Nigerian reggae icon, Ras Kimono, who died on at Lagoon Hospital in Lagos on June 10, missed flying to the United States of America three days before his death.
The 60-year-old had planned to travel aboard a British Airways flight on Thursday, June 7 but said he was prevented from doing so because he didn’t have a UK transit visa.
This was disclosed to Qed.ng in separate chats by musician, Daddy Showkey, and vice president (southwest) of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Temitope Babayemi.
Speaking when he paid a courtesy visit to this online newspaper’s corporate head office in Lagos on Thursday, Showkey said Kimono informed him of his trip a few days before.
Hear Showkey: “I even told him to help me collect something from someone in the US. He later told me he could not travel because they (British Airways) said he didn’t have a transit visa.
“I found that strange because Kimono had American Green Card and did not require a transit visa to pass through Britain.”
The galala singer confessed that he broke down when he heard of Kimono’s death and that it took days before he could be comforted.
“Kimono was baba (father) to me. He was one of the people I looked up to in the industry. Only God knows the impact he has had on my life,” Showkey added.
Babayemi, who is presently in the US, also relayed how he met Kimono at the Lagos airport on his way out of the country.
“I saw Ras at the airport as I was leaving for the United States. He told me he was prevented from boarding because he didn’t have a transit visa.
“I connected him with a friend, Neil, at the British Deputy High Commission in Lagos who also said the same thing.
“It’s quite shocking to hear that he eventually didn’t travel on that day and that he died a few days later,” Babayemi, who is the founder of Different Aesthetics Arts and Culture Management said.
Kimono was back at the airport on Saturday, June 9 for the trip to the US when he complained of not feeling well.
He was first rushed to a hospital in Ikeja from where he was moved to Lagoon Hospital in Ikoyi.
The singer was later pronounced dead, throwing millions of fans into mourning.
