http://www.yeoal.com/2013/09/i-wanted-naeto-c-to-be-doctor-and-not.html



Nigerian politician and Naeto C's mum Mrs. Kema Chikwe revealed the laid back aspect of her when she  granted an interview recently. She talked about partying during her teenage years, how she tried to stop Naeto C from pursuing music and how she met her husband. Excerpts.........

 

On her teenage years and how she loved to party....

 “If there was a party, we would be very nice around the house four weeks before the date. Since informing him about the party was very difficult, my siblings would always nominate my sister, Ngozi, and myself to announce the party to him.  My father would be disappointed because he did not understand why children like us should be interested in parties. He would then start preaching to us but of course, since our minds were not on the sermon, we would continue to scheme, until he would finally agree. However, he would ask the driver to take us to the venue and wait for us.  On getting to the party venue, we would give the driver money to go home because if he waited, it meant we would go home after about one hour but if he went home, we would stay for as long as the party lasted.  My father was not easy to dribble but we always came up with excuses that would allow us the freedom we wanted. We would say we wanted to visit friends but we would all have a meeting point where all our friends from the various homes who had given their parents the same excuse would meet and proceed to the party venue.   All our parties were like Cinderella parties, at a particular time, we would all rush home.”

 

On how she met her husband............

“He was a diplomat based in France and my father  had invited him to our house because he wanted to give him a letter to deliver to my sister who was in  a university in France.  When he saw me, he told his parents that he had seen a girl he wanted to marry. With encouragement from his parents, his  family approached mine and that was how we got married. We did not date before then since it was unethical for a girl to expose herself to a man who wanted to marry her before the parents had given their consent.”

 

On how she tried to stop him from chasing music..............

“Naeto’s first degree was in Biology, we were in America then and he was supposed to be a medical doctor, but he was also very talented in poetry.  He started writing lyrics for his friends and I noticed that in between going to classes for exam into medical school, he would branch into the studio and I just did not like the studio idea.  I started chasing him around. My husband thought I was supporting him but I was not, I was pushing him away from music. I would go to the studio to try to stop him but he would disarm me with his charming ways and I would leave him alone,”.

One day, she fell in love with a particular music and had no idea her son was the singer. “I was in the car and I heard a very fine music on radio done in collaboration with Hugh Masekela of South Africa, I was enjoying the music so much that I instructed my driver to get me the CD.   At the same time, the radio announcer said the song was done by Naeto C in collaboration with Hugh Masekela. When I heard it, I was embarrassed because my driver knew that I was not supporting him,” she adds.

 

On reaping her reward and how proud she is of Naeto C.....

He is a son any mother would want.  In December, he bought me very expensive jewellery and said he had saved up some money to thank me for everything I did for him".