If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. For the veteran singer, Sir Shina Peters, who has children from different women, the aspect of his life relating to the size of his family did not go as he had planned.
In an exclusive chat with Saturday Beats, the singer said that all his life, his plan was to have one wife and two children but everything changed when he was in the spotlight.
“When I think about the fact that I am happily married, it is like a miracle because before now, whenever I finished a show, I would have about 250 women waiting for me. The question people should ask me is that out of all the women that swarmed around me, how did I choose a wife? I would say I was destined to be with my wife. It is not by our making; it was just destiny.
“If not because of my profession, my plan was to have only one wife and two children. But the temptation that comes with this business is too much. I always look at things from the spiritual aspect; do you know how many handkerchiefs women have used to rub my face?
“Do you know how many strange eyebrow pencils they have drawn and used to wink at me? Do you know how many boobs they have shown me while performing? All these things matter. But I thank God for my life. The only thing that I have never indulged in is smoking, regardless the substance. Now I am the head of choir, Cherubim and Seraphim (Church); I am closer to God more than ever,” he said.
The singer noted that his marriage had its ups and downs. He identified one of the low points in his life as when his wife was diagnosed with cancer. According to the singer, that was the most emotional time of his life and only his faith in God made him survive the ordeal.
He said, “When my wife took ill, it was like the end of the world for me, but God showed his might. That is one aspect of my life that makes me very emotional. The incident made me see the world like it truly is. It made me realise that all these material things are nothing. At a point, my wife asked me to call the lawyers because she wanted to prepare her will but I told her that she was not going anywhere.
“When it was time for me to pay, the doctors that were taking care of her abroad told me that I was wasting my money; they told me that my wife was more or less a waste. I had to shout at them to take my card and withdraw the money from my account before they could listen to me. That night, I knew that she was going to survive the illness; that was faith.
“I believed that my God would not let everything that I had worked for in my life end like that. I learnt a lot about faith during the time my wife was ill because I had to be strong. When everything seems like it is not working, be prepared because God is coming up with something positive. During that period, I could not play for about four months until I saw that my wife was getting better.
“I had to go back to work because I needed to pay the bills. How much do I have? If the likes of Chief M.K.O. Abiola and Ibrahim Babangidas’ wives could die all these people that could afford to buy another life for their wives – if it was possible (for their wives to die), then who am I? It was just the grace of God and the faith that I had.
“The doctors told me that the whole procedure would take about 10 years, but I told them that they were not God. I replied them that at most, she would spend only three years and to God be the glory, she left the hospital three years later. Now she only goes for medical check-up.” – Culled from Punch.
