By Mobolaji Sanusi

Wasiu Omogbolahan Adewale Ayinde Marshal, known in global music circles as KWAM 1 or K1 De Ultimate, is a man of great musical talent. His genre of music, Fuji, pioneered by late Dr Sikiru Ayinde Agbajelola Balogun Barrister, is largely at inception associated with societal dropouts. But because music is food for the soul, admirers of this genre of music, with time, cut across the educated, less educated, illiterates, and even the rich and powerful members of Yoruba land and this country. Surprisingly, yours sincerely have been a devoted fan of Fuji genre of music championed by Ayinde Barrister since my teenage years.

In Nigeria today, the most popular Fuji musician with vast political influence is KWAM 1. General Kollington Ayinla who is one of the musicians that popularized Fuji music at inception, is currently the leader and most senior of them all.

Wasiu Ayinde has been blessed with hit albums from his inception of record making with his Talazo ’84 Evergreen album debut. Forty-one years after that album, he has, inexorably been on the rise.

One rare divine benevolence on Wasiu Ayinde is his providential luck of sustaining his musical relevance for over four decades, building relationships with the lowly, high and mighty, especially across Yoruba land. At age 68, his music still appeals to the old and the young folks in the country.

Today, Ayinde’s greatest plank of influence is his association with the revered former governor of Lagos State and now president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, who has graciously adopted him as the official musician of whatever political party or governments he has interests in. From the AD to AC to ACN and now APC, Wasiu Ayinde is the unwritten adopted musician, courtesy of the president’s love for him.

The hallmark of his musical attainments so far would definitely include his privileged performance at President Tinubu’s globally televised Inauguration Ball inside the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in May 2023.

Despite his illustrious musical career, success and privileged association with the current Nigeria’s president, it is still shocking that Wasiu Ayinde is yet to shed the garment of thuggery widely associated with Fuji music genre that he plays. His reportedly being supercilious, uncouth and discourteous remains legendary despite his association with nobly decent and powerful men and women in the society. He courted controversy with ease of pride devoid of conscience especially on issues surrounding who created Fuji music after the death of Barrister and in his relationship with others.

Just a few days ago, Wasiu Ayinde was in the news for the bad reasons. He was at the airport in Abuja, where he created negatively historic scenes synonymous with societal dregs robed in influential garbs. The scenes were not any that the President or anyone associated with Wasiu Ayinde would be proud of. More successful and far younger musicians like Whizkid, Davido and other globally renowned musicians from Nigeria never exhibited Wasiu Ayinde’s beguiled anti-social personality.

The footage of that better forgotten episode has gone viral on the social media and despite Ayinde’s afterthought denial, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria’s formal statement on the matter is more believable when juxtaposed with what we saw regarding the belittling and shambolic behaviour of Ayinde at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja after he was de-boarded from a ValueJet flight for alleged violation of aviation security regulations.

In one Mrs. Obiageli Orah, Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection signed statement for FAAN, Ayinde forcefully attempted to board with an unidentified liquid substance exceeding 100ml with his lying upon inquiry that the content was water. The content was later discovered to be alcohol. This is in contravention of international aviation safety protocols.

As believably reported by FAAN that despite admonitions by Aviation Security (AVSEC) personnel and the flight captain, Ayinde, in his usual overblown ego, reportedly refused to comply.

In FAAN’s graphic words: “As boarding continued, an airline security officer asked the passenger to step aside for further clarification. The passenger allegedly refused and spilled the contents of the flask on the officer, which turned out to be alcohol. The Flight Captain intervened but faced similar resistance. After confirming that boarding was complete, she instructed the closure of the aircraft door.

“At this juncture, the passenger moved to the front of the aircraft and refused to leave the area despite repeated requests. He was ultimately escorted away by AVSEC Crime Unit for further investigation, after which he was released.”

The NCAA that serves as the main civil aviation regulator in the country has withdrawn the licenses of the two pilots. FAAN that manages airports across the country should have handed Ayinde over to the police for attempted suicide, obstruction of aviation operations and disruption of public peace. The institution never toed that part, probably because of Ayinde’s perceived political stature.

In the now viral video, the 68-year-old was seen staying close to the external cockpit side of the aircraft, ostensibly attempting to futilely halt the plane’s departure. As the plane taxied, the musician and a handful of airport ground operations officials trying to placate him, were seen moving out of its way. But for Ayinde’s prompt docking of the aircraft wing, he might have been badly, if not fatally injured.

The NCAA penalized the bold pilots of the aircraft, including Captain Oluranti Ogoyi and a first officer, Ivan Oloba, for what it deemed to be violation of “established safety protocols.”

If the pilots could be so promptly sanctioned by the relevant authorities, the subsequent blacklisting of Wasiu Ayinde from flying for six months is good but inadequate for someone who interfered with the smooth conduct of aviation duties, and so rudely too. Is it the position of aviation law for a superstar musician to attempt halting a taxiing plane to be released after a purported questioning by FAAN officials without involvement of the police and other security services stationed at the airport to maintain peace and order that Ayinde obviously violated?

What Ayinde did was nothing but an apparent attempted suicide mission capable of even endangering the lives of passengers onboard that aircraft at that point in time?

It is high time to let Ayinde know that he’s not above the law and that our society is governed by laws and not the whims and caprices of any individual. His widely touted closeness to the president seems to be getting into his head at the detriment of the image of that exalted position. The other time, he discourteously put our respected president on speaker phone, addressing him before the whole world on a first name basis. Reactions that trailed that incident showed that Nigerians were flabbergasted by Ayinde’s garrulous showmanship that diminishes the sanctity of our presidential institution.

How can an Olori Omo’oba of Ijebuland and Mayegun of Yorubaland be putting up in public, denigrating conducts, capable of discrediting a whole Yoruba nation and humanity in general. His irascible public conducts can only reaffirm generally held notion that a musician should not be considered for or worthy of any meaningful title or position.

Ayinde should be reminded that he’s not the only person who is close to the president because of his skill/talent. While he is because of his musical talent, others with various talents and from various professional backgrounds are as well. Yet, none has been giving the president a bad name because of their closeness to him as Ayinde is currently doing.

Someone, somewhere needs to reign common sense and decorum in Ayinde’s brain. This is because according to Carly Fiorina: “When you don’t respond to bad behaviour, you get more of it.” Wasiu Ayinde’s blacklisting by NCAA from flying for six months is good but inadequate. In addition to this, yours sincerely humbly suggest that Mr President should suspend him indefinitely from consideration for performance at any public/official functions parties until he has been purged of hooliganistic behaviors and demonstrated sufficient remorse and penitence. So far, Ayinde’s anti-social behavior is antithetical to his current high societal status. That is the bitter truth that should bother his family notwithstanding his being their ultimate breadwinner.

•Sanusi, former MD/CEO of LASAA, is managing partner @ Lagos State based AMS RELIABLE SOLICITORS.

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