Pa Orlando Julius and wife narrowly escape death

Barely a few days after the glorious but sudden exit of Fatai Rolling Dollar at the ripe age of 85, death was narrowly averted in Lagos, last weekend, when Pa Orlando Julius Ekemode and his American wife, Latoya, came within inches of losing their

lives in a near fatal accident after their car narrowly missed plunging off a bridge just before Berger Bridge, on the outskirts of Lagos.
The incident, which occurred just before Berger Bridge as they approached Lagos from Mowe, a town on the outskirts of Lagos on the evening of Saturday, June 16, could have culminated in the car plunging into the marshy area beneath the bridge with the both of them strapped to their seats but for sheer providence!
Trouble began after the vehicle in which they were traveling, a Range Rover SUV, belonging to Pa Orlando lost control and veered of the highway, hitting a number of cars in the process, ramming into the railings and dangling precariously but luckily its right tyre got stuck on the railings.
“But for the railings on the bridge, the car would have plunged into the marshy land beneath the bridge and probably dispatched the pair to the great beyond but the right tyre of the vehicle got stuck. This culminated in a traffic snarl that lasted for several hours before the SUV was eventually towed to Lagos,” an eye witness revealed.
Confirming the incident, his American wife, Latoya, told Superbass that she was yet to recover from the shock: “I am still shaken by the experience. It happened so quickly, in just a few seconds it was all over and we found ourselves in our car suspended from the bridge but held back by the railing of the bridge. The car could have gone over and we could both be dead by now! Thank God for being there for us.”
For Pa Orlando Julius: “My gratitude to God knows no bounds. I can’t stop thanking Him; this is nothing short of a miracle.”

Composer of Nigeria’s National anthem, Pa Benedict Odiase is dead.

   The composer of  Nigeria’s National Anthem, Arise O Compatriots, Pa Benedict Odiase died last night in his sleep. Odiase, who composed the nation’s national anthem in 1978 resigned from the Nigeria Police Force where he was Director of Music in 1992 as a Deputy Commissioner of Police. He was awarded Member of The Order of the Niger (MON) in 2001 in recognition for his contribution to music in the country.
Contrary to reports that he died in penury, Odiase had this to say in a recent interview: “I have transferred my intellectual/ copyright interest in the work, Arise O Compatriot, being used as the Nigerian National Anthem to the Musical Copyright Society Nigeria (MCSN) from the Performing Rights Society of United Kingdom, for protection since 1998. This decision to accede my rights to MCSN has paid off handsomely as the society has protected my work and paid royalties to me in hard currency from the exploitation of my composition around the world and locally.

FATAI ROLLING DOLLARS IS DEAD!

ONYEKA OWENU.... IS THIS DOUBLE STANDARD?

A while ago, Onyeka Owenu, who has always been a staunch supporter of Tony Okoroji and COSON was edged out of the board of COSON. Consequently, she has pitched her tent with MCSN. However, Superbass got this leaked email which is alleged to have originated from her email box. Written in 2009, it takes Mayo Ayilaran to the cleaners. Ironically, it is the same man that she has now pitched her tent with.

Below is an unedited copy of the email.

WHAT IS THE TITLE OF MAYO AYILARAN’S HIT SONG? – Onyeka Onwenu

In Lagos lives a middle aged man called Mayo Ayilaran. He is very passionate about music. In the last 25 years or more, Mr. Ayilaran has stuck himself in the middle of the music industry. Suggest to Mr. Ayilaran that he leaves the industry alone and he raises an alarm almost like you want to stab him.

I have checked everywhere and I cannot find one song written by Mayo Ayilaran. I do not know him to play any musical instrument. I have never seen Mr. Ayilaran on stage performing any song neither do I know one artiste that he has produced. He is neither a publisher of music nor has he bothered to start even a small label to help one young musician achieve his dream. Mr. Ayilaran is neither an artiste manager nor a music promoter. To the best of my knowledge, he has not bothered to invest in a small kiosk to sell music CDs or tapes not to speak of a mini studio in which an aspiring musician can do a demo. To all intents and purposes, Mr. Ayilaran is not a stakeholder in the Nigerian music industry yet he may be profiting more from the industry than anyone else and is clearly determined to maintain a stranglehold on the industry.

Not too long ago, Ayilaran looked rather haggard and unkempt and drove a rickety car. Today, he walks with a swagger. As the average Nigerian musician sweats to pay his children’s school fees, Mr. Ayilaran junkets around the major cities of the world in comfort. You may wonder who pays the bills for Ayilaran’s current opulent lifestyle. Of course, the bills are paid by innocent Nigerian artistes a lot of who on their own cannot afford a trip to Cotonou.

Mr. Ayiliran is a very persuasive person and possesses the same talent that your regular conman employs to make you look at what is clearly green and see it as red. I have been a victim of his talent. It was this talent that convinced me to become a director of Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN) an

organization of which Mayo Ayilaran is the lifetime General Manager. (I have just been told that he now refers to himself as Director General).  My understanding was that MCSN was set up as a nonprofit organization, owned by the members, to collect royalties for the use of their musical works, which royalties will be distributed to those who own the works.

I have been involved in a lot of organizations but none like MCSN. As a director, I was discouraged from having any intelligent discussions with anyone who questioned how MCSN operates. At MCSN, any proposal to cooperate or work with other people in the industry is frowned at. They even attempted to influence me to see my colleagues in the industry as

adversaries. While I was a director of MCSN I did not know how much money MCSN made nor how the money was disbursed. I did not have any access to the books and any attempt I made for a proper board meeting to be held so as to address these issues was rebuffed.

It took a few years but eventually it dawned on me that I had been conned. My hard earned reputation was being used to perpetrate a fraud against my profession and my country. I had to walk away from MCSN but only to become a victim of a barrage of media attack organized by Ayilaran.

The truth is that no real structure exists within the Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria. In theory Mr. Ayilaran is supposed to be an employee of the organization but like every discerning person in the industry knows, Mayo Ayilaran is MCSN and MCSN is Mayo Ayilaran. Now and again he brings in innocent people with some name recognition and delivers his sweet talk to these people and displays their names on his letter headed paper to give some credibility to his questionable operations. King Sunny Ade’s name has been used for this purpose in the past. Ebenezer Obey’s name has also been so used. The names of other persons are being used right now for the same purpose. I have no doubt that none of these persons can say with any certainty how much comes into MCSN, where the money comes from and how the money is spent.

MCSN without question is the Musical Copyright Scam of Nigeria.  To maintain this fraud, Ayilaran must ensure that the music industry continues to be in disarray because a united industry will see through his scam and bring his nonsense to an end. That is why Ayilaran has continuously sought to infiltrate the organs of the industry and the Nigerian Copyright Commission and gets into a fit anytime the industry tries to speak with one voice. This guy has done everything he can to make sure that collective administration of copyright in Nigeria is not reformed. The confusion in the sector serves his purpose and he will do anything to keep things the way they are. Each time the industry gets close to having one strong collecting society, Ayilaran will yell about freedom of association as if there is a provision in the Nigerian constitution or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that forbids Nigerian musicians or copyright owners from coming together. Recently on the very day that several associations in our industry got together to hold the unprecedented rally against piracy in Lagos, Mr. Ayilaran took a full page advertorial in a national newspaper to try to scuttle the rally. Since then, he has published more full-page advertorials to ensure that Nigerian musicians remain in disarray. If you understand that each full page advertorial published by Ayilaran costs more than four hundred thousand naira, you may then begin to get a picture of how much money is available to this guy to play with.

The painful thing is that Mr. Ayilaran has deep contempt for Nigerian musicians. He talks about us with so much disdain. Of

course, for many years we have been his MUGU. He has milked us for so long and believes that he can continue to milk us for the rest of his life. No matter how educated or exposed we are, Mayo Ayilaran believes that he is smatter. He also believes that he is the master of ‘cheat and retreat’. He has been good at manipulating the Nigerian legal process to shield him from full accounting. He frequently tries to tie himself around respected international organizations like PRS and CISAC.

I can bet that none of these organizations will knowingly support the Ayilaran scam. When he has been cornered in the past, his response has been to put up a hastily called press conference at which he presents a few cheques to a few musicians. At none of these conferences has he answered the real question: how much has MCSN collected in the name of Nigerian musicians all these years and where is the money?

Every self respecting stakeholder in the music industry must find the voice to say “no more of this nonsense” We are losing millions as a result of this madness. The time has come to call this man’s bluff and to free our industry from the shackles of a person who has invested nothing in it. This time, the EFCC must step in and do a thorough investigation of MCSN. Those who have lent their names to be used by Mr. Ayilaran and to shield MCSN from justice must find the strength and leave Ayilaran to go down alone. Whatever crumbs they receive from him cannot justify the headache that is likely to come. Those who are too far gone or too weak to extricate themselves must be prepared to go down with him.

ONYEKA ONWENU MFR

DINMA'S SECRET WISH

New kid on the block, Dinma, has one wish she would want rave-of-the-moment star, Wizkid, to grant her. The 16 year-old aspiring guitarist and singer has confessed that she craves a collabo with the Kpakurumo singer.

“Gosh! I like Wizkid,” she says, her eyes animated with a glint of admiration as she speaks, “I’d like to do a collabo with him; he’s so talented! His story is emotional and nothing short of inspiring. Success for him did not come on a platter of gold; he had to fight every inch of the way and struggled to be where he is today. His story gives me hope that I could make it in life if I work hard; I look up to him.”

Whenever you see the budding act at events, she is always strapping a guitar. The up-and coming act who started music professionally two years ago disclosed that

her passion for the guitar which she is currently learning to play was inspired by Nneka. Now she has decided to brand herself with the string instrument.

“I’ve been playing for the last six months,” she says with enthusiasm written all over her face. “There’s still a lot to learn; it’s huge. Nneka inspired me to pick up the guitar. It’s an instrument that speaks to you.  When you watch Nneka perform, you realise that there is a connection between the singer and the instrument; it’s so amazing,” she says.

Challenges

Like the story of every green horn, Dinma’s story has not been a tea party. She shared some of her challenges with The Entertainer:  “As an up-and-coming act, people don’t really know you so you’re kind of restricted. Consequently you have to hustle for shows on your own unlike those that are made. You have to fight to get shows; you have to fight to perform and it’s kind of stressful.

“As a teenage girl I think I have an advantage. Most people are like oh, she’s a cute girl! Just bring her on stage and stuffs like that,” she says laughing and flashing milky white teeth as her lips part.

“Aside that you also have to be creative and do something that everybody would like; something commercial. And this also puts a lot of pressure on you. I have written over 30 songs to date and still counting,” she adds.

Dinma disclosed that when she chose to pursue music, a lot of friends had rather than encourage her, tried to discourage her. She says she simply dusted them off and moved on choosing to concentrate instead on her career and the love and support of her parents.

Just having fun

When is she going to drop her debut album?

“I don’t know for now,” she says with a wave of the head, “I’m just having fun doing this. I’m working on the video of my track, Crazy. I am an inspirational singer. Whenever I perform on stage I feel great because I am always accepted. I feel my dream is coming through; I can smell it,” she adds with a soft laugh.

Exclusive pictures of Angela Okorie's new look

Lola Omotayo blessing to me -P-Square’s Peter

P-Square’s Peter Okoye has described Lola Omotayo, the mother of his two kids, as a blessing to him.

In a post on Twitter earlier in the week, the singer heaped praises on Lola, an Oil & Gas executive, stating that she met him when he was nobody but however believed in him and his dreams.

“She accepted me when I had nothing. Now that I have achieved a lot, respect her for that; e nor easy. I met this woman when I had nothing…she’s a blessing to me…ssshhhhh. Don’t talk like you know her ‘cos u don’t,” Peter twitted.

In an earlier interview, Lola had disclosed that what attracted her to Peter was his self confidence stating that when they met, Peter, who was still a green horn in music was not intimidated by her personality.

Both met when Lola, who is of Nigerian and Russian parentage, was working for an advertising agency in the early 2000s in Lagos. Then, P-Square was still struggling to make an impact on the music scene.

Though, they have two kids and Peter has always professed his undying love for her publicly, they are yet to tie the knot.

I’m planning a gay movie - Afrocandy

The hue and cry over her porn flick, Destructive Instinct 3 & 4 is yet to settle but controversial singer cum actress, Afrocandy seems to be forging ahead.

The actress has revealed that she has plans to shoot a gay movie and would also act in it, adding that being gay is normal.

Commenting on her impression of gays, Afrocandy said: “My impression about them is since they are mostly adults; they know what is right and what is wrong and choose to do what is best for them. I guess they know what they want and what they want to do with their lives so it’s normal.”

Now, would she act in a gay movie?

“Yes, I will. Matter of fact, I have a script for that,” she said.