Nigeria: Abba Kyari - Who, What Shot the Sheriff?

opinion

In the Preface to my book entitled Ayinla Omowura: Life and Times of an Apala Legend, (2020) I equated stardom and zenith of social ladder with the purport of a Yoruba wise-saying which says, epo ni mo ru, oniyangi, ma ba t'emi je.

This literally translates to mean, anyone who shoulders a heavy gallon of palm oil should avoid the destructive tendency of the stone-laced ground he walks upon. I deployed the above to explain the premature death of Omowura, one of Yoruba's most evocative traditional African musicians, who was killed 41 years ago, at the apogee of his life attainment, in a barroom squabble in Abeokuta, Ogun State. Omowura's fall, I said, was due to "his inability to positively evaluate the porcelain-like delicate but huge image he carried on his shoulders" because, if he did, "he most probably would have walked less in the neighbourhood of the oniyangi, which eventually ensured his (fatal) stumbling."

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