Though you didn’t become a widow as a young woman, would you say widows get a fair chance in life in this our immediate environment, especially the young ones?
Widows cannot get good treatment from this environment because this is Nigeria. Nigeria is a peculiar country, you know, with so many problems and lack of good leadership. Government has nothing to offer widows in this country, except individuals that have a foundation helping widows. How many people are they taking care of? We are all suffering. Everybody is sharing in the sufferance of this country today.
I said it in newspaper about three months ago that government should tackle corruption first. Corruption is part of the economic problems we have now; cost of governance is too much. The people at the National Assembly are not ready to say we have eaten enough, let’s go on part-time. They will not agree and if Tinubu disagrees with them, it’s a system and there’s nothing they will not do to fight. We want restructuring but those that are benefiting from the current system will not allow it. They have sworn that it will be on their dead body. Because at my age, the little I’ve seen in this country, I can speak on behalf of the masses and I can tell the government where it pinches. I know about it. And it’s part of my calling that I should criticise the ills of the society and I do that through songs; one of such came out in 1990. Times were not as hard and terrible as this then. There is one I sang in 1983 when God showed me a picture of famine in the land; people were no longer eating what they want but what they can just afford. This Nigeria of last year and now was the one I saw as at that time. Christians were being crucified in some parts in the north and they were returning home, you saw the video, it is on YouTube; people were running, they were dropping dead and they were packed inside a pickup van. I can’t ever imagine that these messages will come to pass in such a manner. That I am even afraid, despite having predicted it, I followed up with another song; A’yeyindarugbo, whereas, we’ve not started crying then I sang another one Ijoba Orun ku dede. I was in the studio when the June 12 crisis started. God was ministering to me saying go to Matthew 24, verses 39 to the end; turn it to song. That’s where I got it. Remember the story on the days of Noah, it’s not like the whole world is going to crumble on the head of everybody. But look at what is happening when we say the end has come, it is not physical. Take your mind back to COVID-19 era. I did a special song on that. I alone made meaningful song in the world and in Africa. That the Lord has given the earth to some certain people, it is true.
What did people say when you released those songs?
Even my husband while he was alive used to say I am a prophet of doom. But when he saw everything that started unfolding after the song, he confessed that I really got the message correctly. And it’s like we haven’t seen anything. Things can never be the same again. Even in the entire world, especially in Nigeria; Nigerian problem is worse, the people are feeling it more than any other country because of bad leadership, corruption and economic problems. They are governing the people with deceit, they are lying to us all and there is nothing we can do about it. It is now as if all of us in Africa have made a covenant with poverty. People should let the leaders know that they are not satisfied and we are suffering.
At 70, how do you look so much more agile and younger than your age?
It is by the grace and mercy of the Almighty God; that is number one. Number two, people don’t invest in looking good but I learnt that early and three, it is hereditary in my family; my mother died at 95 with her low cut and whenever she puts on her bubu, you will think she is my aunt. Also, you have to consider the level of exposure.
What advice will you give women?
You need to be tough; you need to have strong spirit in and out towards whatever you want to do. I don’t take no for an answer and disappointment is not in my book, it’s not in my dictionary. If I do something, if it doesn’t catch up, I will continue until I get it. And God has always been concerned with us. So for you to make it, you have to have discipline in terms of what you eat, what you wear, what you do, your behaviour and everything. The training my mother gave me when I was young saved very much in my life. That’s why my children and people around me say mommy is tough. I am a perfectionist and it is not easy to be one because it gives me stress. Don’t be a liability to anybody or to your husband, in this world that we are now, everybody has to work hard before you can survive, don’t be a lazy woman because you are a lady and you are beautiful.
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