I Took Up Fuji Because Of Wasiu Ayinde -- Pasuma

Fuji musician, Wasiu Alabi Pasuma, in this interview explains how his sobriquet of Oganla was arrived at and why he had to drop Arambambi II.

You are known as Oganla. What do you mean by this?

Oganla is a family. It simply means the big boss, and I am the head of the family.

You were previously known as Arabambi. Why the change of name?

We are simply trying to change the face of Fuji music. While doing that, we also need to change my own identity. You’ll agree with me that when you serve somebody for some years, you would naturally want to become independent one day. So, that was what happened. I decided to be on my own, and I sat down with my fans and managers to decide on what to do. We first came up with the title, ‘The big boss’. But that didn’t suit what we wanted, so we simply translated it to Yoruba, which is ‘Oganla’.

There were rumours that the change of name was as a result of a clash between you and KWAM1. How true is this, especially bearing in mind the fact that you were previously Arabambi II?

There is no truth in the rumour. We were not fighting at all. K1-De ultimate is a leader and elder. He had been around long before we came in. And he is someone that I respect. I decided to pitch my tent with him at the beginning because I see him as a role model. The truth is that I took up fuji because of him. It was an album he released in 1984 that inspired me to take music as a profession. I was in my final year in secondary school at the time. So when I left secondary that year, I just decided that I want to sing.

But I also had plans to surpass him. As a role model and somebody who inspired me to take up music, there is no way that I would fight him. But at the same time, I needed to be on my own without any fight. I also know that he would never have allowed me to go if I had called him and said I want to leave. So, that was why we made it a surprise.