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Nigerian gospel music icon, Tope Alabi buried her father, Pa Joseph Akinyele
Obayomi who died at the age of 89 on December 16, 2019.
At the burial, Tope Alabi
heaped praises on her late father for praying for her despite their differences
while she was growing up. She noted that she was a thorn on her father’s flesh
because of her interest in Theater Art but her father kept praying for her to
succeed.
“I remember how receptively
slow people thought I was; how overbearing I was. I remember how stubborn I was
too. Despite my receptive attitude, I didn’t project the character of decency
when I was growing up. I would jump at any available ‘bolekaja’ and off I would
go. I remember becoming a thorn in your flesh Daddy, when I chose to join a theatre
group. Your expectation was that I would start working after college but I
joined the Nigerian Theatre Practitioners as an itinerant actor, going from one
film location to another with or without invitation.
I remember how it was
almost impossible to believe that I would be a source of blessings to my
parents…But I can’t forget that despite your chastisement and frustrations, you
still prayed for me anytime you wanted to pray, telling God what you wanted me
to become…”
Also speaking at her
concert “Praise the Almighty 2020” Tope Alabi recounted her life and talked
briefly on many things she has passed through while growing up “I know some
people are here who cannot point to any meaningful thing they have achieved in
life. I know some people are here, even the worst slippers on their leg right
now was borrowed. I know some people are here, they borrowed the cloth, the
shoe, everything they wore to this place from friends. I know some people are
here who cannot remove the cap or scarf because of the condition of their hair,
full of scalp and dandruff. That was exactly my story years back. I went
through hell in Oshodi. Even before I can buy second hand cloth under Oshodi
Bridge, I will have saved for months. In our house, whenever we make corn mill
(Ogi), we will have to dry the waste from the corn mill (Eeri), we would dry it
and blend it again to make amala.
I hawked raw eggs. I must
hawk rice and stew before going to school in Ewutu. It was in Ibadan that I
sold boiled eggs. There were so many temptations while I was growing up as
well, but I thank God for my mother who kept me on the right path. I would like
to advise parents as well to instill discipline into their children so that
they would be able to flee from temptation. My mother did a wonderful job on me
because the fear of what my mother would do to me if I was caught doing the
wrong thing was always there to deter me from doing anything silly. If at all
you tried anything stupid and you got caught, just consider yourself dead. We
need parents to take care of these children because temptations come in different
forms.
There was a time my mother
sent me on an errand around 7.30pm and I was almost ambushed by some boys who
wanted to rape me. Immediately I sighted them, I began to shout because I
remembered my mother’s advice about situations like that. I thank God because
as I began to scream, those boys ran away and that was what saved me. If it
were another girl, they would have had their way with her. Despite the fact
that we were struggling, my mother made sure she reserved some money for our
upkeep like making our hair or buying necessary things. She did not want a
situation whereby a man would tempt us with money”.
But today, the story has
changed. I pray for everyone here tonight, facing one challenge or the other
that, by this time next year the Lord will give them testimonies in Jesus name.
Tope is married to Soji
Alabi who is also her Manager and Producer. They are blessed with children.
Source: City People
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