Ace Musician turned evangelist, Sonny Okosuns, has passed on to glory at 61. He died Saturday in Howard Hospital, Washington, D.C, after a long running battle against cancer of the colon.

Several Nigerian musicians such as Onyeka Onwenu, Oliver De-Coque, Fatai Rolling Dollar, Prince Wadada, and Dele Abiodun, all paid glowing tribute to the icon.
Known for his unrepentant defense of the June 12, 1993 mandate of the late Social Democratic Party presidential candidate, Chief M.K.O Abiola, Evangelist Okosuns was also an outspoken supporter of the last Chief Olusegun Obasanjo administration.

An avant-garde musician in his own right, Okosuns’ early music of the 70s and 80s would be contextualized in the making of contemporary music of revolution in the Nigerian musical scene.

Only last Tuesday, Okosuns attended the graduation of his daughter at the Pace University in the US. In the words of his daughter, Ebony, who recently relocated to the country to manage her fashion business, “My father was very excited at my sister, Adesuwa’s graduation ceremony. He was screaming his praises to God and dancing and hugging everyone. It was a very happy moment for him.” Prodded to speak further, the dark complexioned lady would not budge to this reporter’s request.

According to close family members “Daddy woke up to complain of cramp and pain in the stomach. And as the pain manifested the more, he also complained that he was choking and couldn’t breathe very well.

“We rushed him to the hospital and when the doctors looked over him, it was decided that an urgent surgery be initiated. But there was no guarantee that daddy might survive another round of one of the several operations that had been carried out by the doctors in their attempt to sustain him.”

It was at this point, our source went on, that “daddy decided he wanted no such operations on his body. And moments after he was placed on life support machine, he slipped into a coma. He never came out of the coma until he died at 9 a.m. on Saturday.”

Evangelist Okosuns never gave up on his desire to live and his unflinching faith in God. In one of the several interviews he granted this writer, he said: “It is true I have cancer, but I’m leaving for India where I hope to seek further medical assistance for my failing health. Although I’m feeling okay already, I don’t want to take chances, for it’s taken my faith in God and the efforts of doctors in America to have gotten me this far.”

A man who was often sad at the way the nation treated him after all his contribution to the country, Evangelist Okosuns was full of gratitude to the man who volunteered to offset bills for his treatment in India.

“I give praises to Almighty God for bringing a man in the person of an Indian, called Patrick Fernandez into my life. This man whom God showed to me in Port Harcourt volunteered to take care of all my medical expenses in a hospital in Bombay, India. Mr. Fernandez’s gesture brought tears to my eyes and I asked: What is the use of the Officer of the Order of the Niger Awards (OON) bestowed on me by government, if it can’t be translated into cash? And where are all those Nigerians who I thought were my friends? Where are all those Governors who gave me a red carpet treatment when I sang at their parties?

Before his death, Evangelist Okosuns was signed on to Premier music to release his new album that would have brought to 40, the total number of albums he recorded.

Source: The Vanguard

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