BENIN – A renowned Pop-Gospel artist, Sammie Okposo, on Thursday night in Benin, called for unity among the nation’s gospel artistes.
Okposo made the call during the Candlelight Service for the late artiste, Kefee (Irikefe Don-Momoh, nee Obareki) which held at the Oba Akenzua Cultural Complex, Benin City.
He stressed that Gospel artistes have failed to fulfill their potentials in Nigeria due to lack of unity among them.
“Disunity is killing Gospel music; the Gospel music industry in Nigeria looks like a joke.
“We have the best song writers, singers and producers but we will continue to occupy the backseat of the bus in the Nigerian entertainment industry.
“We sing about one Christ; why can’t we come under one umbrella and unite as one in order to help each other out and succeed as a body?
“As long as the Gospel artistes in Nigeria fail to come together a as body, we will never live up to our billing but continue to play second-fiddle to secular musicians even though we supply them artistes,’’ he said.
Okposo further stated that Gospel music was not for the church but for people outside the church.
“Gospel music is not for the church. Gospel means good news and it should be for outside because it originates from the church.
“You need to take the good news outside because we are the salt of the world.
“We miss Kefee so much because she was one lady that really knew how to say her mind,’’ he said.[eap_ad_2]
Also speaking at the event, Rev. Victor Atenaga of the Swim Glorious House, urged Gospel artistes to be united in order to ‘conquer the world’.
He said that Kefee had run her race and that no one could question God on His decision to take her back.
He then asked Christians and all believers to live everyday as their last day doing good because they don’t know when God would call them back.
In the same vein, DJ Gosporella also lauded the qualities of the late Kefee, and described her as `the lady with a smile for everyone.’
Gosporella said Kefee was a strong woman who fought a good fight while she lived and influenced everyone that came around her positively.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that other artistes then took turns to perform, amid tears, with the live band to the memory of their fallen colleague.
There was also a stage play by a Benin-based group which brought more tears to the audience, while Rex Anighoro read her profile.
Some of the other artistes in attendance who took turns on the microphone were Tim Tehilla, Nene Soul Diva, Lawrence De’covenant, Nikki Laoye, Anny Ibrahim, Aity, Linda Etukudo, Maleke and Godfather.
Kefee was a well known Pop-Gospel artiste who had been active in the entertainment industry for over a decade.
She was born on Feb. 5, 1980 in Sapele, Delta and was fondly called “Branama Queen’’, in reference to her debut hit track and album, ‘Branama’.
She also scored a hit with the track, ‘Kokoroko’, featuring Timaya and had four albums to her credit— ‘Branama’ (2003), ‘Branama 2’ (2005), ‘A Piece of Me’ (2009) and ‘Chorus Leader’ in 2013.
Kefee passed away on June 13 in the U. S.
She was laid to rest on Friday in her hometown— Okpara-Inland, Ethiope East Local Government, Delta. (NAN)[eap_ad_3]
Okposo seeks unity among gospel musicians
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