Again, nobody can and should disparage Omowura by placing him at the back of Barrister on the queue of our indigenous musicians. Barrister would not throw such insult at Omowura because he acknowledged and respected his prodigy and seniority in the house of Agodo, where music resides.

That was why he could not seriously take him up beyond a feeble reference in his AWA O JA, a vynl he released in 1979, shortly before his Fuji Londoners band collapsed. The title of the album-AWA O JA- is even self-explanatory on Barrister’s reverence for Omowura who had just hit him with a thunderous punch in his elpee, dismissively comparing him with all sorts of little living things.

And when Omowura died nay tragically and Barrister entered studio to record his tribute, he came out with a joker which made his fuji an all-conquering genre. If Barrister was not a soldier and musician, he would have made a brilliant career in academics. He was in love with research and vigorous musical engagement. That’s the secret of his many timeless releases-be it studio records or stage performances.

He sneaked into the hearts of the allegedly livid fans of Omowura and discovered their need in his tribute. He sneaked out and laid his song on the percussion supplied by his new band members which was ably anchored by his lead Apala talking drummer of the old Fuji Londoners, Kamoru Ayansola. What did Barrister sing? He flirted with Omowura’s template without really copying his lyrics; he picked only his sound, singing:

Iku wole ola
Iku pomowuramotu
Iku wole ola
Iku pomowuramotu
Waidi Ayinla
Lo nitokooo
Iku pabiri
Abiri ti ku
Iku pabiri
Abiri rorun o
Iku panigilaje
Ayinla omo yusufu…

I learnt that the track was magical as it melted the high voltage anger in the heart of Omowura’s fans and warmed Barrister into their hearts with an appreciable number of them becoming fuji converts and sharing patronage between him and Ayinla Kollington who was an acclaimed protégé of Omowura.

In his subtle but aggressive expedition, eight years after Omowura’s exit Barrister experimented with Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s Afro and produced FUJI GARBAGE and FUJI GARBAGE Series II, the latter in particular catapulted him to the level he probably did not imagine it could take him.

With his perfect use of piano and steel guitar, blend with fast tempo from apala, sakara, omele, agogo, sekere, igba and drum set, Barrister successfully pulled fans of juju and Afro genres at home and abroad to his fuji as evidently revealed by Sir Sina Peters in an interview in which he sensationally revealed how Barrister stole the show at a party where he performed alongside a top juju act at the TBS, Lagos.

SSP went ahead to confess that Barrister’s fuji profoundly influenced his invention of Afro-juju, the new genre which separated him from the conventional juju played by KSA, Ebenezer Obey, Dele Abiodun, Segun Adewale and few others.

Three years before FUJI GARBAGE and five years after the demise of Omowura, Barrister felt the need to bring his fuji to the Egun sub-ethnic group in the westernmost part of Yorubaland. He waxed an album titled SUPERIORITY and devoted a track which brought the best of Egun sound from Barrister. He sang:

Ruru fun wa kajo haha
Won binu wani
O ru fun mi gangan
Aimatatan ooo

Eleven years after Omowura’s death, Barrister also was determined to impress and capture two other major ethnic groups in Nigeria, namely Hausa and Ibo. He released FUJI NEW WAVES precisely in 1991 using his intro to woo those people in their respective tongues. When General Ibrahim Babangida paid a state visit to the former Oyo State, Barrister was at the Liberty Stadium where a grand reception was organized for the Head of State, Commander-In-Chief. He sang:

Assalam alekun
Ya jonmon Hausawa…
Duka Hausawa
Sabudi Allah
Sabudi Anabi Mohamma
Busiri akutashi
Yomuhirawa waka fuji

My postulation here is that with hard work and continuous update of his fuji with different styles and instruments, for instance, Barrister would be relevant, and even soar higher were Omowura alive. In that context, in fact, Omowura would need to do what Musiliu Haruna Isola is doing to Apala, by infusing piano and guitar into the genre, to escape fuji’s onslaught.

If Omowura still relied on his ‘25 tanshi 40’ which he sang in his last elpee, I guess, his music might not make appeal beyond his catchment zone. He might not be a favourite of the political elite of the Second and Third Republic who seemed to be in race to get Barrister’s fuji at their occasions including campaign rallies.

For instance, at the Social Democratic Party (SDP) campaign for its Presidential Candidate, late MKO Abiola in Osogbo Stadium, Barrister was on stage, sharing the show with KSA.

I think, where Omowura ended it was a comfortable spot to remain an enigma he is, and when the Mainframe film is out of location and editing room, I have no doubt in my mind, based on conviction, that it is going to do more promotion to the legendary of Omowura because of the brain behind it.

But Tunde Kelani must be reminded that Omowura was never a standing musician. May God repose the souls of Omowura and Omo Agbaje. Amen

The post Ayinde Barrister Was Unstoppable | By Tunde Busari first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

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Fashola’s speech infelicity found a corollary in an earlier gaffe from the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sani Nanono. Nanono had said that there was no hunger in Nigeria, contrary to the claims of the people and that food was very cheap to buy in Nigeria.

“I think we are producing enough to feed ourselves. I think there is no hunger in Nigeria; there could be inconveniences. When people talk about hunger in this government, I just laugh. In this country, it is fairly cheap to buy food” he said.

That Fashola had joined this club of indiscretion is the most disheartening of the story. Lauded for his infrastructural strides as Lagos State governor for eight years, it was a big let-down that the minister could sound so removed, so insulated from the plight of the people. If he didn’t know, at a conservative estimate, 90 per cent of Nigerian roads are in very sorry states. That the roads are in very troubling states, becoming grooves where Nigerian blood are sacrificed almost every other hour, is not as worrisome as the fact that they have become veritable avenues for governors and ministers to siphon public money into indecipherable bottomless pits,some kind of Donald Trump’s quid pro quo, if you like. Roads are constructed today and in a few months, they become craters. Nobody carries the can, nobody is queried and society lives happily ever thereafter.

Methinks these statements from those who are supposed to serve us are manifestations of the low estimation of these men for us and the disconnect they suddenly feel from us the moment they become Honourable this and Honourable that. These men don’t go to the market to buy foods but feast on government largesse, seldom travel on Nigerian roads but fly in choppers and jets to their destinations; their children don’t go to public schools but join their contemporaries in Ivy League universities in Europe and America; how then can they feel our plights?

The truth is that Nigerians are hungry, more than they have ever been and Nigerian roads are horrible, killing citizens daily. The earlier Fashola reversed from this barren road trodden by David Mark during the Ibrahim Babangida regime, the better for him. It is a road filled with craters, potholes and leads to acrimony from the people.

Source:  Nigerian Tribune

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They were President Idris Deby of Republic of Chad; President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania; President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, President George Weah  of Liberia; President Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo and President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana.

Others were President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe; President Macky Sall of Senegal; President Adama Barrow of The Gambia and President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger Republic as well as the Prime Minister of Uganda, Mr Ruhakana Rugunda,

Arriving at the Eagle Square, Abuja, President Muhammadu Buhari went round to have a   handshake with each of the leaders and representatives of other world leaders represented at the ceremony.

Buhari arrived at the venue at 10.05 a.m., watched the parade mounted by members of the Nigeria Armed Forces and Nigeria Police Force before being driven round the arena in an open vehicle.

Other dignitaries at the ceremony included the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and wife, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo, the President of the Senate, Sen. Ahmad Lawan, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila.

The Federal Government marked Democracy Day on June 12 for the first time after President Buhari signed the law to commemorate the 1993 Presidential Election considered to be the freest and most credible poll in Nigeria.

The election which the late MKO Abiola won as the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) against Alhaji Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC) was cancelled by the military government led by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.

As a mark of honour for Abiola, the president  also re-named Abuja National Stadium MKO Abiola National Stadium in addition to having posthumously honoured him in 2018 with the highest national award of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic.

In the past 19 years, the country had marked May 29, which was the date the military handed over power to civilians, as Democracy Day.

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The State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Toye Arulogun said that the declaration was to commemorate the anniversary of June 12 1993 election generally and widely believed to have been won by Late Bashorun MKO Abiola.

Arulogun expressed satisfaction that 25 years after the election adjudged to be the freest and fairest in the history of Nigeria, the winner of the election, the late Chief M. K. O. Abiola, was recognized by the Federal Government.

He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the posthumous award of the highest honour of the land, the Grand Commander of The Federal Republic, GCFR, on Chief MKO Abiola and the decision to make June 12 as the Democracy Day in recognition and honour of the martyrdom of Chief Abiola and others who fought for the actualization of Democracy in Nigeria.

https://iso.keq.mybluehost.me/nigeria-and-dilemma-of-her-democracy/

Arulogun described the politician and business mogul as a symbol of democracy, noting that his strong conviction that the ordinary Nigerian must be freed from the shackles of oppression, poverty, penury and want would forever be appreciated and commended.

He explained that the ideal of the good governance which the late Chief Abiola stood for had always motivated the All Progressives Congress (APC) governments at the Oyo State and the federal level, saying that the dividends of this good governance which is pro-people will forever be remembered in the annals of the country.

Arulogun assured that the state will continue to celebrate June 12.

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