'Why I shunned Barrister's 5th memorial concert,' Fuji maestro reveals

Fuji maestro, Wasiu Ayinde Omogbolahan Anifowoshe aka K1, has revealed why he shunned the fifth memorial service and concert of legendary Fuji singer, Sikiru Ayinde Agbajelola aka Barrister.

In a report by Punch Newspaper, K1 revealed that he decided to shun the concert when he realised the children of the deceased singer were bent on having a regular shindig as against an intellectual seminar to immortalise his former boss.

In his words, “I am a true musical son of the late Barrister. I served him truly. When he died, I had my plans to immortalise his name so that every other Fuji musician can benefit and learn from him. I told the former governor, Babatunde Fasola, about my plans and he agreed with me. But Barrister’s family had their own plans as well. He had grown up children. If they had looked at me as one of them, there wouldn’t have been any problem. You cannot force grown up people to listen to you. I told his family and members of Fuji Musicians Association of Nigeria about my plans to immortalise Barrister and how we could turn his home to a museum.

"I don’t like it when an issue is brought to the table and everybody discusses it but when it comes to funding, you leave it for one man. After five years, Barrister’s children went different ways from our plan. One of his children commissioned somebody to write a book on Barrister. It is their right I agree," he said.

Speaking further, K1 said, 'But then, they came to me after five years to tell me they planned doing something for their father’s memorial. I told them my plan was to establish a foundation for their father so that people would benefit from it. I wanted us to organise seminars and do something different from aso ebi. They didn’t like the idea. They wanted to sell Ankara. I told them if they wanted to just hold a party and enjoy, I wouldn’t be a part of it. Governor (Akinwumi) Ambode hadn’t spent two months in office and you just want me to run to him and tell him we want to do Barrister’s anniversary. If it were to be for a seminar, it would have been easier. I wanted us to showcase Barrister as a founding father of fuji music. His children stopped coming to me because I wasn’t in support of their idea.

'They have the right to do whatever they want because he was their father. I cannot be blackmailed into anything. I do whatever I am doing to honour the man. I served him all my life. If his memorial was just going to be a party thing, I decided I wasn’t going to be a part of it and that was what happened,' he said.