See Why Onyeka Onwenu Rejected Fela Kuti’s Marriage Proposal.

Nigerian idol singer Onyeka Onwenu has revealed that Nigeria legendary singer Fela Anikulapo Kuti asked her to marry him in the ’80s.

Onyeka made this shocking revelation in her new autobiography titled “My Father’s Daughter.” She went on to say that Fela had proposed to her during one of her visits to his club, but she rejected it due to his other wives.

She continued that she is a very possessive person when it comes to falling in love, and she did not understand Fela’s way of loving women.

Giving an indebt explanation of how Fela proposed to her, she 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 band for a gig in London with the sum of 1,600 pounds for their hotel accommodation.”

At the time, carrying any foreign currency amount 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 the article I had written in solidarity with him. Fela wanted to marry me, and I was flattered. I thanked him for the honor of wanting me to become his consort, but I turned him down all the same.”

She added that while she waited at the club to see him, he noticed that his other wives looked at her with scorn. They would pass by often, whispering comments about me.

She pointed out that they were hostile and quite apparent about it, which she told him, adding that she was a possessive lover and would not cope as an appendage to his harem, but Fela laughed over it.