Why I don’t want to repeat my father’s mistakes with women – Clarence Peters

By Seyi Babalola

Clarence Peters, a Nigerian music video director, has opened up about his concerned connection with his father, ace juju performer Shina Peters.

In a recent episode of the WithChude podcast, Peters discussed his father’s past failures, including his treatment of women and how it has informed his attitude to relationships.

He said that Shina, 66, “screwed up” by not doing more to safeguard his celebrity mother Clarion Chukwura, 60, who he said “was blackballed by his (Shina’s) colleagues”.

The 41-year-old admitted that the incident had a deep impact on him, and that he has made a concerted effort to avoid repeating his father’s faults in his relationships with women.

“My dad screwed up, I mean using the word screwed up is me putting it lightly because his colleagues blackballed my mum and she was already dealing with a lot of trauma from when she was young,” he said.

“In making ‘Inside Life’, I started to discover some of the things I did not know. Episode 5 of ‘Inside Life’ is written by my cousin who went through that and so my mum went through the script and started crying because she all went through the same thing.

“We keep forgetting that it was a different time. My mum told me recently that he has been with women, drove some of the amazing cars, stayed in the best houses, hotels, he has had money. He is approaching his 70s, death is certain because we are all going to die.

“All he can do now is pray to God to forgive him and that is all that he has and so we have had that conversation. My father has made mistakes that I have also made, so I can’t judge him. I can relate to the mistakes that my father has made.

“As much as I was raised by mother, one of my greatest fears was not to be my father to the opposite sex. I have been a version of that, so I am not a saint. So I cannot judge him. I would like to but I am in the position to.”