NOSTALGIA: MEET TUNJI OYELANA ( SURA DE TAILOR)

Tunji Oyelana (born October 4, 1939) is a multi-award winning Nigerian musician, actor, folk singer, composer and once a lecturer at the University of Ibadan.

Orisun Masks
In the 60s, Tunji Oyelana was one of the original members of Wole Soyinka's 1960 Orisun Masks. He calls Soyinka "Oga", meaning "boss" in Yoruba He was one of the original Soyinka actors travelling all over the world to interpret roles in such plays as Kongi's Harvest, The Road, Madmen and Specialists and Opera Wonyosi, to the delight of audiences.

The Benders
He later burst out on his own as an ethnomusicologist, producing folk music which ruled the airwaves in the 70s and 80s with a group famously known as Tunji Oyelana and The Benders. Many of his albums would qualify as classics in their genre, deploying native wisdom, folklore and wit, mixed with sparse syncopation and antiphony, relying heavily on the human voice and its inflections to lift the spirit. Radio stations loved to play his music and listeners derived much pleasure from them. He is leader of the defunct Benders Band whose popular numbers include Agbal’ode, Alaaru to nje buredi, Guguru perere, epa perere, Mo lo Soko, among others

Sura the Tailor
In the 80s, Oyelana also acted on television (NTA Ibadan particularly), perhaps the most famous of his engagements in this regard is a sitcom titled Sura de Tailor^[4] in which he played the lead role. Many would recall the theme song of that programme which soon caught on with viewers: "Sura de tailor, oko Adunni, the friend of Major, expert in Toro, danshiki, and buba, also English coat and trouser o.... Sura de Tailor is your frie-n-d."

University of Ibadan
In the 80s at the University of Ibadan, he was an artist in residence in music at the Department of Theatre Arts. As a professional artist, he helped to provide practical instruction in music. He was the music director for many of the departmental productions, scoring lyrics to beat and putting young students through; he was a great collaborator in the production process. He currently lives in the United Kingdom.

BIAFRA AGITATORS ARE MISCREANTS...OBASANJO

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has described those agitating for the creation of Biafra state as miscreants. Obasanjo in an interview with Sahara reporters said:

"This is a fake agitation. You people make a mountain out of a molehill. These are boys who want to take people unaware and get money out of them in the name of Biafra. These are the people you should ignore, I don’t talk about Biafra. (Philip) Effiong came and said Biafra ceased to exist and since that day, Biafra has ceased to exist. We absorbed those we should absorb both into the civil service and into the military.

Even those we didn’t absorb, who we initially regarded as being retired without benefits, later on we even gave them their benefits. Abandoned houses were returned. Within 10 years of the end of our Civil War, an Igbo man became the vice-president of our country. It took the Americans 100 years before they got to that point. So, what are you talking about? They have held all the ministerial positions existing in this country. We have Igbo as the Governor of Central Bank, Igbo has headed many parastatals in this country. That’s why these miscreants should be ignored. They want to get money and they go round and say, ‘We are still being victimised. We are still being treated badly in Nigeria,’ so that they can take money from people.”he said

PHOTOS: TOYIN AIMAKHU AFTER PARTING WAYS WITH HER HUSBAND

Toyin Aimakhu ............ after parting ways with her husband, the actress has stepped up her game a little more. She now flaunts her new Range Rover. See more photos below.

NIGERIAN CUSTOMS SERVICE RETIRES 34TOP OFFICERS

Barely 24 hours after 5 Deputy Comptroller Generals unanimously tendered their resignation, the Nigerian Customs Service have announced the immediate retirement of some other officers.

A statement by the Public Relations officer of the Nigeria Customs Service Wale Adeniyi, said the retirement is one of the core mandates of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd).

Excerpt statement:

"Those affected in the exercise are five Deputy Comptrollers-General of Customs (DCGs) who have earlier given notification to the Comptroller-General for voluntary disengagement. They are John Atte MFR, Ibrahim Mera OON, Musa Tahir mni, Austin Nwosu and Akinade Adewuyi. Three others, of the rank of Assistant Comptroller-General are also affected in the re-organization exercise.

They are Madu Mohammed mni, Secretary to the Nigeria Customs Board, Victor Gbemudu, Zonal Coordinator Zone ‘A’ and Bello Liman, Assistant Comptroller-General, (Headquarters). The rest are of the rank of Comptrollers serving in Customs Headquarters, Zonal Offices and various Area Commands. The Comptroller-General of Customs stated that the retirements were part of measures to kick-start the repositioning of the Service for improved performance".

OPRAH WINFREY ADRESSES 'SECRET SON' ISSUE

American pride Oprah Winfrey has spoken out about an awkward encounter with Calvin Mitchell, who claimed to have been raised by the presenter before they became estranged 20 years ago.

Oprah, 62, can be seen acknowledging the now truck-driver's presence, putting her hand on his chest as he attempted to engage her in conversation.

Setting the record straight after the pictures surfaced online, she said: “I met Calvin around the early ‘90s, I think it was 1992."

 “I was doing a film for television called There Are No Children Here. We were shooting in the projects in Chicago and I was sitting on set during a break, and this cute little sparkly-eyed boy came underneath the yellow tape to hand me a soda.”

Oprah admitted she was so "charmed" by him that she engaged in conversation with him and discovered his mum didn't have a job and they lived in the projects.

She added that she and partner Stedman Graham decided to take him under their wing and paid for him to go to a local private school while also finding a job for his mother.

He was later expelled and Oprah decided to send him to a private boarding school in Mississippi which she thought would be better for him, but at 16 he left after claiming "the teachers didn't like him".

"I said, 'Calvin, this is the moment. This is a seminal moment for you. I know you are 16 and can't see the road ahead, but if you leave this school and refuse to get an education - I have tried to offer you an education twice - there isn't another school I can put you in. If you leave this school, I am done. There is nothing else I can do.' And that was my last conversation with Calvin in the early '90s."

When he approached her earlier this month the 62-year-old says she didn't instantly recognise him but tried to contact him after the run-in. That was until Winfrey got wind that the young man had sold his story to a tabloid years after

"When I realized the whole thing was a setup, I was no longer interested in speaking to him."

Although Winfrey says she wasn't hurt by the experience, she did admit she was left disappointed by the boy again, but counts it as a learning experience.

"I learned from that experience, if you really want to change somebody's life, you gotta be able to spend enough time with them to change the way they think about what their life can be. It isn't enough to give a person a new life or money or a new car, you have to teach them how to fish themselves."

But when she found out it was a set up, reportedly masterminded by the National Enquirer, she no longer wanted to speak to him, saying she was "disappointed".

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but it was the only way to get in touch with you," Mitchell reportedly told the star outside the studio, referring to a recent interview where he discussed their relationship.

Oprah says she sent him to two different private schools. Confirming Oprah's comments, Calvin revealed she helped raise him for five years but when he was a “dumb” 17-year-old he made mistakes and she didn’t forgive him.

Mitchell told RadarOnline: “I want to ask Oprah, ‘Why did you leave me? Why did you leave me?'

“We had a close relationship. Oprah and Stedman were like family to me.”

He told the site that the legendary star coughed up the cash for his expensive education at The Piney Woods School, a prestigious Christian-based boarding school. But when he dropped out of the school, Oprah turned her back on the teen.

“I was young. I made a dumb decision, and Oprah wouldn’t forgive me,” he said. “I feel like what she did was wrong.” 'She told me, "Calvin, just try to work it out. You can do it. Just hang in there." She was trying to inspire me to do what was right. But even after the long pep talk she gave me, I still left.'

He added: 'I just wanted to come home, and Oprah didn't understand that.'

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