Yeni Kuti, eldest daughter of the late Afrobeat musician Fela Kuti got a pleasant shock of a marriage proposal from her longtime beau, Theo Lawson, as she celebrated her 55th birthday on Tuesday, May 24 at the Prince of Anthony Hotels, Anthony Village, Lagos.
Prior to the party, a New Afrika Shrine insider revealed that all day long she had thought Theo Lawson, her fiancé was taking her on a private get-away where they would not be disturbed. When Theo finally picked her up at the New Afrika Shrine, after her programme “Your View”, on TVC, it promised to be a serane outing..
When Theo ushered her to the hotel’s Chinese restaurant, as part of her private birthday treat, she almost fainted, because waiting there were friends and family including Femi Kuti; her super star brother, her colleagues at TVC, the Kuti clan, childhood friends, and a host of other associates all numbering about fifty, who burst into a Happy Birthday song.
Femi Kuti, Seun Kuti and Dr. Dotun Ransome-Kuti, the eldest of the today’s Kuti clan and Kunle Kuti, all took turns to pour encomiums on the her.
And when Theo Lawson, her fiancé of over five years proposed marriage to Yeni, the hall exploded with cheers. Her father had married 27 wives in the same hotel on February 19, 1978 on the first anniversary of the burning of ‘Kalakuta Republic’ by ‘Unknown Soldiers.’ Then the hotel was known as Hotel Parisona.
Some musicians that performed at the gig include Ade, guitarist and singer Aduke and the ageless Jimi Solanke. But the icing on the cake was when Femi Kuti took the stage and performed in honour of his elder sister who summed up the night’s feelings with these words, “I am still in a shock. We all are. “
YK Power as Yeni Kuti is fondly called has put paid to a comment she once made in an interview that at fifty no one is willing to marry her.
The shindig was put together by Mallam Abdul Okwechime and Akin Adeoya, of the Hotels 1960, owners of the Prince of Anthony.
