationist. He has encouraged a lot of people to go to school and he tries his best to see that they get to do what they want to do.

DT: What misconception do you think people have about him?

Rosalyn: Sometimes I think there is a misconception of him being proud. He just doesn’t believe in pretending, he tells you what he feels or what you should know. He tells you as it is not with any malice. And once he does that, he forgets about it. He doesn’t sleep over a quarrel or take it to heart.  He is a very simple person; he accepts everybody and I always have a go at him sometimes to say, ‘are we not entitled to our privacy?’ because he is very accommodating.

DT: What does he do for fun?

Rosalyn: He watches TV, and his favourite programme currently is this family sitcom, The Johnsons. He also watches African movies and religious channels, current affairs, crime and investigative channels. He is not into the games we play, but the Johnsons keep him laughing a lot.