An iconic singer, actor, journalist, broadcaster and author, Onyeka Onwenu, has confessed that
of all the men she was linked with, only Fela Anikulapo-Kuti showed romantic interest in her and asked for her hand in marriage.
In an interview with RedmediaAfrica, Onwenu, who acknowledged her rumoured love affairs with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, King Sunny Ade, late Sunny Okosun among others, said however that she declined the King of Afrobeats’ proposal.
“Fela (Anikulapo-Kuti) was a trickster. He knew I would say no. He had a bet with someone, that person is Dede Mabiaku. He told Dede I was going to run.”
She said that Fela’s proposal might have been his way of thanking her for standing up for him when he was charged with money laundering and jailed by the Federal Government.
“I took a chance writing that widely read article in his favour. I said why arrest him for the money he has earned? ‘He’s taking his band outside and he’s going to pay for their hotel, this is so wrong’ and some people said ‘go and arrest her’.
“It was Idiagbon who said ‘no, leave that woman alone, she loves Nigeria.’”
On her rumoured love affair with Obasanjo, Onwenu confessed: “they even said President Obasanjo married me. Obasanjo asked me about the rumour and we had a good laugh about it. Somebody had asked me that question four times, and by the fifth time I was ready to fight him to leave me alone. If he (Obasanjo) was going to marry me, then we’d make it public, why would I hide it” she disclosed.
The award-winning veteran said that the rumours about her love affairs with celebrities became so rampant that a lot of times, “I actually refused to address those questions.”
She said that after many years of enduring rumours of affairs and a turbulent marriage that almost killed her, she now enjoys a fulfilling love life with her childhood sweetheart.
Though she would not disclose the name of the lucky guy, she said: “the love that I share with this man started when I was 13 years old.
“This man loved me, knew me, built me up and told me who I was before I knew who I was…You don’t meet people like him all the time. He’s just very special.”
