I got pregnant in SS3 – Singer Waje shares her past

Nigerian singer Aituaje Iruobe known professionally as Waje has uncovered the chronicle of her early child birth and the experience during her trimester.

Waje had her daughter, Emerald Iruobe in March of 1999 when she was just 18 years old after a brief relationship during her final year in high school at the time.

She was immediately banned from her church choir after she was discovered to have conceived. However, she resorted to keeping the pregnancy and having a child at that early age certainly didn’t slow the successful singer in achieving her musical dream and career.

The one time Headies Awards Best Vocals, Waje in an Instagram live chat narrated: “I got into a relationship in SS3 and the relationship went from ‘puppy love’ to sexual. At that time, I felt I loved him and that [sex] was the only way I could express my love. At that time, I saw a fine boy who liked me, though we quarreled on several occasions. I didn’t understand the responsibility that came with making decisions like that.

“I got pregnant and I remembered one afternoon, I was in the bathroom when someone came to my house and told me my pastor wanted to see me. I knew that day, there were two things that would happen either I died or I died. Everything in me got drained.

“Anyway, I went to see the pastor. He was in a conference room with other pastors and he said to me, ‘If you lie, you will die, because you are standing in front of God, Holy Spirit and me.’ He asked me, ‘Are you pregnant?’ and I said, ‘Yes’. He was so disappointed. He told me he wanted to see me in church every Wednesday and Sunday but I would no longer sing in the choir.”

“I wrote the WASSCE [West African Senior School Certificate Examination] while pregnant and nobody knew; not even my mother. I told her about my pregnancy after five months. After one morning devotion, I told her I had something to tell her. I told her I was pregnant and wasn’t planning on aborting it.

“At that point, she already knew who was responsible because he used to come to our house. After telling her, she told me to go back to bed. However, I knew something in her broke because she didn’t go back to sleep.”

Despite the setbacks she encountered, Waje went on to bag a degree in social work from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She broke into the Nigerian music scene when she collaborated with P-Square on the hit track ‘Do Me’ in 2008 and has won several  awards.