Days after gospel singer Olayemi Bayonle, known as Toluwanisings, was buried, revelations continue to surface about how different financial demands were made on the musician by his family members, which may have affected his health.
Toluwanisings slumped and died on October 14, 2026, leaving his wife and two young children.
Phone conversations between Toluwanisings and his cousin, Taiwo, whom he sponsored to study in the UK, have surfaced, sparking public reactions.
His cousin, Taiwo Olawoyin, whose utterance revealed entitlement and insensitivity, was shown online by social commentator Yinka TNT. It was gathered that Toluwanisings single-handedly sponsored his aunt’s child (Taiwo) to a school in the UK. Even after the young man graduated, Toluwanisings lamented that his cousin kept calling to ask him to send £6,000 (approximately ₦12 million), claiming he still owed the school.
Taiwo was said to have defended his actions, claiming that his brother was free to support him, that he had built houses, and that there was nothing wrong with him sending such money to him.
According to the report, Taiwo was not the only one the departed singer was funding, as Yinka alleged that “some families will drain you emotionally, financially and psychologically, and will not stop until they see you gone and buried! These were some of the burdens he was carrying before he slumped and died.”
His younger brother had said, “I won’t lie, he gives me money. There was a time Grandma wanted him to buy Eran Ileya (a ram for Ileya), but he refused because he had become a Christian.”
According to reports, Toluwanisings sent his father monthly upkeep and had increased it to ₦80,000 at the time of his death. Toluwanisings had already opened a shop for him before he passed. He had promised to send him ₦5 million to support his business and stock the shop with goods before he passed. The father also mentioned that Toluwanisings was also asked and promised to complete the building of his father’s house, where his mother was also buried. This he promised to do immediately after settling his father with the 5 million naira he had promised him for the business start-up.
From Toluwani’s voice note on Yinka TNT’s page, there was a heavy financial burden on him, stemming from his commitments to his relations: his younger brother, his father, his grandmother, his maternal aunt, and his maternal cousin, Taiwo.
On his expenses for Uncle Babátúndé Olaloye, Toluwanisings, while lamenting about the pressure, said he had just recently sent N1,150,000 to this Uncle to buy his machine. He said they should be patient with him; he will attend to the rest, or do they want him dead?
In a voice note released by TNT, Toluwanisings could be heard speaking with a trembling voice. He said he had not been able to give his wife money to start something of her own because of these financial burdens.
It was gathered that 24 hours after his death, his uncle reportedly arm-twisted his colleagues, telling them that Toluwanisings was supposed to send 6,000 pounds to his younger brother in the UK before he died. Some music ministers had to contribute some money, and the receipt of ₦6 million sent to the cousin in the UK is on Yinka TNT’s page.
Reflecting on the lessons from what the 34-year-old late musician had to go through, the social commentator, Yinka TNT, said, “His money is treated as a family entitlement, not as the product of his own labour, sacrifice, decisions and sometimes, years of deliberate self-denial.
“The human body is not designed to withstand endless emotional pressure.
“You cannot keep living with the anxiety of disappointing everybody.
“You cannot keep sacrificing your peace, health, marriage and personal goals to maintain the comfort of people who may never acknowledge your sacrifices.
“Please, don’t let the people you are trying so hard to keep comfortable become the reason you never get to enjoy the life you worked so hard to build,” she advised breadwinners.