A committee has been constituted to ensure a befitting burial is held for late Nigerian gospel singer, Kefee Obareki. This was done on Monday at a meeting called by another top gospel act, Sammie Okposo.
The meeting was held in Surulere, Lagos and over 100 members of the Nigerian entertainment industry were reportedly at the gathering.
Notable faces at the meeting were Nikki Laoye, Anny Ibrahim, Tosin Martins, DJ Gosporella, Emem Ema, Wamilele, Princess, Tee-Y Mix, Perry Martins, Praise Machine, Mudi, Righteousman, Nene Soul Diva, Victor Gospogroove, Gordons and representatives from Kefee’s family.
“Kefee was a major contributor to the development of entertainment in Nigeria and the industry will be there for her even in death. We are going to bury her as a queen and it would be nice for us to work together to make her burial a grand affair. It would also be nice to use this opportunity to get our acts together as Gospel artists and entertainers in general because that is what Kefee would love,” Okposo, who hails from Delta State, where the deceased also comes from, said at the meeting.
Tosin Martins, who also spoke at the event, suggested that activities in honour of Kefee should extend beyond the immediate burial plans to include a more robust an annual memorial symposium and other events which promote the interests and passion of Kefee for posterity’s sake.
At the gathering, a ‘Kefee Memorial Committee’ (KMC) was formed to plan various events which would hold in Lagos and Sapele, the hometown of the late singer.
Those in the committee are Sammie Okposo, Nikki Laoye, Commorade Rex Anighoro, Momodu Inu Noah, Tosin Martins, Anny Ibrahim, Joan Paul, Aity Dennis-Inyang, Emem Ema, Gbenga Akintokun, Tee-Y Mix, Tim Tehilla, DJ Gosporella, Praise Machine, Victor Gospogroove, Princess, Perry Martins, DJ Direal and Chilee Agunanna (late Kefee’s publicist).
The committee would come up with befitting burial events in Lagos and Sapele like a symposium and Service of Songs tagged ‘An Evening With Kefee’ in Lagos. It was disclosed that a documentary of the singer’s life and times; performances of her songs by other artists; Kefee memorial merchandise and a tribute concert in Sapele would be organised.
Kefee’s husband, Teddy Don-Momoh, monitored the proceedings of the meeting from the US where he is preparing to fly the body of his wife to Nigeria. He further pleaded for the privacy of the family to be respected in these trying times, while observing that some of the stories written about Kefee since her death were mostly untrue.
He also said reports claiming he was stranded in the US were false, stating that he is not soliciting for financial help through a bank account as some have reported.
He said he was finalising the required paperwork before Kefee’s body could be flown from the US to Nigeria and once those were done, more details of the burial plans would be released. Teddy said that Kefee’s family had requested that she be buried in their hometown, Okpara-Inland, Ethiope East local government, with a celebratory service in Sapele afterwards and that he was comfortable with that. Those, according to him, were the only definite arrangements for his wife’s burial so far.
Kefee was born on February 5, 1980 in Sapele, Delta State and was known as the Branama Queen, in reference to her debut hit track and album, ‘Branama’. She also scored a hit with the track, ‘Kokoroko’, featuring Timaya and had four albums to her credit; ‘Branama’ (2003), ‘Branama 2’ (2005), ‘A Piece of Me’ (2009) and ‘Chorus Leader’ in 2013.
A Condolence Register has been opened for the singer at her restaurant, Branama Kitchen, at 11 Ajose Str., Mende, Maryland, Lagos.
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