It seems you are among the people who want to revive the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria…
If you see your property decaying and you don’t do something about it, you don’t have to blame anybody. In that regard, people like me decided it was time we gave PMAN our support. The problem of PMAN has always been leadership. But the current president, Pretty, is a reasonable man who listens to advice and appreciates other people’s input. We intend to have a partnership with him and see how we can uplift the association.
What of the reunion with the other Remedies group, Eddy Brown and Tony Tetuila?
We are recording at the moment. We have recorded about six songs. We don’t want to be in a hurry. Everybody is busy but we try to record anytime we are together. Very soon you will see the album coming out.
Looking back now, wouldn’t you have wished the group didn’t break up?
Ah! It is a good thing that we broke up. It was good we went our separate ways. If you are in a group, you would notice things that are not right and you wouldn’t want to say it out in order not to hurt anybody’s feelings. Then, you would certainly long for your freedom. As soon as you are free, you would be so happy that you wouldn’t even want to talk about that thing that got you pissed off in the first place. I don’t regret we separated. For us coming back now, it is a new ball game. We talked about our differences and we are good.
You celebrated the former President Jonathan in your last album before the election, looking back now that he lost; do you have some kind of regrets?
No way! This is the first time I saw a president who blew my mind in a lot of things that I have never experienced since the time of all the generals that ruled us. I saw our airports turned from gutter level to international standard. The Lagos/Benin road that has killed so many people, Jonathan was able to rebuild it. He was the most abused president in the world yet it didn’t stop him from being himself, he still went about doing good. People didn’t see the good he did because of the propaganda of Boko Haram. For me, he is my hero. I have no regret about that album in his honour, I will always appreciate Jonathan. As for the current president, I admire his zeal to curb corruption, which is what my music is all about. But then again, he should try and develop this country. Fighting corruption is not development. The youth are crying; he should create employment. I am not his fan yet. I need to see a new Nigeria and I have not seen it yet.
Coming to your fashion now, is there any day we will see you not wearing three quarters shorts?
Fashion for me is called simplicity. I don’t believe I must dress corporate all the time. I don’t believe there must be a dress code for every event. Please! That is not my style. Your dressing doesn’t determine if you would be successful or not.
But they say ‘Dress the way you want to be addressed’…
That is story. It is grammar! If that is the case, how come an employee of a bank who dresses so well, still goes out of her way to sleep with anybody in order to meet up her target? It doesn’t make any sense to me. I live my life. If I am to meet President (Barack) Obama today, I would still dress like Eedris Abdulkareem. I will wear my three quarters and my tee shirt and carry my towel and hang it on my neck. I remember during one Salah celebration, we were getting set for mosque and I wore my shorts, my wife was so upset. She said I shouldn’t try it. Anyway, I told her I would wear the shorts but I would wear jalabia over it and that was when she agreed.
Do you even have suits?
The last time I wore a suit was during Eddy Montana’s wedding. Laughter almost killed me. Seriously? Me, wear suit? Ha! I looked at myself that day and I just laughed. It was bad enough that I wore suit, I still had to knot a tie. I think the second time was when I was doing ‘Mr. Lecturer’ video. Some people really get scared when they have to wear a suit especially if they have a visa appointment.
So you wear suit if you have a visa appointment at an embassy?
No way! I still go on my three quarter shorts. It is all about your intelligence and your psyche. Wole Soyinka doesn’t wear suit and nobody has killed him. He is still one of the most respected men in Nigeria.
Oh yes, this towel has been your identity like forever, is it basically to clean sweat or what?
My journey to stardom is spiritual. It is God that has got me to where I am. I relate with Him and He communicates with me in my dream. He tells me to wear towel on my head to cover my blessings.
You have also reduced the number of blings and chains you wear, why?
When you grow up and get more mature, you don’t need such blings. You don’t need to show people you have money to buy gold chains. You can use such in videos. It no longer makes sense to me wearing blings all around town.
It’s a surprise you don’t have tattoos…
Never! Islam doesn’t permit it. You can’t see me doing anything that my religion doesn’t permit.
You also love fez caps…
I love them a lot. I have so many, I have lost count of the number of fez caps I have. I can’t count the number of shorts I have too. But then, I always give out clothes and shoes. My fans meet me at the end of a show and they tell me they love what I am wearing and I tell the person to follow me home and I give it out. God told me to give out and I would make more money. He said I should invest in people and I would never lack.
Do you still remember your days as Olympic torch-bearer?
It was in 2004, I remember it so well. That was the most important moment of my life. Olympic is about unity and togetherness. Automatically, it made me to become an authority. I met with a lot of prominent people so I have to become more responsible.
Do you dictate to your wife what to wear?
No. She dresses well. She wears jeans and she makes her hair. She is a professional basketball player. She cannot dress indecently because Islam doesn’t permit it in the first place and she knows. She can wear such at home but she can’t dress indecently outside.
Who buys the stuff you wear?
I buy them and my wife also buys them any time she travels abroad. We intend to go into our own fashion line soon.
It’s like you have stopped sagging…
Oh yes, I no longer do that. I used to do it in the days of Remedies. With time, you grow up, family comes in and then you need to be careful of what you do and what you wear. All those things don’t make sense to me any longer.
Punch
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