International author cum journalist, and gospel minister, Ade OSijo has lamented that his late father’s role in the career of Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo – Kuti surpasses that of any other manager who worked with Fela.
Ade claimed that despite the fact that his late Dad, Felix Adeyanju Osijo, was Fela’s longest-serving manager before he got the big break, the credit for managing the mercurial musician always goes to Benson Idonije(who had a very brief stint in managing Fela(part-time, because Idonije was a staff of NBC). My father resigned to support FELA’s career; but, Idonije never did. I stand to be proved wrong by Uncle Idonije.
Ade, who says his late father never liked publicity, deliberately kept them away from the klieg light and media recently had a chat with BEATS Publisher, Ladi Ayodeji on the issue. Ade said, “My father was Fela’s longest-serving manager before fame beckoned on him, and they parted ways amicably. Fela later brought in J.K. Braimah and Pa Ojomo, to continue from where Felix stopped.
“My dad was an electrical engineer from the Kansas Technical Institute, now Kansas State University; that was in the ’60s. On his return to Nigeria, he and Fela, who had studied in England, had a reunion and decided to seek employment at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, NBC, Ikoyi, Lagos.
“Meanwhile, Benson Idonije worked there at NBC as a D.J. My dad was an administration and technical guy; Fela was an artiste or studio staff.
“At that time, nobody believed in Fela; my late grandparents believed so much in
Fela, and sometimes used part of the proceeds from the rent of their property(a twin-duplex), in Apapa to pay Fela’s band boys. Obviously, because Fela was sent to the UK to study medicine, but instead read music, his people abandoned him; but my grandparents stood by him morally and financially.
“Shortly after Fela’s return to Nigeria, our home at Moor Road, Yaba, Lagos was Fela’s second home. His late wife, Remi would visit and take her children to the beach – with my siblings too. Next to Fela’s late first wife, my dad did much for the musician.
“Initially, Fela wasn’t a casanova because he was the shy type. His first girlfriend was a Togolese lady called Iya Marie (Kunle’s mother). Before then, he would go to Queen’s College to lure one of the Lijadu sisters out. Then, the twins were living with their auntie, who was the vice-principal or principal of the college.
Osijo cited Sonny Okosuns’ brother-manager, Charles Dukeson Okosun, Wale Oshodi, Laolu Akins, Tee Mac, Fela’s daughter, Yeni Kuti, Orlando Julius, Sandra Smith (Izidore), King Sunny Ade, Shina Peters, and others, as people with the qualification to comment on Fela’s relationship with his Dad.
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The journalist-Prophet went on to say that Idonijes management of Fela was hyped at the expense of the pivotal role of his late father. Ade Osijo was quick to add that Fela’s lifestyle robbed off on his father through his late Dad’s polygamous lifestyle.
“My late father also impregnated two of Fela’s dancers and had twins from one of the dancers called Iyabo and some kids from another one called Helen. During break time, I would sneak out of school to catch fun at Kalakuta. Fela’s late mum would beckon on me, and his queens would hug me and say,” Omo Manager “, meaning Manager’s son!
Our relationship with Yeni, Femi and late Oluwasoladegbin was and is still cordial. Yeni was the Chief Bridesmaid at my sister’s wedding to NTA’s Ace broadcaster cum newscaster, Bayo Adewusi, sometime around 1983.
Besides the pivotal role of FELA’s first and only wife, late Remi Anikulapo Kuti, who had to single-handedly groom Fela’s three children, helping him to stay focused during his studies in England, refusing to sue Fela for bigamy, my late father’s role is worth documenting, for posterity.
Osijo’s two books on Fela, are available on Amazon (USA), plus other books written by him.
In this brief, but loaded revelation, Osijo who was reluctant to get this published, only yielded to pressure by BEATS publisher, because these details of Fela’s escapades and his (Osijo’s) father’s relationship with the late legend, is not known, and is of public interest. We’d give you more in the near future, stay hooked to BEATS
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