Okoroji says Uwaifo ‘unforgettable African superstar’

Chairman, Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Chief Tony Okoroji, has described the late highlife music artiste, Prof Sir Victor Uwaifo as “a legend of the Benin Kingdom, an icon of the Nigerian nation and an unforgettable African superstar”.

Uwaifo who died Saturday, August 28, 2021 at the age of 80, was a one-time member of the Board of COSON, Nigeria’s biggest copyright collective management organisation.

Okoroji, a former president of PMAN, said the late ‘Efosa King’ was his “brother, older friend, confidant, professional colleague, staunch supporter and an unapologetic partner” in the work of promoting the unity and progress of Nigerian artistes and the protection of their legacy.

He regretted that he will not be able to meet with the professor of visual artist and musicologist as had earlier scheduled.

READ: Uwaifo @80 honoured with highest copyright award

“Prof had called me in the U.S. about a week and half ago to enquire after my health and the success of the recent wedding of my son. He said that he loved the series of articles I have been doing lately on my “Saturday Breakfast” column on the growth of the Nigerian recording industry. Prof described the series as historic and asked me to send the entire series to him by e-mail which I did. Prof Uwaifo who was in good cheer, spoke with my son, TJ for a long period and they shared jokes and laughed and we promised to visit him in Benin City. I had no idea it was a “bye-bye call,” the copyright chief mourned, as he narrated his last encounter with Uwaifo.

It will be recalled that on March 6, 2021 in Benin-City, Chief Okoroji on behalf of COSON had decorated Prof Uwaifo with the “Grand Copyright Medal of Honour”, the first time anyone anywhere had been so decorated.

The decoration was the climax of the big celebration of Prof Uwaifo’s 80th birthday which attracted the high and mighty to Uwaifo’s Superstar Highgate on Victor Uwaifo Avenue in Benin City.