Niniola Recalls Night Her Father, Brigadier-General Simeon Apata, Was Murdered

Nigerian Afro House singer, Niniola Apata, has revisited the painful memory of witnessing the assassination of her father, retired Brigadier-General Simeon Apata, in 1995.

In a recent interview with Jay On Air, the award-winning artist revealed that she was at home on the night her father was murdered, an experience she says continues to haunt her decades later.

“I was in the house when my dad was murdered. And I was his favourite child, so you can imagine [the trauma],” Niniola recalled. “Till today, I’m not over it. I can never get over it.”

The singer explained that her young age at the time made the tragedy even harder to process.

“I was very young when it happened. I don’t remember my exact age then but it wasn’t a good memory,” she said.

Her younger sister, singer Teniola Apata, has also shared how the traumatic experience shaped her early years, revealing in past interviews that she was just two years old when their father was killed.

Brigadier-General Simeon Apata, a retired military officer and founder of the Apata Memorial High School in Lagos, was assassinated in 1995. His death remains one of the defining tragedies in the lives of his children, who have since risen to prominence in Nigeria’s music industry.