The Story Behind
the Secrets

Baba Segi is a proud, prosperous and uneducated Yoruba patriarch whose household, made up of three wives and seven children, is governed by a carefully maintained hierarchy of tradition, wealth and influence. Iya Segi, the formidable first wife, rules with authority, Iya Tope survives through quiet obedience, while Iya Femi quietly plots for greater power. Their fragile balance is shattered when Baba Segi brings home Bolanle, an educated young woman he hopes will strengthen his family and legacy.

When Bolanle fails to conceive, her inability to bear a child quickly becomes a source of suspicion and resentment in a household where fertility determines a woman’s place and children are central to a man’s legacy. As jealousy intensifies, the family’s carefully guarded secrets begin to surface, exposing hidden paternity, betrayal and long buried truths that threaten to destroy the household.

Adapted from the acclaimed novel The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, this gripping and darkly humorous story explores marriage, power, jealousy, fertility and survival through a distinctly Yoruba and Nigerian lens.