Wasiu Alabi, born on November 27, 1967, also known as “Oganla”, is a Nigerian film actor and Fuji musician. The Oganla of Fuji was born to the Odetolas and became a successful musician everyone now is calling Pasuma.
He was born at Mushin in Lagos State, which, as he once said, had a great influence on his career. Later, he was brought up in Kwara State, western Nigeria.
In 1973, Pasuma enrolled at Muslim Mission Primary School, and 6 years later, he moved to Nigerian Model High School to pursue his secondary school education.
When talking about his childhood, Pasuma said that he went through hell and suffering. There were days when he only ate once a day. Then, his mother would ask him to eat at night so that he would not go to sleep hungry.
Pasuma was born in November 27, 1967, meaning that he is 53 years old as of 2020.
When Pasuma was nine, his parents got separated. Since then, he was single-handedly raised by his mother.
Wasiu Alabi’s father wanted him to be a medical doctor as he himself was a well-educated man. He wanted his children to have a good life and the career of Fuji musicians was not associated with good earnings. His mother didn’t accept his decision to be a Fuji musician as well.
But once his mother realized that he had chosen his path, she started to support him. His mother wanted him to succeed because she wanted to be proud of her son.
When Pasuma was young, he dreamt of success. Mushin was known as a town of rascally people before Pasuma made it famous. Pasuma had a dream of becoming hugely popular, and it came true. He couldn’t begin his career somewhere else, and he actually decided that he wanted to get out of the place and make a difference.
The artist started singing when he was in secondary school. While his friends were participating in sports, he and some of his friends would pull themselves aside and sing. In 1984, he started writing songs. The young artist was inspired by K1 De Ultimate, who released an album titled Talazo 84 that was greatly accepted by fans.
Wasiu started his musical career at the young age of 17, but his first album was recorded in 1993. He started working with Eru Owa Records. This is how his first album called Recognition was recorded. It was Eru Owa Records who called it Recognition to make people know about the new Fuji musician in the industry.
After he finished his secondary school education, the musician evolved significantly. After the first album was released, Pasuma’s fame grew within and beyond Mushin.
Next year after the first album was released, his second album Choices was recorded. The artist picked this title because he recognized that there were a lot of Fuji musicians on the streets of Mushin but only he was chosen to be a new musician in the town to become famous all over Nigeria.
The next year, a subsequent famous Orobokibo album came. It earned him an award as The Best Fuji Artiste at the FMA awards. Before the release of this album, Wasiu Alabi Pasuma was like any other Fuji musician in Mushin. At that time, he was just playing music and didn’t know what the future held for him but he always dreamt about huge fame.
As for the third album’s title, this was a slang word Orobokibo which was created by one of Pasuma’s backup vocalists who used it during one of the rehearsal sessions.
The musician asked the fellow about word’s meaning, and he told him that it was just a slang word he heard somewhere. Originally, the slang word Orobo means ‘fat women’. Orobokibo was the album that brought him to the limelight. This album led him to his first ever concert at Benson in 1996. That was how he started his journey.
From 1997, Pasuma started performing at Lekki Sunplash. First, he played before bigger stars like Orits Williki, Femi Kuti, Raskimono would perform. He had a few minutes to do his job and leave. People didn’t want to listen to any rising stars, they were waiting for big artists.
One year later, everything changed for Wasiu, and he became a recognized brand in the music industry.
In 2015, he surpassed many artists like Olamide, Phyno, and Flavor, becoming the winner of Best Indigenous Artist of the Year award at the Nigeria Entertainment Awards. The musician did not even think that he would beat such music giants.
While Alhaji Wasiu Ayinde was reigning on the music scene being still young and hot, Pasuma was nominated for the first time. In 2016, he was nominated for the Best featured Non-Islamic Artiste in Islamic album. He has collaborated with many famous Nigerian artists including Saheed Osupa, Bola Abimbola, King Sunny Ade and other.
Throughout his music career, he has released a great number of Fuji music albums and 1 hip-hop album. Despite working within one music genre, Pasuma has proven to be very versatile and fruitful. Sometimes he could do 1 or 2, and sometimes 3 albums in a year.
He has also featured in Nigerian films such as Iyanje and Alenibare. He recently played a major role in a ghetto-inspired movie titled Ogo Mushin. The movie features big names like Femi Adebayo, Adebayo Salami, Wasiu Alabi (Pasuma), Mercy Aigbe, Tayo Odueke, Ibrahim Yekini, and Kelvin Ikeduba.
The musician’s net worth is guesstimated at N555 million. Wasiu rented apartments for about 15 years until 2018 when he bought two mansions in Nigeria. In November 2017, the musician, together with 27 friends and colleagues in the industry, opened a new mansion, a 60 million Naira mansion in Lagos. He also owns a 150 million Naira mansion. Wife The musician is married to actress Jaiye Kuti, who was born in Ilaro, Ogun State, on the 19th of July.
The famous Fuji musician has 3 baby mamas and 10 children (8 girls and 2 boys), including Wasilat Odetola, Oyindamola Odetola, Aaliyah Odetola, Opeyemi Odetola, Amirah Odetola, Rookebat Odetola, Wariz Odetola, Junior Odetola, Farooq Odetola. His first child and beautiful looking daughter, Wasilat Ajibola is known to have studied at Lead City University, Ibadan, Oyo State.
His other children are Barakat, Wasbar, Amirah, Opeyemi, Sultan, Waris, and Aliyah. The names of 2 of children are not known. Pasuma, who had humble beginnings, has earned recognition in Nigeria and abroad as well. Throughout his career, he has made a difference in the Fuji music industry.
