Veteran fuji musician, Kollington Ayinla critically ill, placed on oxygen
By Nehru Odeh
Popular Nigerian fuji musician, Alhaji Kolawole Rasaq Ilori, popularly known as Kollington Ayinla, is critically ill and has been hospitalized for days.
Reports have it that the 75-year-old, who has been ill for over a week, is currently on admisssion at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in Ikeja, Sahara Reporters revealed.
According to the report, Kollington condition had become critical and had to be placed on oxygen. However, the family has been keeping it close to their chest.
Efforts made to reach Kollington directly to find out the nature of his ailment failed as his mobile phone was switched off.
Ayinla was born Abdulrasaq Kolawole Ilori on 20 August 1949 to Chief Ayanda Ilori and Alhaja Asiawu Mofodeke Ilori. Known variously as Baba Alakita, Kebe-n- Kwara, but better known as Kollington Ayinla, he hails from Ilota, a town on the outskirts of Ilorin, Kwara State.
Ayinla and his friend and rival Ayinde Barrister, with whom he was involved in musical fights, dominated the Fuji music scene from the 70s through to the 80s and early 90s. In spite of their fights , they both ranked as leading stars of Fuji music.
Though Ayinla began recording for Nigerian EMI in 1974 and 1978, having achieved a pronounced bit temporary lead over Barrister, he set up his own label, Kollington Records, through which he released not less than 30 albums over the next five years.
As the popularity of fuji grew, and the market became big enough to support both artists, Kollington and Barrister’s enmity diminished. By 1983, both men were able to stand side by side as mourners at the funeral of apala star Haruna Ishola.
Still, a very remarkable thing about both artistes was that they were once soldiers. He joined the Nigeria Army a year before Barrister in 1967, while Barrister joined in 1968. Yet both of them resigned the same time.
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