‘We’ll exhume him’ — Toluwanisings’ family rejects cemetery burial

The family of late Nigerian gospel singer Toluwanisings has threatened to exhume his remains if he is buried in a cemetery rather than beside his late mother at their ancestral home in Oyo State. A representative of the family, in a video circulating on social media, said relatives had agreed that the singer should be brought home and buried at their father’s compound, insisting that they would not accept any alternative arrangement.

“We have all decided in the family that Toluwanisings must not be buried in the cemetery. For this reason, they should bring him back home,” the representative said. He warned that the family would take matters into its own hands if the singer were buried in a cemetery. “If you people decide to bury him in the cemetery, we will remove him from there.

I am speaking on behalf of all the family members,” he added. The family representative also dismissed concerns about burying the singer at the house he built, insisting that their preferred location was beside his mother’s grave at their father’s compound in Oyo State. “If you say you can’t bury him in his house that he built, we don’t know your reasons and we don’t even care to know, just bring him home,” he said.

The dispute has sparked reactions on social media, with some users arguing that the family should have a say in determining the singer’s final resting place. Others have called for a peaceful resolution that respects the deceased and his relatives. Toluwanisings, whose real name was Olayemi Bayonle Bolaji, died on October 14, 2026, at the age of 41.

Family members, friends and fans later held a candlelight procession in his honour on October 20 while a tribute night was held on