50 golden cheers for Buchi

If life-as popularly said-begins at fourty, then at fifty you are in ‘cruise mode’. Buchi Atuonwu was truly in ‘cruise mode’ as he celebrated his 50th birthday with drum rolls and fireworks recently.

While most people dread turning 50, Buchi was ecstatic at hitting that number. “Fifty feels good, it really feels good to be 50 years. I have not attained 50 years before, but if this is how it is, 50 feels good”, he enthused with a big grin on his face.

Indeed he has every reason to celebrate, having gone through several catastrophic episodes in the past fifty years, but God saw him through.  In a calm voice, he shared his testimony why he just had to celebrate his 50th birthday. God had been very faithfulness to him all through his years on earth. The devil had told him he was going to die on June 16, 2014.  “He gave me a date and made it look like it was God talking. Thank God for knowledge and for God’s grace, I was able to discern it was not God talking. But I realized that one of the things that really bothered me was the fact that I was not afraid of death. It looked like I was ready to go and go joyfully.  But I looked around and said to myself, ‘I dey groove here, I dey enjoy this place’. I was still very much relevant here. It would be right to conclude that I was still needed on this side of the divide. I do not think I am ready to die and that was it. Even after realizing that it was a fluke, I was still doing the countdown in my head. The date came and passed and I was still counting until my birthday which was on June 24 this year.

For about a year Buchi could not raise one for his hands after a strange event, where his spirit left his body. His home was razed down after a mysterious fire incident which started in his music studio in the middle of the night. The only thing that survived the fire was a copy of his bible; it was not even scorched by the fire which he said lasted for 2 hours 45 minutes. The incidence happened while he was out of state on some performance. When he got back he had to relocate to a hotel where he lived with his family for some months.

“For me, it was partly coming to that range of age and partly defeating that evil prophesy, that it was time to go, and then, the joy of God showing himself strong on your behalf. It was a miracle.  Why was the bible not burnt; it was paper. That is why I made a song out of it ‘Fire’. I have been enjoying life, not struggling with anything. If I was not going to have a party, it would have been unfair to God. It would seem as if I was ungrateful. To cap it off, we had a programme in my church, at the end of which my pastor (Pastor Chris) called me and said great words of prayers into my life. When he touched me, I felt it in my spirit and felt I had been commissioned afresh. You could imagine my joy when he prophesied fire into my life. I remembered that one of the tracks in my new album is titled ‘Fire’. Considering all these, it was surely worth it to celebrate. It was time to up the game, leaving certain things behind. For some reason, I feel God wants me to be a key player in all that He is doing”, Buchi explained with his eyes going from animated to dreamy as he eulogized about Gods grace in his life.

The event which witnessed a lot of celebrities had Ali Baba, an ace comedian, as the anchor and other Gospel artiste who put up special performances.  Buchi also performed, thrilling the audience with the unveiling of his new album ‘I See’ while also performing some hit tracks from various albums.

Indeed Buchi has come a long way. At age 24, he had already become a University lecturer, a career which he combined with an M.Phil/Ph.D research programme in the department of English, University of Lagos. A career which he combined strangely with a disc-jockeying in a nightclub! He was also actively involved in the leadership of a cult group in the university.

While in the University, his casual involvement in black activism through ‘The Reggae Club’ grew more intense after listening to Oliver Thambo and the officials of ANC (African National Congress) from South Africa, during the club’s exhibition on ‘Apartheid in South Africa”. Again having studied the black activist literature of Dennis Brutus, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Muta Baruka and the likes, Buchi’s preoccupation with reggae music as an ‘outcry against oppression’ became deeper. Little wonder he also became involved in one of the campus fraternities which at the time prided themselves as anti-oppression movements.

This preoccupation with reggae music took a new turn when his friend Ras Kimono invited him to join the team of deejays on the floating Bukka- a reggae nightclub situated on a docked vessel on the Marina in Lagos Island.

His works have won him numerous awards including the prestigious AMEN for Best in Gospel Category, Faith, POMP and TOMA Awards for Best Artiste, Reggae Artiste and Gospel Album of the year.

Buchi’s first album, ‘These Days’, was released in 1999. His second album, ‘So Beautiful’, was released in 2002. The third one, ‘What a life!’ was released in 2005. In 2008, he released his fourth album, ‘Sound of life’, and in 2011, the fifth album ‘Judah’ was released. His latest ‘I See’ released 2014.

Having been involved in the dangerous misadventure of the fraternity and violence as a student and later as a lecturer, Buchi understands the emptiness of life in the underworld. This drives his passion to enlighten young people of the destructive and counter-productive nature of all forms of social violence.

This passion resulted in his first novel ‘Ceasefire!’ from which ‘Project Ceasefire’ was birthed. It summarises Buchi’s passionate campaign against violence and care for victims of violence. The project is a two-pronged operation namely, ‘Operation Ceasefire!’ and ‘Judah charities’.

‘Operation Ceasefire!’ is a concert that employs the use of music, lectures, focused group discussions (FGDs), dance, drama and many more in the fight against cult violence among students especially in tertiary institutions.

‘Judah charities’ is targeted at reducing violence by taking our children off the streets and supporting children who have been orphaned by religious/sectarian violence. Two of Buchi’s albums are dedicated exclusively to raise funds to support this noble cause which has InnerCity Missions in Lagos and Stephens’s Center, Abeokuta as principal beneficiaries.

No doubt, Buchi was overwhelmed with the show of love he received. “A lot of people travelled from far and near just to celebrate with me. Imagine so many people coming in just for the party and leaving the next day. I was able to raise over N2 million for the Stevens center”, he said.

According to him, Stevens Center is home to over 700 children, whose parents were killed in the North as a result of communal and religious clashes. Majority of the children at the center are traumatised because they witnessed the gruesome murder of their parents and siblings.

At some point of the event Buchi called Ras Kimono on stage and prophesied into his life, saying, “Someday you will preach the gospel, one day, you will tell nations about the glory of God”. An elated Ras Kimono, who described Buchi as a unique individual with a rare talent, was quick to reiterate that someday, he will indeed preach the gospel. Other guests at the event described Buchi as an original artiste, whose talent has immensely blessed the world.

“What I did with that party was to make a statement, gather those in the entertainment industry and tell them about God. Let our music change to reflect the realities on ground. I am beginning to do things more consciously now”, Buchi concluded.

MABEL DIMMA