Remember Victor Essiet of the Mandators fame,the reggae group that trilled Nigerians with their sonorous songs including two hit albums; Inflation Crisis and Rat Race in the mid 1980s . The reggae musician was in the country in May, 2013 and opened up on some personal issues about his childhood days and his late wife Peggy Curtis Essiet. He spoke to Tade Makinde. Excerpts:
Why have you come back to Nigeria?
It is exactly twenty years I left for America. This is my country and particularly, I just finished working on a song titled “Freedom Train’’. The full album will be completed before the year ends, but we will be doing singles after singles.
Reggae is not where you left it, hip hop has virtually taken over the nation’s music scene. Do you see reggae taking that place in the industry again?
I don’t like people talking that in this society, where you have people of 60, 70 and 80, as well as people of the early age, hip hop is taking over. Hip hop is taking over what? Where? Let every other genre of music be given the same media attention like you guys have been giving hip hop and you see how robust the music industry will be. When I came back the last time, I had more than 5,000 people at the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos who came to welcome me. That wouldn’t have happened if my music had not appealed to those in the middle age and above. All we need to do is to expose the music and let people decide. It’s not for the media to push any genre above the other.
You sound like you are not happy with the acceptance of hip hop in Nigeria?
I am very happy for what they have been able to do because with the situation in the country, some would have become thieves and create problems for the society. For them to put their talents into what they are doing now is excellent. I admire them but I don’t want anyone to come to my face all in the name of hip hop. If you see all these awards, you will discover that we’ve become a country where everything always drifts to one side. This is why I am appealing to all media men. There is too much money in this country and there are many people who don’t have anything. Go out to see what is going on in the neighbouring countries. You guys are the watchdog of the society, the print and electronic media. It is what you give to people that they will read and believe. Remember we once had Chris Okotie and several others before them. Now, we have King Sunny Ade, Chief Ebenezer Obey, Victor Uwaifo, Baba Victor Olaiya and lots of others. People are still surviving hip hop in America.
What you are saying in essence is that the media is paying too much attention to hip hop.
Yes. This is not supposed to be so.
So, who are those that are in the reggae genre that should be given much attention?
There are people there, but because you guys are not paying attention to them, that is why they’ve been side-lined. I feel very sorry for these people for I was privileged and blessed. After the struggle, God has helped me. It’s just that I feel very sad whenever I see some reggae artistes.
What actually happened between you and Peggy?
You know, some people in this country, they talk stuff they don’t know anything about. Forget what the media said, I am telling you what actually happened. Her mother put too much pressure on her that she should leave me. She listened to her mother and followed what her mother wanted her to do. You see, the mother came with members of their families and threatened she was going to wash her breast in public and curse her if she didn’t do what she wanted her to do. I don’t understand the whole thing, but God knows the best. My mother-in-law never liked me from the beginning but after I became successful, she thought she could come and control my home and my life. I guess that was my fault because the daughter never wanted to have anything to do with her mom in the first place because of what the mother did to Peggy. It was I who reunited them because I could not be preaching love, unity, and togetherness while my own home was disunited and not together. But Peggy’s mom seized the opportunity of me bringing them together to start controlling her daughter. When all attempts by Peggy’s mother to do the same to me failed, she started threatening with thunder, lightning and brimstone if I didn’t do all the things she kept asking me to do, she told me that in Benin, that a woman married to a man does not belong to that man’s family but instead, belongs in her father’s home, so I would have to treat the issues between me and Peggy as two partners and not as a husband and wife because she, the mother, wanted to make sure that everything I had I should bring it and show it to her, including my bank account, including all my businesses and also all my concert proceeds. She also wanted that when all expenses were paid I should bring all my income and divide it into two and that the other half must go to her. That Peggy belongs with her, not with me. Peggy’s mom threatened every person in my family and said that she was going to make my life miserable, but Peggy’s father warned the woman to leave us alone before he died because of the trouble they had caused me. I continued to show them love and care, but the mother was adamant. I also discovered that there were people in the music industry that were behind Peggy’s mother on this plot. The entire plan was to destroy my home thinking that would cause my career to suffer and make me fail. But God has disgraced them. They, those conspirators in the industry, are the reason why Peggy died. The people in the music industry plotting with Peggy’s mother lied to Peggy that they were going to make her a bigger star. I don’t want to mention these people’s names, but when they see this interview, they will know it is them I speak of.
Did you do anything to convince her of the need to be with you despite her mother’s stance?
Yes I did, but there was not much I could achieve because her mother was on her neck. I had hoped that one day, she would change her mind, but it didn’t work.
How has life been without her? Have you remarried?
I have not remarried. She was my soul mate and it took me a while to get myself back after her death. Till this moment, I find it very difficult to trust people. It is somehow, but I know everything is going to be alright.
Why did you leave Nigeria?
I felt that success at home was not that much of a success until you challenge yourself somewhere else, where no one knows you, to see if you have the same capabilities. Also, I was very disappointed and frustrated at what happened after we had supported M.K.O. Abiola by campaigning with him, especially in the North, and we thought Nigeria was going to have a new beginning as we were championing a cause for better days and for the greater good of Nigerians, as you can hear in all my songs, seeing that hope of a brighter Nigeria being dashed, I needed to go away to live to fight another day.
Are you blaming the country for what happened to you?
Yes. Because they did what was wrong. The government is drilling our oil from the South-South and refuses to give to them in return. The military government of this country is unjust. The failure to share the resources equally resulted in Ojukwu’s demand for the implementation of what was agreed on in Aburi. The government refused, which led to war. In that war, my uncle and my sister were killed in my presence. My father and mother were shot and stabbed in my father’s house, ,in my village in Ikot-Eyo, Ubium in Nsit Ubium LGA, Akwa Ibom State. So many people lost their lives and their families because of this war. But if we had done some things right in the beginning, that war would not have broken out. I am still traumatised, but I am trying to get over it. That is why I have never spoken about it because there is no time I will speak about it that I won’t cry. That is why you see my pressure on the country through my music, appealing to every person to come together and do everything possible to avert this kind of scenario again. If you look at the pain I suffered until I was able to put myself together. I was seven years old then and this whole thing started around December 1969. They were all killed the same day. It was only God that kept me alive; I was right there when they shot my uncle and bullets were flying everywhere. My uncle, Jimi Essien’s brain, splashed on my body because he was trying to run up the stairs and he ran to the point where I was when they shot him in the head. My sister, who was an undergraduate at the University of Nsuka, died in my presence. These things will remain with me until I die. If you listen to my music, I have been talking about everything that happened to me that day and also all the messages are about telling people to do the right things in the right manner. I later came to Lagos to serve as a house boy to one Lieutenant Usman Mohammed, who explained what happened to me then. He took me in and nurtured me. The house was along Kirikiri road. I think it’s a GRA reserved for major officers. That was where I picked myself together again and was able to go to school. at St Timothy’s College, Onike, Yaba.
Where are the other Essiets?
Due to the injuries my father sustained during the attack by the soldiers, he became very sick and yet he tried to bury the people he had to bury. Shortly after that, he fell very ill and was no longer able to function normally. My mother died shortly after the attack in a car accident. The people that my father helped somewhere in Ikot Okubo in Akwa Ibom State in the past sympathised with my dad and they came and took my dad away to help him. The whole family was broken apart and scattered. We did not know where our father was and so many of my young siblings who were not strong died. That is when my journey started. I had to keep walking and fight to survive. I had actually thought our dad had died at some point because we did not know where he was and did not hear from or of him. Some years later, while I was in Lagos serving as a house boy to Usman, I heard from somebody that my father was alive and he was back in the village. At that point , my dad tried to find a way to build his life back but he was never the same again. As a matter of fact, he was sick until the last day he died and I was there to help support my dad and take care of him after I achieved success with my music career. I brought my dad to Lagos several times to get him better medical care. He died in 1998. My elder brother is also in California. My younger brother is in Akwa Ibom State. Out of the six children that my mom had, three of them died and only three of us are left. I have step-brothers and step-sisters. Some of them are in Lagos and some of them are still back in Akwa Ibom State. Some of them are in South Africa.
It has been 20 years. How has the struggles and efforts to make it over there been?
Very rough and hard. I had to start from the beginning, from scratch. I was driving the tour van myself from venue to venue in the United States and crossing into Canada and I also have to perform each night, then immediately get back on the road again to make the next concert driving all night. Because the money that was paid back then was not much, I had to perform seven days a week to make enough to pay the musicians and also take care of other things on the road. Driving all night and performing everyday put a lot of pressure and stress on me, but it paid off in the end. One good thing in America is that you can make it if you are willing to try.
Who are those managing you now and how are they trying to get you noticed?
Today, we also have a company named Foundation Media that handles all media internationally and nationally. We also have Foundation Artists that is a booking, promotions and a management agency. Head of both outfits is Russell Gerlach.
This interview was conducted by Tade Makinde and published in the Nigerian Tribune.
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