Why did you take up jazz? Can't you sing?
I have been a musician for as long as I can remember. For me, singing has never been my major. I can't even count myself as a singer. But since I am a saxophonist, ideally, the easiest thing to do is to do my music with my sax. I compose songs with the sax. When I compose songs, I get people to sing it. For me, I am a saxophonist and the closest genre to choose when it comes to music is jazz.

Do you do only gospel?
No. That is another challenge I face in terms of people trying to box me. Of course, I get my inspiration from God. I am a Christian. But my music is universal.

Now that the in-thing in the Nigerian music sector is afro-hip hop, do you think your Impact is still being felt?
I believe there is power in variety. Sometimes, you don't realise how tired you are about a particular music until you hear another kind of music. I should take advantage of the fact that not too many people are into jazz. It is just for me to do it right so that it attracts the attention of someone who is always listening to hip hop. I was watching one music channel on cable recently, you could almost not tell when they changed from one artiste to another, because all the songs sounded the same. Some of us are daring to be different.

When did you start music?
Like I said earlier, I have been into music almost all my life. I was born in Kaduna and I grew up in Minna. I was going to Cherubim and Seraphim church where the tradition was for every kid to be able to play one instrument or the other. We were so musically oriented that any kid could dance or sing. I took advantage of that and took it a bit further than other kids. I practised more. I started as a drummer, then I started playing the trumpet. It was my major for a long time. With the knowledge of the trumpet, I started playing the key drums, the guitar and basically anything I could lay my hands on. That was how it started. I would say I have been living music all my life.

Did your parents mind when you decided to take it beyond the church?
I studied electrical and electronics engineering. From the outset, I was never bad academically, so I didn't give my parents any chance to feel that I was wasting my time doing music. They couldn't say what I was doing was affecting my education, because it was not. They were proud of me instead. I was doing something that not every kid was doing, and I was doing it well. By the time I was 11, people had already started inviting me to perform for them. I was going to Kano and other parts of the North to perform. I would even come to Lagos from there at that age, to record with people. It was a good experience for me, and my parents were proud of me.

I am a Christian, and divorce is not allowed. But things happen in a man's life that are beyond his control. Sometimes God just allows such things to happen. The good thing is that when you come out of it, you will realise the change. I was asking God why He had to allow me to go through this. I couldn't have gone through this for nothing. There has to be a reason I went through it. At a point in my life, I felt everything should be discontinued. Life is about moving on. I am glad today that I have got over it.

What is your view on the kind of music young artistes' churn out these days?
There are two things to it. First, the good news is that Nigerians are beginning to appreciate our own music. You can go to a party and what the DJ plays is Nigerian music from dusk to dawn. Companies are beginning to endorse Nigerian artistes. The industry has moved up. But at the same time, if we are not careful, we would get big on the wrong side doing the wrong thing. We need to start structuring the industry very well. We have so many musicians and people are just singing anything. People now think that once they do yahoo yahoo, the only cover up they have is to do music. I am beginning to have the intention to do music. For me, even if you don't pay me, I will still do music. I love to play sax. Music does it all for me. But for these guys, most of them are doing it because they want fame and because they want sudden money. That is why they release one album in a year and that is all. They are not deep. There has to be a way of censoring such people if you do good music, the fame and the money will come.

How many saxophones do you have?
I have four of them. I gave them names. Sax is one of the most faithful things I have now.

Are you married?
Hmmm. I am divorced.

Do you intend to get married again?
Oh yes. It is a good thing to marry. I believe in marriage even though mine didn't work out the first time. There is always a chance to try again. I have learnt from my past and I have to make sure the mistake never repeats itself. That is the most important thing.

Now that you are single, you must have a lot of female admirers ...
They are always there, even when you are married. You can never take that out of a man's life. Once the ladies perceive you as being successful in what you do, they will also come around. Going after them is a decision that has to be made, regardless of whether you are single or married.

Could infidelity have been the reason for your crashed marriage?
Infidelity could never have been the reason. It was other issues. We all know that this thing happens, and when it is beyond you, when you have tried everything and it is not working, then you try some other things. I will not live my life clinging to the past when I can move on. It took me time to be able to confidently talk like this.

How come you are divorced even as a Christian?
I am a Christian, and divorce is not allowed. But things happen in a man's life that are beyond his control. Sometimes God just allows such things to happen. The good thing is that when you come out of it, you will realise the change. I was asking God why He had to allow me to go through this. I couldn't have gone through this for nothing. There has to be a reason I went through it. At a point in my life, I felt everything should be discontinued. Life is about moving on. I am glad today that I have got over it. It is easy to condemn from afar, but when you go through some stuff, then you realise that you can't help taking some decisions. There are things that can kill you at that point if you don't. You can remove that thing from your life.

Are you suggesting that if a marriage is not working, the people involved should call it quits?
No way. That is not it. I believe in different strokes for different folks. I have never been a party to separation or divorce. Never. I went into marriage not thinking about divorce. I made a vow to myself before I got married that once I found the person, I would never be involved with another woman. But there are other issues in life that you don't realise until you get into marriage.

Like what?
There are so many of them. Lets' not go there.

So who asked for a divorce?
I don't think I want to tell you. No comment on that. It is not a thing of pride for you to come out and say you are divorced. This is the first time I am talking about my divorce. I guess at some point in one's life, one should move on. People still see me and ask, 'How is your wife?' Divorce is one of the traumatic things a man or a woman can go through. People don't even realise that you are not married any more.
I remember that at the beginning of this whole thing, I would go home and cry like a baby. I was thinking of the people I was going to let down- my fans and people who look up to me and who see me as a role model. How would they react when they realised that their model was divorced? Would it not discourage them? But our destinies are different. I wouldn't say my life has come to an end because there was a divorce. God created me for a purpose. Now I see some of the reasons why that happened. I am not going to say it was my fault or that it was her fault. I only pray for the will of God to happen in my life regardless of everything I have gone through. God forbid that I go through all of this for nothing. There has to be a reason. May be it is for me to encourage others. Divorce is not a good thing, whether the woman was a witch or not. Trust me, it is not a good thing to go through a divorce.

So you regret being divorced?
I believe in God and I know everything happened for a reason. That is why I will not say anything. Things happen for a reason and when they are beyond your control, there is nothing you can do about it. Marriage is about two people. There has to be an agreement. Even when you disagree, there has to be an agreement that you are disagreeing on something.

Do you have kids?
No.

What do you hope to do in future?
All my life, I have always wanted to affect my generation positively and see how we can change this country. Music is a weapon I can use. People love music, and once you do it well, people will listen to you. You will be able to use music to talk about things and talk about God and the right way to do things.

You talk as if you never lived a radical life even before you got married.
Of course, I did. Everybody has his experience. I am a musician and don't forget I played in almost every club in Lagos between 1996 and 1999. Every life style that is attached to such, I was part of it. I was into smoking, women, whatever. But in 1999, I got so tired of such lifestyle. For some reasons, I felt I should be doing something more decent. I believe it was God that touched my life then. I didn't feel right being in those places, so I stopped. I started playing in church and then I released an album. In fact, I would say I started professionally in 1999. That was when I decided to do my music in the line I believe in, which is gospel.
I have had my share of those experiences. And then one still feels those challenges because one is human. We live in a real world. What I am learning in life is to practise what I preach.

Do you have a girlfriend?
At the moment, I don't.

Jesus will have to come down and tell me that is the right person. Anyway, I will know. It is a difficult thing. If you have conscience, divorce is not something you simply get over. I have to be careful. I don't want to go through such again. I am taking my time. The clock is ticking but I would rather wait than make another mistake.

For real?
Trust me, I don't. It is a lot to handle. I have gone through a lot in my life and I need to hear from God over and over again before I take that step. You need to make sure you are ready. Last year, I thought I was ready but I realised I wasn't ready when I was confronted with realities.

So how will you know when you see the right person?
Jesus will have to come down and tell me that is the right person. Anyway, I will know. It is a difficult thing. If you have conscience, divorce is not something you simply get over. I have to be careful. I don't want to go through such again. I am taking my time. The clock is ticking but I would rather wait than make another mistake.

Was it your fault that your marriage crashed?
I don't want to talk about that. I don't want to trade blames. But if it were for me, my marriage would still been intact. I really can't say why the marriage crashed, but left to me, we would still have been very much married.

What is your relationship with your ex-wife now?
Nothing much, to be honest.

You are not friends?
We are not enemies.

When did the marriage crash?
We separated in 2006, less than a year after we got married. So you see why it was not the best experience.