Sharpening his tongue against Goliath

Radical gospel singer, Timi Orokoya, raises his voice against maladministration in a new album titled Your Excellency, writes GBENGA ADENIJI 

 Next time you want to refer to vocal gospel singer, Telemi, by his real name, you had better not call him Timi Osukoya again. He has dropped the surname for Orokoya. According to him, he is weary of the appellation because it refers to a an idol his grandfather worships.

Now believing that there is a power in the word that can stave off suffering, he has adopted Timi Orokoya, in the tradition of several Christians who have performed a similar surgical operation on their lineage names.

But this is not the only thing currently happening in his life. Apart from having just released another album, he is pushing the activism that has for long resonated in his music to the front burner. This became evident on Monday when he surfaced at the meeting of the Save Nigeria Group held in Lagos, echoing the slogans of change chanted by the likes of the Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, and SNG Convener, Pastor Tunde Bakare.

The move will, however, not be strange to followers of his music. Never hiding his disdain for the insensitivity of the government to Nigerians,  he has for some time, been propagating the gospel against maladministration on the platform of the SNG which mobilised Nigerians for rallies against subsidy removal in January   

Though the talented artiste was not among those who performed at rallies held at the Gani Fawehinmi Park in Ojota, Lagos in January, he was represented by a single he released on the matter titled Subsidy. It threw the audience at the rallies into meditative mood each time it was played. 

Opening the song with the slogan‘‘ Great People, Great Nation’’, Telemi prayed to God to intervene in the affairs of the country which, he says, is under the yoke of insecurity, unemployment, bad roads, inadequate healthcare and erratic power supply. 

He condemns the subsidy removal and urges President Goodluck Jonathan to revert to the N65 pump price. He sings, ‘‘This is not the best time to remove subsidy on fuel, Mr. President/ We have no power or weapon to confront you/ But we have a God who will fight for us.’’

The revelations at the current subsidy probe have, however, justified the anger of Nigerians against the President’s decision who felt they were being punished for his administration’s incompetence.

That track and two others – Your Excellency and O fe mi (Jesus Loves Me) – were later released last month as an album titled, Your Excellency. He discloses that he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the songs.

Telemi states, ‘‘We have a generation that is coming and the legacy we leave for them is important. What legacy are we leaving now? Do we want to leave a legacy of bribery, corruption, insecurity and so on?’’ 

Telemi who says he combines singing with the administering of a prayer mountain and ministry, adds that piracy has eaten deep into the fabrics of the industry.

He explains, ‘‘It is by the grace of God that we are trying to cope. Once an artiste is popular, his or her work will be pirated and if such happens, nothing will come to such artiste as returns.”

The President of the Gospel Musicians Association of Nigeria also says the association was preparing to write the President to take a decisive action concerning the uprising in the country.

Telemi, who hails from Imesi Ile, Osun State, discloses that he has been singing for almost three decades. Some of the past albums of the artiste include One Thousand Tongues, Revelation, Divine Assurance, Power Shift, Beyond Me, Back To Sender, Better Story, Higher Level, Omo Redeemer and Gbogbo Ogo