Asa<\/a> disclosed she had to advise her mother to divorce her father, Akin Elemide, because of his excessive abuse towards her mother, herself, and her other siblings.<\/p>\nThe 39-year-old Nigerian-French singer told Ebuka Obi-Uchendu on Bounce Radio\u2019s \u2018BlackBox\u2019 that her father\u2019s obnoxious nature made her think all men were like him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s austere and disciplined. I take those, but what I\u2019m not is the way he brought us up. He was a disciplinarian and, yes, abusive to my mum. With the kids, he overdid it to keep us straight. It was too confusing,\u201d Asa said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou love and then hate. I found myself unsteady around him. I saw him abuse my mum. It disturbed me for years. I thought all men were like that for a while until my grandfather, who has been with his wife for 50 years said no.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told my mum, \u2018hey, woman, what are you doing here? You need to leave\u2019. I was a little girl, and she didn\u2019t listen. I thought, if this is it, I don\u2019t want to get married. Looking back, I don\u2019t think they were compatible.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u2018Satan Be Gone\u2019 crooner, Asa, narrated that her father was caught by surprise when her mother left him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loved my music. He\u2019s proud. He would read the news and vaunt with friends. He told me one day, \u2018if not for the beating, you won\u2019t be this successful. It\u2019s because I disciplined you\u2019. I was like, \u2018wow, what about mum?\u2019\u201d Asa said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe and my older brother, we were the experimental [siblings]. My brother got immune to the beating, but I didn\u2019t want to be touched. When my mum realised she was done was when she called us to go on a trip.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said we were not going to come back. This was in Jos. We left dad there and came back to Lagos. He figured it out that we\u2019d left him. It took months of planning and I was looking at mum like, \u2018when did you wake up?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cDad was mad at us. He said I was in on it. He took it out on me. There were things I wish I\u2019d told him that he failed to see. I did tell him some things and he only stuttered. It took courage. I was scared of him, even on the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n