Onyeka Onwenu releases memoir, says Nigeria’s unity not negotiable

By Joy Obakeye

Onyeka Onwenu, Nigeria’s music legend reputed for her secretive personal life has said Nigeria’s unity is not negotiable.

This, as she charged Nigerians to play less on tribalism but focus on the positives inherent in the different ethnic groups that make up the country.

Onwenu said this during a virtual pre-book launch briefing ahead of the release of her memoir ‘My Father’s Daughter’, billed for October 1.

Using her marriage to a Yoruba Muslim that produced two children as a reference, the 68-year-old music star known as the stallion due to her exploits in the nation’s polity, enjoined every Nigerian to uphold the country’s unity and stop insulting and denigrating each other.

‘’We are blessed with the richness of our culture and everyone should see themselves as one and not let divisions break the country,” she asserted.

The music icon called on the people of the South East, especially those in the diaspora, on the need to develop the region; which she said had continued to suffer marginalization and neglect.

“It doesn’t take away whatever you are doing in Lagos, Abuja, or Port Harcourt.

You are free to live and do business wherever you are but remember back home.

We are being marginalized for a long time. And our people have always done things for themselves.

“We built the Imo Airport. I was part of the process. It remains the only airport in the country that was built by the citizens and handed over to the Federal Government.

“My father went to school abroad, people in his home town collected money and supported him.

That’s how we do things, we are communal people. So, I’m not afraid to go back home,” she stated.

The human right activist cum politician, when asked for her views on the agitation for self-sovereignty by some groups in the country said she would return to South-East region to contribute her quota to its development if it comes to fruition.

She recalled once joking with her sister-in-law, who is also a Muslim, that she would leave her children for “Biafra” if the country splits and her decision would be due to her commitment to contribute to the development of the South-East, which she said, had been marginalised for long.

“If that happens (referring to Nigeria breaking up), I will go back to the South-East because I want to go back home. And even if we don’t split, I want to do so much there” she said.

Onyeka explained that the new book, titled ‘My Father’s Daughter’, which contains over 450 pages, is designed to give inspiration to the younger ones, especially the younger feminine gender, since it encapsulates her low and high moments, through life.

According to her, the book will also examine aspects of her life which are hitherto unknown to the public and would be formally unveiled on Thursday, October 1, this year.

It would be in e-version and audio and accompanied with some classics of the music legend.