Fuji musician Saheed Osupa has signified his intention to withdraw his membership from the Fuji Musicians Association of Nigeria, (FUMAN), the umbrella association of fuji artistes in the country.
In an exclusive chat with http://www.nigeriafilms.com, Osupa disclosed that he may quit because FUMAN leadership has outlived its relevance.
He says: “I may leave FUMAN because I don’t see the relevance of its leadership.
They said the purpose of the body is to bring unity among fuji musician but I don’t see any unity. None of the aims and objectives is executed. Their intention is to destroy the image of a popular artiste.
Thus, I can’t continue in an association that is denting my image. So, anytime from now, I may leave the association.”
On what led to his decision to jettison the association, Osupa narrated further: “The association demanded for money from me and I issued a cheque not knowing that the man in charge of my account has left his bank to another and has withdrawn the money to his new bank thus making it impossible to cash the cheque. I expected them to wait till I came back from Mecca but instead they started speaking ill of me.
Even, the action taken by my banker affected me when I was going to Saudi Arabia. I couldn’t withdraw money. They then decided to ban me, even after giving them the money on my return from Mecca. I have done all I was asked to do. Still, they are witch-hunting me. So, what is the essence of being a member of the association when the leadership cannot instill love and unity? Fortunate enough, Nigerian constitution stipulated there is freedom of association. So, nobody can stampede me to join an association.
If I leave FUMAN, all its laws won’t apply to me again because I’m no longer a member.
But how was his sojourn in Mecca? Osupa responded: “My sojourn in Mecca ate last year was to show gratitude to God. I have been to the holy pilgrimage before in 2000 but last year; I went there to make more supplication.”
On starting out
Starting a career would be tough but as one continues, he starts gathering momentums and things become easy. Thus, it was not easy when we started but we thank God for where he has brought us so far, although, I have not reached the peak of my success. When we started, fuji music was not fetching us money rather we did it free of charge. But now we are singing our way to fortune.
Supremacy war
Osupa has fingered supremacy war as the cause of rancour in fuji music circle. According to him, no one wants to play subordinate to the other, nobody wants to take order from the master.
“What is causing trouble among fuji musicians is fight for supremacy as no one wants to be pronounced subordinate to other. But I see it as nothing. The fuji elders look at things from different perspectives. But their own perspectives can be justified by them because they are the elderly ones.”
