REWIND: How I want to be buried, by Onyeka Onwenu

Onyeka Onwenu, the iconic Nigerian singer fondly referred to as ‘the Elegant Stallion’, passed away on Tuesday.

The 72-year-old music star was confirmed dead at the Reddington Hospital in Lagos. She had performed at the 80th birthday party of Stella Okoli, the founder of Emzor pharmaceutical manufacturing company, in Lagos, where she was said to have slumped.

In an opinion piece published on TheCable on July 27, 2021, the ace singer revealed how she would like to be buried. She said she preferred a private, modest, and quick farewell.

Onwenu asked her loved ones to “mourn, yes but not excessively”. She also mentioned that they “do it quickly, quietly and privately”.

“Do it quickly, quietly and privately. Celebrate me with prayers, lunch or dinner afterwards. Share some jokes about me and laugh. Mourn, yes but not excessively,” it reads in part.

“Make merriment and then go about your business. If my friends want to celebrate me, they should do so while I am alive so that I can enjoy it with them, not when I am gone and have no idea. That is me Onyeka Onwenu.”

The singer’s request came on the back of the extravagant funeral of Obi Cubana’s mother which left tongues wagging across social media platforms.

Cubana became very popular in July 2021 after he held a lavish funeral in honour of Uche Iyiegbu. She died in December 2020.

In the piece, Onyeka described the burial as “obscene and insensitive” and argued that Cubana’s action contradicts the ideals of the Igbo culture.