President felicitates with Ebenezer Obey at 75

President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated multi-talented entertainer and gospel music maestro, Evangelist Ebenezer Obey, ahead of his 75th birthday, which comes up on Monday.

Mr Femi Adesina, the president’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, on Sunday in Abuja, said Buhari’s congratulatory message was contained in a letter addressed to the celebrant

In the letter to the evangelist, President Buhari said: ‘‘Please accept my congratulations, and that of teeming Nigerians, on this occasion of your 75th birthday anniversary.

‘‘Chief Commander Ebenezer Fabiyi Obey is a household name in Nigeria, and even beyond. You have through music flown the flag of our country proudly in many nations of the world, and you are a veritable ambassador of our motherland.’’

The President said Nigerians rejoiced with the septuagenarian at the auspicious moment, while praying that God would grant him more years of service to the nation, and humanity.

Miliki highlife juju crooner, whose real name is Ebenezer Remilekun Aremu Olasupo Fabiyi, was born in Idogo, Ogun, 75 years ago,.

It is believed that Obey started his professional career in the mid-1950s after moving to Lagos, where he formed a band named “The International Brothers’’ in 1964, playing highlife-juju fusion.

He transformed the band into Inter-Reformers in the early-1970s, with a long list of Juju album hits on the West African Decca musical label.

Obey has successfully released over 100 albums and the ones yet to be released are uncountable.

The popular musician, who transformed into an Evangelist, lost his wife of more than four and half decades, Lady Juliana.

Lady Evangelist Juliana, a frontline business woman and poultry farmer, aged 67, died at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, in Aug. 2011.

While celebrating his 74th birth in 2016, Obey was quoted as saying that; “I never knew I could attain this age, but I have committed everything about me into the hands of God.

“There are certain things in life I don’t bother myself about; because I know God is in control of my life. “My coming to the earth has been fulfilled and the time I will go back is in the hands of God.’’