The body of Alhaji (Dr) Sikiru ayinde Barrister landed at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport on Thursday night and was immediately taken to his Fuji Palace residence for short prayers and internment.The burial however ended an eventful life of an icon and music colossus who came, saw, and conquered, planting a seed currently germinating awesomely all over the world in the form of Fuji music, the traditional Yoruba music know to African communities all over the world.
He was 62 years of age.
At exactly, 7.55pm, his remains landed at the MMIA aboard Air France but were not released to the family members till about 9.08pm as it had to undergo several security, Customs and Immigrations clearances.
It was hurriedly transferred into a steaming Mercedes Benz SUV ambulance.
The aircraft took the corpse from London on Wednesday morning and a couple of stop overs precisely in Dubai and France has made the Fuji megastar’s journey more tedious making the arrival later than expected.
His teaming fans turned up in thousands to receive his corpse and the scene of the arrival was very emotional with tears running down many fans faces as they receive the corpse.
Prior to his arrival, his family members and supporters made the entire arrival area rowdy as they wore mournful looks.
Many of the fans had besieged the Airport with lots of souvenirs of Sikiru which they sold to make brisk business
Among the visible Yoruba greats and colleagues in the music industry who were on ground to receive his corpse were Adewale Ayuba, Alhaji Kollington Ayinla, Dele Abiodun, Sir Shina Peters, Abass Akande alias Obesere,Osupa Saheed,Wasiu Alabi Pasuma among others.
At exactly, 7.55pm, his remains landed at the MMIA brought in by Air France. The body was released to the at about 9.08pm aafter undergoing several security, Customs and Immigrations clearance.
It was then hurriedly transferred into a steaming Mercedes Benz SUV ambulance for the musician’s official residence at Fuji Chambers in Isolo, Lagos Mainland.Scores of vehicles and ambulances were on ground to escort his remains to his Isolo residence.
The corpse arrived his Lamina Lawal Street, Isolo home at exactly 9:44p.m, carried in a casket.
A brief funeral prayer was held for the repose of the musician’s soul in front of his house.
The corpse was then moved into the house for interment at about 10.05 pm, amid wailings by relations and fans.
A huge crowd of family members, friends and fans waited for the arrival of Barrister’s remains as early as 7.00 am on Thursday.
While the corpse of the late Fuji exponent was being expected at the airport, news filtered in that members of his family from Ibadan were on ground and had perfected plans to hijack and ensure that his body taken to Ibadan for burial. Barrister has always emphasized Ibadan as his home town.
The rumour had called for reinforcement of police presence to forestall breakdown of law and order.
The Sun newspaper reported that as journalists positioned themselves to take photographs of the corpse from a vantage position, the camera of a photo journalist from Entertainment On Net’ Victor Obot was broken by a former promoter of the late musician, Police immediately ordered his arrest.
The late Ayinde Barrister’s long and glittering music career impacted much on the local Nigerian scene in the 70s when he started, through the 90s especially.
Born in Lagos in 1948, Ayinde (Barrister) is widely regarded as not just responsible for the introduction of Fuji, but also with training and inspiring of many of the genre’s stars, even as he was a leading light and highly influential voice until his death.
Ayinde, also called Mr. Fuji, was bedridden for sometime and had been to hospitals in Nigeria, India and the UK where he finally died.
He was operated upon in India in May this year, but later returned to the country, with many of his admirers and relatives thinking the worst was over concerning the illness.However, things turned out for the worse sometimes ago as news of his worst condition dominated newswaves once again especially in August when there was rumours of his death in some quarters.
The rumoured death reports were later found to be false.
Barrister was a combatant of the Nigerian civil war, after which he introduced Fuji through a loose combination of sounds from traditional Yoruba forms and oral materials. At the height of his fame, Barrister headed a 25-piece band known as the Supreme Fuji Commanders as well as the Africa International music Ambassadors and had over 100 records to his credit, most of which were very popular even among non-Yoruba speakers.
He will be remembered especially for impacting on the life of millions of Nigerians and Africans who understand his language, as he used his music to sermonise against evil, immorality, unfairness, political game-play and low esteem towards God as a prophet who came, saw and conquered in many areas of human endeavour. We wish him eternal rest in the bosom of God.
