For a while now, speculation has been
rife that popular Fuji musician, Remi
Aluko, had lost his sight and keeping it
a secret.

Some people have said that whenever he
is performing, his boys stylishly guide his
movements on stage to prevent the public
from knowing about his visual
impairment.

Also, a young man who watched his
performance at Ketu, Lagos, recently and
spoke to Saturday Beats on condition of
anonymity, said that he seemed to believe
that the Fuji star had gone blind because
of the way his boys surrounded him
during his performance.

It was rumoured that Aluko bought a
stolen phone and was arrested by the
police. It was further alleged that while he
was in detention he was brutally tortured
and that the treatment affected his sight.
During an exclusive chat with Saturday
Beats, the singer admitted that he had
problems with his sight but said that he
never bought a stolen phone and was
never tortured by the police.

He said, “I have problem with my sight
and the ailment is called glaucoma. A lot
of people have it in Nigeria but do not
know. I did not have any symptoms
before the illness manifested itself. That is
why I advise people to always go for
medical check-up.

I have rectified the problem through an
operation in India but the truth is that
my sight is not like it used to be. You
know that once a part of the body is
damaged, it cannot function like it used
to. I can see but my vision is not as clear
as it used to be.

“It is an illness and I did not contract it
through police torture. The Nigeria Police
Force is probably the best law
enforcement agency in Nigeria.
Those that published that report about me
are just callous. I did not buy a stolen
phone from anybody; someone actually
gave me the phone as a gift because he
enjoyed my performance.

“The man first gave me money while I was
performing; before the show ended, he
sent one of my boys to give me the phone
because he really had fun at the show.
When the police arrested me, they did not
touch me; they only questioned me and
later took me to Abuja. When we got
there, they just asked me how they could
get the person that gave me the phone.
Luckily, they were able to locate the man
and he was arrested. That was what
happened.”

Narrating how he discovered that he had
the ailment; Aluko said he got to know
about it during an altercation with
someone, which led to him being punched
in the face.

“The illness manifested itself after I
received a punch from someone who had
an issue with me. When I was punched, I
discovered that I could not see very
clearly.

At first, I thought it was a little problem,
so I just applied eye drops but it did not
work so I went to a hospital at Bonny
Camp and that is where they told me that
I had glaucoma,” he said.