Veteran Nigerian singer , Onyeka Onwenu has revealed that she once rejected marriage proposal from the music legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. She revealed this in her new autobiography , titled “my father’s daughter”. Onyeka revealed that she rejected Fela’s marriage proposal during her visit to his club because of his other wives. According to her , she is a possessive lover and did not understand Fela’s love for women.Narrating how Fela proposed marriage , Onyeka wrote;
“The second time I saw Fela was in 1984, a few years after I had returned from the United States. He had just been released from jail. He was arrested for attempting to travel with his gang for a gig in London with a sum of 1,600pounds for their hotel accommodation. At that time, carrying any amount of foreign currency was against one of the many decrees promulgated by the Buhari/Idiagbon military junta. After he was released from prison, Fela sent a mutual friend, the journalist Onuorah Udenwa who is now a US-based pastor, to bring me to his club. I thought that he probably wanted to thank me for speaking up for him but that was not it. He never even mentioned in the article I had written in solidarity for him. Fela wanted to marry me and I was flattered. I thanked him for the honour of wanting me to become his consort but I turned him down all the same”.
The music legend added that while she waited at the club to see him, she noticed that his Queens (dancer-wives)had been looking at her with scorn. “They passed often , whispering comments about me. They were downright hostile and quite obvious about it. I pointed this out to him and told him that,” I was a possessive lover and would not be able to cope as an appendage to his harem but Fela laughed”.
