The younger half-brother of late gospel singer Toluwanisings has broken his silence in a voice note, urging the public to stop blaming the singer’s widow for the bitter family dispute that has erupted since his death. Speaking amid the ongoing burial controversy, the sibling who shares the same father but has a different mother insisted that the problems within the family existed long before his brother rose to fame.
In the recording shared by VictorKingInitiatives, he made it clear that the wife was never the root of the tension.
“I came to clear the air about people who are blaming those they ought not to blame. The woman was never the issue from the start, they should stop blaming her,” he said.
He went further to point fingers at another side of the family, claiming that “it’s my step brother mother family that has been putting different rubbish in his family from the start.”
The half-brother acknowledged that Toluwanisings offered financial support to their father after becoming successful, even if he rarely returned home. According to him, their dad once asked why the singer stayed away so much, and the reply was simply that work kept him busy.
“I also heard Toluwanisings didn’t want anything to have with our dad’s family but he does things for our dad,” he explained, stressing that claims of complete abandonment of their father were false.
One particular incident, he revealed, sparked lasting anger. Their paternal grandmother once asked the singer for money to buy meat for the Ileya celebration. Toluwanisings declined, saying he could not because he had become a Christian and was no longer a Muslim.
“That his response now caused a lot of controversy in the family. He said he wasn’t a Muslim anymore so I guess his reply got them angry but that he didn’t take care of her dad? That’s a lie,” the brother stated.
He added that while the singer helped their father and acknowledged the siblings, there was little physical relationship among them.
Toluwanisings, whose full name was Olayemi Bayonile Bolaji, died on October 14, 2026, after reportedly slumping in Ibadan. The popular gospel minister, who transitioned from a Muslim background and early Fuji music roots into energetic Christian worship, left behind his wife Elizabeth Akanbi and two daughters. Since his passing, disagreements over burial arrangements have intensified. His father and grandmother have pushed for interment at the house he built or beside his late mother in Osun State, while the widow has favoured a cemetery or church burial. The grandmother has also publicly alleged years of limited contact and support.
The half-brother’s intervention adds another layer to the painful family feud that has played out in public. By defending the widow and highlighting long-standing tensions linked to the singer’s religious conversion and career demands, he has called for a more balanced view of events that predated fame.