What Sonny Okosun Told Me Before He Died 13 Years Ago—-Faith Onokhua

<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>What Sonny Okosun told me before he died is the focus of this exclusive interview Faith Onokhua&comma; a musician&comma; granted <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> as part of the 13th anniversary of late Sonny Okosun who was best known as the leader of the Ozzidi band&comma; named after a renowned Ijaw river god&period; <&sol;em><em>Okosun died at 61 on 24 May 2008 at Howard University Hospital&comma; Washington DC&period; His musical styles included reggae&comma; highlife&comma; Afro-funk&comma; and gospel&comma; among others<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>How are you related to the late Sonny Okosun who died 13 years ago&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Not biological father&comma; he&&num;8217&semi;s like an adopted father to me&comma; I lived with him and I worked with him as his backup singer in Ozziddi band&period; He called me his daughter and I called him father till death<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>You are involved in music promoting the late Sonny Okosun&period; Why are you keeping his memory alive&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I am keeping his memory alive because he asked me to&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;I still remember few days before he flew back to America&comma; he said to me &OpenCurlyQuote;Do you know I&&num;8217&semi;m going back to America in two days time&quest;’ And I said yes&comma; because of so many check-up after the operation&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He then said follow me and I followed him to his studio where he&&num;8217&semi;s buried&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone size-medium wp-image-8615" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;Faith-4-300x300&period;jpg" alt&equals;"What Sonny Okosun" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"300" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>That was where he asked me to promise him that this mantle will not drop and I started crying&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He asked me to stop and he prayed for me and gave me Psalm 23 and said &OpenCurlyQuote;This will guide your life&period;’<br &sol;>&NewLine;I knew there was a transfer of grace which I can&&num;8217&semi;t be talking about here&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Oh my God&excl; Tears are running down my eyes as I&&num;8217&semi;m saying this&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;I don&&num;8217&semi;t think it was even up to three weeks he went back to America that he died&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;So&comma; I own it as a responsibility to pass his messages and legacies to other generations&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;I&&num;8217&semi;m just trying to do his last wish which he mandated me to keep up with the music&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>How did you meet him&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I first had a dream about him singing on stage and I was backing him up&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;I told my brother and one of my cousins&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;They were laughing and calling me Josephine the dreamer&period; I was very young and was not doing music professionally&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;As of that time&comma; I had neither known Lagos nor met with him&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Years later&comma; I moved to Lagos for the usual search for greener pastures&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;I met a friend of mine that asked me to accompany her to a saloon and it happened to be a Sunkech Saloon owed by Sonny Okosun&&num;8217&semi;s late wife&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone size-medium wp-image-8616" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;Faith-2-223x300&period;jpg" alt&equals;"What Sonny Okosun" width&equals;"223" height&equals;"300" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>After the hair do&comma; I went inside the compound and I met him sitting in the compound and I greeted him&period; He responded as if I had been with him for years&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He asked me if I sing&period; I told him yes that I sing and I love music but I&&num;8217&semi;m not doing it professionally&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He said you are free to come around at anytime&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;From there&comma; I became a friend and member of the family&period; When he opened his church&comma; I became a chorister in his church from there he trained me professionally to work with the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">Ozziddi Band<&sol;a> as a back up singer&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;I worked with him till he died&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Point out three fantastic things about him&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He was a father&comma; a mentor and a leader to all that came around him&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>What are your musical or entertainment goals&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>My musical goals are to continue with the legacies of Sonny Okosun as a father and a mentor&period; I also want to impact my generation with my songs and messages<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone size-medium wp-image-8617" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;05&sol;Faith-225x300&period;jpg" alt&equals;"What Sonny Okosun" width&equals;"225" height&equals;"300" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;