₦airaland Forum

b]Newly engaged Yeni Kuti: I could’ve moved into my hubby’s house but…
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It was double joy for Yeni, eldest daughter of the late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti recently. Reason: her fiancé of almost a decade, Theo Lawson, gave her surprise 55th birthday bash and equally proposed marriage to her. In an exclusive chat with Entertainer, an obviously excited Yeni gushed about the proposal, describing it as a complete shock! Enjoy it.

You recently turned 55, how do you feel?

At 55, you start to feel the aches and pains of old age. You start to say ‘huh, my back is paining me; my wrist is paining me, my finger is paining me’, that’s when you start noticing the aches and pains. But I love being this age because you have reached the age where you can say what you want, and nobody can question you. You are no longer the young person you used to be, you are now an older person; you just have to earn that respect because of your age. But, you know, it’s the same body you had when you were in your twenties. It’s the same mind you had when you were in your thirties; it’s just getting older. You realise that you are old when you are driving down the road and someone calls you ‘mummy’, that means you don’t look young again, you are looking like ‘mummy’, that reality strikes you and you say ‘so, I am mummy to this person, he is look­ing at me and he is seeing mummy or she is looking at me and she is seeing mummy’. You know, twenty years ago or fifteen years ago, they will not call me mummy; they will call me a girl, but now they call me mummy so, it shows I am really looking my age (Laughter).

Now that you are engaged, are you put­ting marriage into consideration?

Not at all. The ring my partner gave me is what they call ‘a commitment ring’. He gave me his mother’s wedding ring as a commitment to the relationship. We have been together for about nine years. When I met him, he used to wear the ring around his neck, so for me, it is a big deal. He has entrusted me with something very close to his heart. It is not like we are going to start doing wedding and all that, even though we are really committed to each other. I call him ‘my last bus stop’. If God gives us long life and says there should be another man in my life, he is the man for me and I believe I am the woman for him as well. When he made the proposal, we didn’t know that it was going to go viral.

How did you feel when he proposed?

I was shocked! I was very happy because I didn’t see it coming at all. In fact, the surprise party blew me out of my mind; it was a double shock for me; I thank God my shock absorbers are still working.

What do you cherish most about your­self?

I don’t know what I really cherish about myself. Let us say my hair, because I re­member when I burnt my hair and I thought I was not going to have hair again, I was devastated. Well, I think the most impor­tant thing is good health. I want to see my grandchildren, so I think I cherish good health because I want to spend some time with my grandchildren. I am looking forward to when I’ll have grandchildren.

At 55, do you still dance?

I take dance classes every Satur­day at Freedom Park (Lagos), and I still train dancers. You know, dancing is a part of me.

What is the best thing Fela’s name has done for you?

It has not put millions on my table. I wish it would. Well, you know Fela was an icon, so whether I do anything or not, people just respect the name and they also expect good things from me. People ask me, ‘Yeni, why don’t you go into politics?’ And I say the reason is that I don’t want to tarnish the good name my father left for us. If I go into politics and I enter into all this Senate ‘chop chop’ and collecting big salaries, that would mean tarnishing the good name of my father. You know, his name has made us one with the man on the streets, so I prefer that world because the man on the street is the pulse of the nation. We are not in the elite group. These are the important things my father’s name has done for us; he made us to be part of the pulse of Nigeria. We feel the pain. I don’t live in Ikoyi or Victoria Island.

Let us go back to the word ‘commitment’ you mentioned earlier. Now that both of you are committed to each other, do you intend living together?

We probably will and we are working towards it. I have a lot of responsibilities and I have a lot of clothes too, so I have to be very careful. If I move to his house with all of my clothes, he will say ‘oya, go back!’ So, I have to be very careful. Right now, I have a lot of responsibilities. We love each other a lot and we are working into building our retirement home; he sent me a picture the other time to tell you why we should stay together.

Despite being 55, you are still beautiful, could you share your beauty secrets?

I just try to sleep and laugh a lot. I think laughter works a lot of wonders and you hardly find me miserable. Even if some­thing makes me sad, I still try to be cheer­ful; laughter is very important in our lives.

Popular pop star, Ayodeji Balogun, a.k.a. Wizkid, has commended the Lagos State police command for redeeming his image before his international clients and arresting a 19-year-old fraudster who ripped prospective clients abroad of their hard earned money.

“I am very thankful to the Nigeria police for what they did for me. The case has been going on for a while now, I thank God we have been able to arrest one of the suspects. We would pursue this case to the court and ensure we get justice.

“The actions of these fraudsters have affected my business worldwide. I still have two cases pending in New York, United States now. There was a particular case of a $45,000 that was collected from a promoter in USA by these fraudsters using my name. There is another case of $25,000.


I am happy my name is being cleared and I want justice.

“The situation has affected me psychologically because I was being accused of taking money I knew nothing about. The press also did not believe me so that dampened my morale,” the singer said.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, few weeks ago revealed that a 19-year-old girl, who for long had been posing as Wizkid on social media, had been arrested.

The teenager was said to have duped many people, including students of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) before she was arrested. Among her victims were two people living overseas. The money was over $53,000, equivalent of about N10.4 million.

According to Owoseni, the suspect, who is a student of one of the universities in the country, was arrested after Wizkid reported the case to the police command complaining that someone was impersonating him and duping unsuspecting persons.

The suspect opened a Facebook account in Wizkid’s name and displayed the artiste picture. She started chatting with friends on Facebook, pretending to be Wizkid.

In this interview Anna Banner opens up to Stella Dimoko Korkus about her relationship with Flavour and her decision to be free and move on...


Anna you went on a rant on Saturday and your posted meme suggested your relationship with the father of your child is troubled. Wanna talk about it?

First of all,Flavour and I are no longer together. Secondly,my post has/had nothing to do with flavour. It was just a beautiful write up that made sense to me and i decided to share it with my fans.


(Eyes widened sharp sharp)
You and flavour are no longer together? When did this happen and why? Pardon my asking.

Yes we are no longer together. I made this decision recently. I spoke to myself and decided it was time to move on and focus on my future and career.


Did you convey your decision to him? what was his reaction?

Yes i did.. we are both cool with it.


So Anna why did you decide to become a baby mama when you are so young and have a bright future ahead of you?

I never decided to become a baby mama ,I just fell in love. I fell in love and got pregnant unexpectedly for the man I loved. I had never gotten pregnant before and i was scared of abortion.

I decided to keep my baby no matter what ,i never tried to hold a man down or force marriage on anyone with my pregnancy. You know in life, the hardest decisions always turn out beautiful. I don't regret keeping my baby one bit. She is my greatest achievement in life so far. I fall in love with her every second of the day.


Okay let me ask another question. You knew Sandra Okagbue and Flavour were a couple and that she was even pregnant for him. Why did you nosedive into the relationship with him knowing all these?

I never knew flavour was with another woman while we were dating. We started dating way before 'Golibe was composed'. He never mentioned/admitted he had any relationship ties with anyone even after rumour had it that he was dating someone else and she was even pregnant for him. I believed him.

I confronted him again when i heard she had put to bed and it seemed true. He accepted after much talk but unfortunately i was already pregnant ,never knew i was pregnant until i was one month gone. What was i supposed to do? Take out my precious child? Hell no.I believe God sent her to me for a reason.

So you see, it was never my intention to break anybody's relationship or come in between two lovers. I just never knew. For those of you out there judging and persecuting me for something you know nothing about ,let me ask,Are you better than i am?Is it okay by God for you to Judge me when he has forgiven me all my sins?.

I made an adult decision at a young age and i am so proud of myself for keeping my baby. People always say i am competing/fighting with someone all because of a man . Really? Fighting and competing? Thats too much energy. Seeking for a man's attention is never/ has never been my thing! I'm not done seeking for God and my daughter's attention.

People always refer to me as "husband snatcher" but please, that is not the case.Many of have been victims of love and i am sure we all know that when a woman is deeply in love,she believes everything her man tells her.
I am not a husband snatcher,i was just naive of a lot of things and everyday i ask God to give me wisdom to see well and make the right choices.



Is there some kind of competition between you and Sandra? I noticed the posts on your social media handles kinda suggest that? Has there ever been a confrontation between you two? Please pardon my many questions but I have so many to ask...

No I am not in competition with anyone Stella and no there has been no confrontation and i dont see that happening.


You say you and flavour have broken up, are you both still friends for the sake of the child you have together?



I and flavour are still very good friends. Chinedu is a very nice person with a big heart. We talk about almost everything. I respect him a lot because he is a good person. He has been an awesome father to his child and i respect him for that. He goes extra length to make his daughter happy. He has a beautiful soul.


What are your plans now for the Future?Do you plan to further your Education?

Yes,I plan to go back to School and I plan on a whole lot of things.I wont say my getting pregnant put a set back in my plans because My baby is the best thing that ever happened to me but i have plans to return to school soon.
The future is bright for me...


Do you have any regrets whatsoever?

None whatsoever....God has been Faithful.


Are you a happy person?

Its a 50/50 situation.Most of the times,i am happy,most of the time i am not.Most times i have a lot on my mind and most times i am very happy..I think about what i should have done,what i could have done,what i didnt do right and what i should do right.Its not a permanent feeling and i will be fine.


Thank you for answering all my questions Anna .This interview might go viral and i cannot assure you of what peoples reaction will be but whatever it is ,I pray God gives you the strength to carry on.


Thank you Stella.My mind is free...Love is pain but there is a limit to pain and i choose to walk free.thank you and have a good week.