Music legend Ebenezer Obey has revealed he has been suffering from diabetes since 1974.
Diabetes is a medical condition caused by high blood sugar levels. It is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation. World Health Organisation, WHO, projects that it will be the 7th leading cause of death by 2030.
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“God has done a lot in my life. I want to make my life a book so that people can read. I became diabetic at 32. Subtract 32 from 75, it means I have been diabetic for 43 years. Diabetes has affected my eyes. Some even think I am blind but I am not. I can see you very clearly. But God took control and that is why I can sing and do everything.
“Frankly speaking, I never even knew I could live up to 70. Paul said “I am what I am today by the grace of God,” the 75-year-old Juju music icon told The Sun.
Obey said contemporary musicians are not to blame for not having depth in their songs. He, however, praised Adekunle Gold’s ‘ariwo koni music o, empty barrel lo maa n pariwo.’
His word to the paper, “Yorubas have a proverb, aja oni lo mo ese ehoro ile to, meaning “the dog of today knows how to trail the domestic hare.”
“Musicians of today don’t have time to go deep. We can’t blame them because that is what their generation wants to listen to. Today, some of them are beginning to do things right. I heard one who sang ‘ariwo koni music o, empty barrel lo maa n pariwo’. That’s melodious and danceable. I think the singer made a difference with that song.”
