Ghanian artist Reggie Rockstone don introduce new condom line.

 I dey house they relax when person bring Rocdoms for me, for those of una wen no know wetin e be,  Rocdoms na the name of the new condom wen Ghanian hip life pioneer Reggie Rockstone,  introduce, for him new condom line, everybody know say I am a blogger in the lord, and besides I don marry, so i no need that kin thing,  in my magnanimity I carry my own give the less privilege as I dey always do #smiling, make una see Reggie and pictures from the lunch.

Badest guy ever liveth Olamide, and the Ciroc Endorsenent deal.

Last time I tell una about Iyanya endorsement deal  with Zinox, Endorsement deals na wetin every celebrity dey hope for, because these deals dey make dem richer, and also show say dem dey relevant for the industry, we don see different companies like MTN, GLO, PEPSI, GUINNESS and many others sign deals with our Nigerian artist and entertainers, but this one wen Badoo Olamide sign na big one, because him don join the like of  Rick Ross, DJ Khaled, Ray Jay, and Funkmaster Flex as an ambassador for the alcoholic beverage, ciroc. Them no disclose the amount, but I copy say the money big well well, because na in three parts them take send the money come, Kpoko!!!

 Olamide dey drop correct jams, make hits, roll with the big boys(d banj) sign the endorsements and make the money, Olamide badooooooo!!! the dream of a ghetto boy.

Oya meet the man wen dey behind the big brother show John De Mol.

John de Mol na Dutch media tycoon, na the man wen create big brother, and him worth over $2.2 billion. Pepo they call am the  Reality TV pioneer, him na Oga for behind production companies wen them dey call Endemol and Talpa. He make him money from all this television shows  "Deal or No Deal," "Fear Factor," and "Big Brother."  Another one wen him dey do now na "The Voice," and them license am for 50 countries, including China where the show for dey get over 100 million viewers. This guy don still get another one wen dem they call "The Winner Is…" As of March 2013, Forbes name am  the 3rd richest man for him country Netherlands and the 670th richest man for the World. So whenever you they cry say your favorite contestant don commot, one man dey smile go bank, him name na Oga John de Mol.

Meet the Ishan born American Mogul, Chris Aire.

What does the Aire in your name mean? Is it Nigerian?

Yes it is Nigerian, a derivative of my Ishan name. The full name, Airemiokhai, is a derivative of two Ishan words, “Aire,” which means “drawing close” and “Okhai,” meaning “greatness.” So it means “drawing close to greatness.” I decided to adopt my middle name and cut of the second half first as a mark of my independence at that time and, since I was going abroad then, to make it easier for people to pronounce. I was born Christopher Airemiokhai Iluobe.
Growing up must have been tough; can we get to know more about you?

I was born and raised here. I left in December 1983 before I turned 18. I was born in Ivue – Uromi previously Agbazilo Local Government Area. It was Bendel State at that time but now Edo State. I grew up in the village and then attended Immaculate Conception College in Benin.  After college, I went to work for my father. I graduated with distinction from high school so he figured that I would be able to run his business. My father had an oil business that I helped to run for about a year and a half before I traveled abroad.
You were so young and ran such a big company?

I was, but I was able to run the company efficiently. Our head office was on Sapele Road in Benin and we had haulage trucks all over the country. We had about 100 trucks that transported diesel and petrol all over the country.
My father (Pa Iluobe) was a very successful businessman. He was into oil and building materials. He had a factory that produced galvanized roofing sheets. He was also into farming, exporting cocoa and palm kernel.  He actually gave me my first lessons in business.
If you were doing so well why did you decide to go abroad?
My dad and I were very close growing up and he challenged me several times. But there was this particular time he did that and I decided that it was time to take him up on the challenge which is why I took the decision to be far away from home and his assistance and to use my middle name as my surname.
The challenge was that I couldn’t make it without him and his name. And looking back if I had remained with him then, I believe that I would not have made it without him.
Was the America you arrived in what you expected it to be?

No it wasn’t as I had imagined when I arrived, partly because I went to Memphis in Tennessee, in the south, which was still pretty segregated. It was not what I expected and I told myself I would rather return home than stay there. So I left Tennessee and moved to California.
How did you survive?

It was hard. I started by flipping burgers to put myself through college. One of the things that was ingrained in me back in Nigeria was the need to be educated. So in America, I struggled to get a bachelor’s degree. That was my first goal.
I met other Nigerians there who told me that the best jobs a Nigerian could were guard jobs or fast food jobs. That was how I started working in a fast food restaurant. But I soon decided it was not for me and that I could do better.
You were also going to school at the same time you were working?

Yes. I would go to school from 9 am to about 4 pm or 5 pm, go home to rest and then go to work around 10 pm till 6 am. I did that until I graduated college. It was really tough. Here I was moving from running a major company to having to virtually work myself to death. But I am intractable and a very focused person.  When I decide to do something I keep at it. But there was a time I really thought seriously of coming back home when it got unbearable. I thought of coming home for one summer but then it didn’t work out.
Now, how did you get into the jewelry business?

I always had a love for jewelry and knew that jewelry was also a profitable business and wanted to ultimately invest in it. I had hoped to create a successful career in the entertainment industry in the USA and invest the money I made into the jewelry business.
You wanted to be an actor?

Yes, my degree was in acting and directing.
But what happened was when I finished college it was impossible for me to go into acting. If you were not connected you could not get into the acting business at the time and I wasn’t connected.  When I realised that I could not break into it, I put a group together and started making music.
Our brand label was Raw Silk. We did that for a few years and then broke up and I went solo and started doing my own thing. I actually got up to number 8 on the American Street chart once and had a video on BET.
Back to your involvement in the jewelry business?

Well, I talked to a friend of mine about my interest in the jewelry business and his father happened to be a jeweler. This was during my foray into music. One day his father called me and asked me if I was really serious about pursuing a career in music because it was not taking me anywhere.  He invited me to come and learn about the jewelry business since I was always yapping about investing in one.  He said at least I would have a job and be earning some money while waiting for my big break. I thought it was a good idea and started working for him. It eventually became a fulltime thing. I started sketching unique jewelry pieces for him and that was really how I started to re-apply my creative skills into designing jewelry.
I apprenticed under my friend’s father for six years and then started my own company.
How did you start your own company?

I worked for him for six years and I had been able to save $5,000. That amount in starting a jewelry company was absolutely nothing. But what happened in those six years was that I met a lot of high net worth individuals within the jewelry community. The jewelry business is a very small community. We all go to the same shows, hang out together. So, working for him gave me a platform which catapulted me into the game. Unbeknownst to me, people had watched me for six years and had an insight into my character. They knew I could be trusted and that I was a serious minded person, this made it easier for them to take a chance on me.
How did you start with $5,000?

The $5,000 was just enough for me to rent a small office space where I was my own secretary, designer, salesman, manufacturer and everything rolled in together. I started in 1996 with that small amount of money but the goodwill I had built was what pushed me over the edge.
What exactly did you have to do?

I did all the designs and since I had befriended so many people in the business, I approached somebody with a manufacturing facility that would help me with the gold and other raw materials to extend credit terms to me. I then produced the pieces, put them in my bag and hawked them to the people I thought would buy them. I was given about 30 days to sell pay off my creditor. I would sell the pieces and repeat the process.
What gave you that real break in the business?

The turning point for me was when I met Gary Paton. He used to play for the Seattle Supersonics. That year they were playing the Los Angeles Lakers in the playoffs. I knew Gary was going to be staying at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Marina Del Rey, so I went early and waited for him to show up. I waited for a few hours and when he finally showed up, I walked up and talked to him in the middle of the press frenzy. I will never forget how gracious he was. I had never met him before. I just walked up to him and introduced myself and my business. He put his arms around me and pointed to his body guard and asked me to talk to him and exchange addresses and phone numbers.
I stayed in touch with them after the playoffs. In the summer they were in Miami and invited me over to show them the stuff I had and I went over. When I got there he gave me an order for $50,000.
What exactly did you sell to him?

A bunch of gold and diamond basketball pendants. He bought for himself and his friends. It was a big order at the time. The interesting thing is that I had maxed out my credit card making that trip and if he hadn’t bought anything it would have been difficult for me to go back home. But it was worth the risk. Apart from him, I met a number of other people on the trip with whom I later did business.
Our clientele cuts across business, entertainment, Sports and so on. When I first started it was mostly entertainers.
Do you ever get carried away, being this young Nigeria making it big, and hobnobbing with superstars?

Sometimes I still pinch myself because I have been very fortunate.  I consider myself lucky. Everything I have done I can only say is by the grace of the Almighty God.
You were away from Nigeria for a long time. What made you come back?

When I left Nigeria the idea was to go and study, better myself and then come back and apply the knowledge here, but the people who came back returned and told us how horrible it was. So coming back home was the last thing on my mind at the time. Also, the things that we were getting popular for in the USA were not your standard run off the mill designs. They were cutting edge and a lot of people did not understand it.  They used to ask who would wear a clock?  I could never have come home at that time with the pieces I was making. When I left, Nigeria was a conservative place. We were used to small flat wrist watches. So I never thought there would be a market for what I was doing in Nigeria.
As I got older, I started rethinking because most of the raw materials I use come from the African continent and most Africans are exploited and never really given the opportunity to add value to our raw materials, I decided it would be good to come back and set up something that would start to change that. So I started thinking of coming to set up here and contribute in my own way and share the knowledge I have accumulated in the United States. But I didn’t come to Nigeria right away. I went to Sierra Leone and Conakry, Guinea, and then gradually started coming to Nigeria.  We set up the jewelry Boutique at Transcorp Hilton.
Where and how do you source you raw materials from, particularly diamonds?

We deal only in blood -free diamonds. Some of the raw materials like semi-precious stones and precious stones we get here in Nigeria. We have investment interest in mines in and outside Nigeria and we get some of our gold and others materials from there.
You see, blood diamonds are diamonds that fund wars and conflicts.  Sierra Leone has been peaceful for quite some time, but there are diamonds in Canada, and there is no war in Canada. There are beautiful diamonds in Australia and there is no war there. Most of the yellow diamonds are from Australia. Some of the best diamonds are from Africa – South Africa, Botswana, Angola, and many other places.
Apart from jewelry you also went into wrist watches and other products. Can you tell us more about your businesses?
When I started I didn’t have much money so I started with what I felt most comfortable with which was bridals – designing bridal rings and accessories and expanded into other areas later. But I felt restricted and I couldn’t express myself much. I wanted to serve a clientele of artists, actors, celebrities and people like that who had different tastes, certainly not conservative. So I started creating these pieces my peers called “crazy designs”. But I always went out and sold them. By the time I had built up a big clientele I realized that they were looking up to me for direction in terms of the design of their jewelry and so I started recommending other brands to them. One day I woke up and said I was going to create something that was mine and present it to them. I created my own brand of watches and put it out and it sold out within two weeks and people were sending me their Rolex watches to trade it in for the Chris Aire watches.
How much was it?

When we first came out with the watch, the Aire Traveler, the basic model was $4,600. Then we had the diamond model that was $6,000 to $7,500. Some were $22,000 each and the most expensive one at the time $50,000.  But today we have watches that sell in the million dollar range.
Looking at some of the stuff you have done, it takes an utterly crazy person to do them?

You call me crazy? (Laughs). Yeah, I get called that sometimes. Most of my clients are my friends now. When you are in the public eye you become extremely suspicious of people. Most celebrities are guarded. I misread this when I was starting out. I didn’t know it was a protective shield. I thought they were just being jerks because I would walk up to some of them and they would look down on me like I was a thief or something. As a Nigerian, I have an innate sense of pride but I had to swallow that pride because I had to eat. And that is why I say I was lucky. Imagine if the first 100 people I walked up to had told me to go to hell. It would have been a different story today.
Has being a Nigerian even worked against you abroad?

My belief is that if you do not feel comfortable or confident in your own skin, everything will work against you no matter where you are from. Yes I am a Nigerian, a black man and I am proud of it. What my story has shown is that a Nigerian can make it anywhere in the world. Nigerians are great people. We are hardworking and immensely blessed by God that is why Nigerians excel wherever they go.
It is a high risk business. And you have been in the US for a long time. Have you ever been scammed? And have you also ever had any problems with the law?
I have been in America for 30 years now. And I have been in a business of trust. But I have never had any run with the law and I have not had any problem with anybody. You know the jewelry industry is replete with stories about quark jewelers.  We have been very fortunate and have not been involved in any controversies; thank God!  I would prevaricate if I tell you that I am not aware of the international community’s perception of the Nigerian brand.  I know most people think that a lot of us cannot be trusted and there is a strong argument in favor of that.  My take on that is that you cannot indict a whole group of people based on the actions of a select few.
This is why I always let people know that I am a Nigerian, because even though some people have given us a bad name, not every Nigerian is a conman. As far as being scammed, I wouldn’t say I have been scammed in the US but I have lost money in Sierra Leone and Guinea. I have not had any problems in Nigeria.
Having made it outside this shores there are many young Nigerians who would look up to you as a role model. In what way are you giving back to society, in building up our youths, for example?
I think it is a privilege to be in my position and I do not take the responsibility of giving back lightly. But on a serious note, that is one aspect of my life that I do not make too much noise about. But what I can talk about is I have tried to give some of our young ones the kind of opportunity and exposure that I have enjoyed.  I was the one who introduced D’banj to Snoop Dogg and orchestrated the deal with the collaboration. I have also worked with Duncan Mighty and a host of other guys helping to strengthen the Nigerian entertainment community. And none of it was business. I never got a dime from helping any of them.
You said you had invested in mines in Sierra Leone. Do you have similar investments in Nigeria?

Yes we have some investments in Nigeria as well.  We support small scale miners in the country from whom we source some of our raw materials use in some of our products in our Transcorp Hilton Hotel Boutique.
Do you have a factory here?

No not yet. We are working on it but we need to get our electricity and other things sorted out first.
That is a disincentive to investing in Nigeria isn’t it?

I think it is a very import one.  I am told that the government is working round the clock to fix it.  There are other discouraging factors.  I have been extremely encouraged by the support that we have received from majority of Nigerians in our efforts here, but there are a few people who are grounded in negativity that they believe the only way to excel is by bringing others down.

 

Story of a good Nigerian samaritan.

Yes o! very tochy story, but I say make I bring una this one after I hear the story I go find am from Vanguard, this boy try well well, and na God go bless am, Na so Vanguard take report am....


THERE is no gainsaying that it is rare in our present day world to hear of a man staking his life to save the life of another; especially with the recurrent unwarranted cold-blooded killings of innocent citizens in parts of the country.
But the action of a middle-aged man in Makurdi has clearly shown that there are still Nigerians who are prepared to lay down their lives to save the live of another.
For Michael Anthony, an electrician by profession, his decision to dare death, by plunging into a raging fire to save a 13-month-old baby from being consumed in an unfortunate inferno in his neighborhood, stands him out as a  true Nigerian that our nation craves for.

*Michael Anthony lying critically Ill at the BSUTH

He is today bed-ridden and wriggling in pains after he damned all consequences and jumped into a raging inferno to save the baby, only to get trapped in the building. But for the grace of God, he wouldn’t have been alive to tell his story.
When Crime Alert visited the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, BSUTH, the good Samaritan was seen lying motionless at the intensive care unit of the hospital, wrapped in layers of boundages as he groans in pains.
Though people daily throng the hospital to catch a glimpse of this exceptional Nigerian, his condition calls for speedy intervention of public spirited and well- meaning Nigerians to help his poor parents foot his bill and also seek better healthcare for him, anywhere possible.
Narrating his story to Crime Alert in a tardy voice, he said he had just come back from church and was at home that evening around the Benue state owner/occupier housing estate, along the popular Abu King ShuluwaRoad, when a sudden fire engulfed a neighbour’s house while the owners of the house were out.
According to him, “the fire started that evening without anybody noticing it; before anyone knew what was happening, the inferno had spread like wild fire, engulfing the entire house.   At the point, people in the neighborhood made desperate efforts to rescue three children from the fire but the inferno intensified.
“Unfortunately, we were still hearing the cry of a baby from the house and given the intensity of the spreading fire, nobody was ready to risk his life in order to save the crying baby that was trapped in the building.  Though people had already made telephone calls to the state fire service, it became obvious that the baby might be consumed if nothing urgent was done to save her.
“There was wailing and crying by the helpless neighbours who were shouting for help to rescue the baby but no one was ready to take the risk because at that point, it was as if the entire building would cave in and collapse on the crying baby. It was at that point that I summoned courage, said a word of prayer and dashed into the raging fire because I could no more stand the cry of the dying baby.
“I was able to locate her in one of the rooms where she was trapped; I picked her up and managed to throw her out of  one of the windows from where neighbours took her away.  But from that point, part of the roof of the house collapsed on me, and it became difficult to trace my way out of the engulfed house and the windows of the building had burglary proof and I couldn’t squeeze myself out. I thought it was all over for me because part of my cloths and body were already on fire and I was gradually choking and was no longer seeing the outside of the building.
“All I was hearing at that point was people shouting that I was dead and no one attempted to come near. But I kept praying and reminding God that since I only came to save an innocent baby from a horrendous death,  my life should also be spared.
Though at that instance, parts of my body were already on fire but I managed to push forward with all the strength within me, and I finally made it out miraculously.
“At this time I was completely exhausted and could hardly recognize anybody and in serious pains since my body had already started burning. Luckily, my parents and other onlookers  rushed me to this hospital were I am presently receiving treatment.”
While being grateful to God, Micheal urged well-meaning Nigerians to come to his aid lamenting that his poor parents might not be able to foot his medical bills and also sponsor the surgery that he might undergo in the coming days.
Crime Alert also gathered from Micheal’s father, Mr. Anthony Anthony, a trader from Enugu state, who acknowledged that the action that was taken by his son to save the life of the baby was highly commendable and a trait every Nigerian should possess.
“I have no regrets for the action my son took to save the little baby; in fact every Nigeria should learn from this singular action. We must all learn to be our brothers keeper irrespective of who and what you are.  My only plea is that Nigerians should please not allow my son to die from the burns he had suffered. He is in so much pains and we lack the finance to take care of him.  If that is done, I’ll be a satisfied man and Michael will also be happy and not regret that he put his life on the line to save an innocent life.”

Hahahahah, laugh one kill me. Be Careful what you wish for?

No be small laugh I they laugh o! I copy say one man when them dey call Paulo Henrique from Brazil, one run shows like (impersonate) incredible hulk for one party , so him come go paint himself with green paint, wetin be like play play, come turn to serious thing, because the paint no come fit comot for him body lie lie again, the guy don baff tire, use iron sponge and fuel, the thing no gree comot, when them ask am which kin paint him use, the mumu say ' I used industrial paint normally used for ballistic missiles and nuclear submarines.'  Kweke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See coat wen them make from male chest hair.....!

Tailors wen dey England spend over 200 hours dey weave over one million strands of male chest hair take make coat. This coat wen them make so, them they sell am for £2,499 ($3900). around six hundrend and twenty four thousand naira.

I don see different kind cloth before, but I never see this type, even as my neck long reach. wetin surprise me pass na say na English dairy company wen them dey call Arla, nai take am promote their new chocolate milk, wetin milk and hair for man chest get in common? if you ask me na who I go ask??????????

It's Iyanya, money again o!

My guy, Iyanya just sing deal wit Zinox computers worth Fifty six million, six hundred and ninety eight thousand , eight hundred and seventeen Naira, eighty nine Kobo (coughing hot cough) abeg make I go drink water................
 

You think say you don fail? Then Meet Jason Njoku IROKOtv founder.

Na the guy be that, for those of una when don fail for one thing or the other, and don begin to dey loose confidence and hope, make una dust una self and take the 'horn by the bull', lol, abi no be so them talk am, any way this bross wen don turn boss, don get PHD for failing , before him come Nigeria from UK, con form IROKOtv, where pepo for they watch home video for internet, over I million pepo they watch film every month for this IROKOtv , and the company don fit raise over 20million dollars!!!!! yes o! na plenty money, as we they talk so the guy get office for  Lagos, Johannesburg, London and New York, yes! no be small something. And this him company don begin born other companies, oya make una read wetin him talk with him mouth......no be tolotolo talk am.







The beginnings - The Virgin Issue
After I graduated from University in 2005, I loved Manchester so much I decided to start a student focused magazine to crystallise the lifestyle. With 120,000 students, Manchester had Europe’s largest student community. The typical student rags were low quality, black and white affairs chock full of the injustices in the Middle East or protest calls against Nestle. In a nutshell they were usually Communism-Socialism-hippy-nirvana; Totally non-reflective of the student lifestyle of avoiding lectures, Pro Plus, parties and fornication. I was ambitious, I wanted to capture that side. It seemed fun and in the summer of 2005, it appeared lucrative.
I had just graduated with a 2:1 in Chemistry, so firstly I was overly confident in my intellectual prowess and secondly I had attempted to, and failed miserably, at running club nights in my final year of university. Bastian and I used to wander in the rain up and down Peter Street begging revellers to abandon their plans and join us in our (usually) half empty Motown/soul nights. So I figured myself an aspiring entertainment mogul.
First mistakes
I had no money. I had just racked up 3 years of debt and there was no cash available so I did what most young folk who believed did. I borrowed. From a bank to be exact. They actually lent me £10,000, because I was passing any cash I generated through my failing nightclub business account thus was showing regular revenue. Dirty little secret; back in 2005, merely showing cash flowing through a bank account was enough for banks to de-risk you and extend credit. I don’t know what it’s like now as since then, I haven’t bothered with business loans. I then set about recruiting the launch team. It consisted of myself as publisher, Paddy (a friend from university) as editor, and Paul, all other things creative. We also had a gaggle of other people in our networks who were always happy to help out. The Manchester student scene was like a startup ecosystem, there was always someone around available to help out. But in the end the company was woefully undercapitalised.
To get things up and running we spent a month or so creating a really crude mock up of the magazine which I then raced around Manchester attempting to sell advertising in our launch copy. To my delight before we even printed our first batch I managed to sell £13,000 worth of advertising. This was to local bars, clubs, restaurants, nightclub promoters etc. The new influx of  ~30,000 freshers was about to descend on Manchester so advertisers were giddy about reaching new ‘lucrative customers’. We launched with a bang. Amazing content. Glossy feel. Free. Yup. Free. The people in the magazine were actually students at the university which created an immediate buzz.
Creatively, in the end we had a massive hit. The only bit we got wrong was the economics. And I got them wrong fundamentally. They literally were suicidal. The problems started immediately. We published three issues between October and December 2005 and the problems which would plague me for the next 3 years immediately became apparent in that period.
They included…
* There was no founding team vesting which meant as soon as we signed, my co-founders owned their share of the company. Whether they worked 1 day, 100 days or 1-year, their % was their %. If I had a vesting schedule then their ownership could have been spread over years dedicated to building a company.
* All the money came from me. I borrowed the initial £10,000 seed money. I sold the advertising, I was seen as the business end of the company so took complete responsibility for settling all the bills. The editor didn’t really care as (rightly so) he was consumed in all things creative. But when it came to paying for another magazine to be printed and paying his rent, he opted to pay his rent first. Outraged, we parted ways on the spot.

* Our launch issue, The Virgin Issue, product wasn’t quite right. It was very Dazed&Confused, very avant garde. Very out there. Too pretentious. Too focused on the fashionistas. So the creative clashes started immediately after the first issue.
* It was all egos. The editor and I were friends from the first year at university, but there was always a certain level of dislike there. It was all jolly when money wasn’t at stake, but at Brash. Things got real.
* I misunderstood the nature of sales cycles. The deals I so valiantly closed over the summer of 2005. They were commitments. No paper work. No closes. And they were not to be repeated. Issue 2+3 had little to no advertising in there. If I remember £2-3,000 max.
* Costs were WAY too high. Printing 10,000 copies, at 100-pages a run of the magazine cost £5,000. The advertising revenue never justified this. The quality of the paper to the matt gloss finishing were all indulgent. Unnecessary in fact. For some reason it never occurred to me to change something. By the time I did we had burned through our initial capital.
* We instantly hit a cash crunch. From the September 2005 it took me the best part of 6months (if ever) to collect that initial £13,000 in ad sales money. After that I spent the next 3 years in a constant cash crunch. Always broke. Always owing someone.
* Started burning bridges. Victoria Haynes the current director of marketing and communications at Ghanian technology incubator MEST interned at Brash for a couple of months in late 2005, she even graced the December issue cover. By the time her internship had finished we had completely ran out of money, so couldn’t pay her. To this day I owe her money, but thankfully she has written it off and we are once again friends. But rightly so she didn’t speak to me for like 7 years. This became a constant pattern of lost friendships.
* I quit my job at DirectLine the insurance company where I had worked for the previous 5 years. This meant that I was personally ass broke. No safety net. Nothing. I don’t even remember how I contributed paying rent or eating, I am sure I was in constant arrears. I was living with Bastian then as it was his final year at university. Financial problems were everywhere.
But in amongst all of the above sadness and madness, I was so happy, it was straight up rock and roll. I was a star in Manchester. Anyone who was anyone knew who I was in the student circles. Fuck waiting in line. I walked in everywhere. There was no cash. But the social currency at that young age in my life was enough for me. I was a player in Manchester and we had an awesome little shindig to launch the magazine at the time. Below is me 4/10/2005. I lived in that jacket for the next 3 years. Till today it has to be my most favourite piece of clothing ever.

Motivation comes from within. It has to. You have to build your own confidence to walk through the walls of disappointment and hurt which prolonged lack of success will inevitably place in front of you. The more confidence you have the more it fuels your sense of purpose; Your delusions of grandeur. The more it fuels the fire of motivation. In the face of reality the absolute belief in your own truth.
I once told a friend who was an Imperial University medically trained doctor, that I would probably end up being the richest person she knew. This was in 2009 (before I had even launched iROKO) whilst I was living in my old bedroom at my mother’s place. She laughed and chalked it up to another Jasonism (polite way of characterising my ridiculous behaviour). How dare I? Where was the proof? There was no linearity in my reason. I just believed it. Ridiculous then. Less so now.
Those were the lies I told myself to keep on plodding along, year after year, failure after failure. It gave me some strange small comfort. And it worked. How do I motivate myself now?
I tell everyone who listens that I want to be worth $100Mn by the time I am 40 in 2020. That’s in 7.5 years time. And that’s USD. I also plan to buy a small private jet to celebrate my 40th birthday (I have yet to decide for which purpose) but telling myself these things motivates me. Keeps me from celebrating the little spoils I have accumulated thus far. People do things for honour, for celebrity, for the greater social good. All noble causes. Me? I’m just trying to get to $100Mn before my 40th birthday so I can buy a $6-8Mn private jet. I regularly go on aircraft brokering websites to gather small doses of motivation towards this goal. Which most people think is ridiculous btw. A Falcon 50EX S/N 300 - 2000 will set you back ~$7Mn today

Maga no need pay.

My pepo anything wen una they do, make una they do am well, and make una no they copy copy like me, just try to be yourself and original and focus, because if I tell you wetin copy copy don do my neck una no go believe,  anyway I copy this interview form my frens bella, the one wen them do with Linda, yes o! the world famous Linda Ikeji, na last year dem run this interview, I hope say one person fit get inspiration change from 'yahoo boy' to 'blogger boy'............your miracle is on the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There aren’t many people as open minded and down to earth as Linda Ikeji. Any frequent visitor of her blog would know that. She has very little to hide and she is not the least bit pretentious . With Linda, what you see is what you get and a frequent visitor of  her blog knows that she is single and searching. Dedicated “LIB Readers” know that she makes an enviable income from her blog and saved money to buy her dream car- a 2008 Toyota Camry in four months.

This openness about her coupled with her clever and quick way of bringing people news, information, jokes, pictures and many more from around the world on her blog has earned her the reputation as one of Nigeria’s favorite bloggers. Her blog gets over 50,000 visits daily and is a hotspot for online advertisers and people wishing to attract web traffic to their websites or blogs. Comments  on Linda’s blog can be revealing,  interesting and more controversial than the post itself. As one reader wrote “I visit this blog everyday just to read comments”

I caught up with Linda recently and we had a very interesting chat. Linda is friendly and easy going and I had the best laugh I’ve had in a long time.

How did you discover blogging?
When I was much younger, I wanted to be a journalist. That was my dream. When I was about 10 years old, I was already writing. I wrote a few fiction stories in my notebooks and I gave a few people and they read and they thought I was a good writer. I used to really enjoy watching newscasters, people doing interviews, I used to look up to them so when I was about to go into the University, I put in for Mass Communication but I didn’t get that course, I got English. So when I finished school, and I had become a model and people knew me as a model, it was very difficult for me to go back to back to being a journalist so I just moved on from there. But then I discovered blogging in 2006. Incidentally, it was through www.bellanaija.blogspot.com. That was the first time I ever saw a blog. I didn’t know what blogging was before then, I had never heard about it until somebody referred me to Bella’s site to go and see something she wrote about me, so I went there, I saw the story, I saw the comments and I liked what I saw.

What was the blog post about?
I can’t remember but it was something about me as a Nigerian based model.

So what really inspired you to start your own blog?
From then, I started reading her blog and one day I said to myself, I can actually live my dream, put stories together, tell people what is going on, so I created the blog that year. I created the blog in 2006 but I really started blogging early 2007.

What University did you attend and what did you do after graduating?
University of Lagos. After graduating in 2004, I started my own company, Blackdove Communications. It’s a modeling agency and event management company. I started modeling in 1998 and I quit in 2005. But in 2004, after I finished university I started my own company but I stayed within my comfort zone which was modeling so instead of being in front of the camera. I went behind the camera by running an agency, recruiting models, training models, getting jobs for models. I still have the modeling agency but I am not running it anymore.

There weren’t so many Nigerians on the internet in 2007 then as they are now. What was the traffic on your blog like then?
You’re right, but I still enjoyed it. I was getting like 200 visits a day and for me then, it was a big deal, honestly. Now I’m getting like 50,000 visits a day from up to 180 countries.

What do you think is responsible for this traffic?
I don’t know, I guess people just love what I do. And I’ve done some really controversial posts that gets people’s attention.

What has kept you going all these years?
The passion and the love I have for blogging, I really enjoy it. I enjoy writing stories and getting feedback, getting people to react to it. I was really passionate about it so I kept doing it.

When was the first time you made money from your blog?
2011 actually. It took me four years to start making money from blogging. I never even thought that I would make money from blogging. I didn’t start blogging with the mindset that one day I would make money from it. I didn’t even think that was a possibility, it never even crossed my mind. I didn’t say to myself that OK let me blog now and maybe in five years time, I will make money from it. I never imagined that it would ever happen. Infact, in 2008, 2009, I was putting free ads on my blog, I was telling my blog readers, please give me your ads and I will put them for free. But then in 2010, people started asking me for my advert rates and I was like ‘really?’ I didn’t even know what it was until I now asked a few people and they gave me their own advert rates so that is how it started.

How often do you blog?
I blog every day. If I miss blogging that means something happened to me or maybe my laptop crashed but I try as much as possible to blog every day. I spend some hours daily on the internet.

Where do you source for news?
All sorts of places. I can’t tell you.

You’ve been on blogspot.com for quite some time. Why haven’t you moved to lindaikeji.com?
Because my dotcom is not available. The domain name has been taken by some guy and I am not interested in buying it because he is telling me to pay thousands of dollars for it and I see no reason why I should do that.

Since you started blogging, many people have been inspired to start their own blogs. Do you feel intimidated by the competition?
I think competition is healthy. I’ve been there longer than most of them and fortunately for me, I’m on top of all of them so I don’t feel like I’m competing with anybody. There is enough space for anybody on top. I welcome any blogger that wants to come on board, I try to help as many people as I can. I have a blog list where people go from my blog to other blogs.

How old are you?
31

Any regular reader of your blog would know some things about you which most people would call personal. As one of them, I know you are single and searching. Why do you share such personal details with your readers?
Everybody knows I’m single. I’m always saying it, I’m desperate.

Don’t you think that is too personal to share on a blog where millions of people across the world can read?
I have absolutely no problem with sharing my personal life with people, that is how I am. I don’t have any apologies for that. People are shocked by it but that is who I am. I can’t explain it. It’s just that if there is something going on with me, I don’t mind sharing. There are some things I don’t share, and some things I don’t mind sharing. If others have a problem with it, I don’t have a problem with it.

The issue of female genital mutilation is something you’ve shared with your readers and some may feel it’s a bit too personal to be out there. Why did you do share it?
That is not private, that is something I can share with anybody. It’s like saying if you were raped then keep quiet. A lot of women would keep quiet but I won’t keep quiet, that is how I am. I don’t know how to keep such things to myself, I have to say it. I feel like you have one life to live, why would you go to your grave with all those kind of information.

When were you circumcised?
I don’t know. I was circumcised as a baby that is all.

Don’t you think making such information public would turn off your prospective suitors?
Who cares. If it turns them off then they are not the people meant for me. The person that is meant for me would be turned on by it.

Linda in a photoshoot for Genevieve Magazine

Can you date someone younger than you?
No, never.

How about someone who doesn’t earn as much money as you?
Yes I can. How many young men make the kind of money I make? If I’m waiting for somebody who earns more than I earn, I might probably be doing it for a while. There are a lot of guys who earn more than I earn but if I meet someone who earns less than myself, that is fine, as long as he has his own money. But not like a jobless guy, no, that will not happen.

How much do you earn monthly?
(Laughs) More money than I thought was possible.
Do you ever think you will one day get bored or tired of blogging?
I love blogging too much to be tired of it. A lot of people are trying to start blogging and I tell them, I hope you are starting it for the right reasons, because if you are starting it for the wrong reasons, you are going to get bored and tired, and you’re going to move on. If you do it because you love it, you’d stay there for a while but if you do it because you want to make money, after a while, you’d want to move on.

Do you run the blog alone or do you have other people on your team?
Right now, I’m doing it solo, but eventually I’m going to get people to help out. Maybe it’s because I’m single and I don’t have that much responsibilities. Probably when I get married and have kids, other things would take my time so I’d need people to work with me then but now I’m enjoying doing it solo.

You have this ability to turn almost anything into news. For instance, how does a celebrity buying a new car become gist?
I put it as a post, and it comes back with over 50 comments, so how is it not gist? I do it deliberately because I know that buying a car is not that a big deal, but if I put it, it becomes gist.

Why do you get really naughty, like putting up a post that links to some pictures and you say ‘for guys only’?
My blog is a fun blog. I do all kinds of things. I tell people, if you find it offensive, don’t come. I know that I have a lot of male readers and I’m a very mischievous, naughty person. So it’s just for fun. Some people take it too seriously and I really don’t care about such people.

What else do you do apart from blogging?
Nothing else for now. Blogging takes care of me.

Blogging must have opened a lot of doors for you right?
Definitely. Blogging got me a visa to America, I just showed them my blog and they looked at it and gave me a visa. Blogging has given me more money than I thought I could ever make. Blogging has given me friends, most of my friends I met through blogging, people I’ve met from far and wide. Blogging has given me access to red carpet events. Before they would not even send me but now everybody wants me to come to their events, half of them I don’t go. It has opened so many doors, I can’t even explain it.

Linda as a judge for a Reality TV Show

What do people like to read online?
Mostly gossip. Serious news and gossip

But what is one sure to find when he or she visits your blog?
Gist and gossip

You have earned quite a reputation among some celebrities, especially female actresses and a lot of them don’t like associating with your blog because they feel you slander them quite often.
It is not true. I respect actresses, most of them. I am mischevious and naughty, but I don’t go on my blog and start insulting everybody. I don’t insult people, except maybe people in government and I have no apologies to those ones. But I’ve never gone on my blog to insult Rukky Sanda or Genevieve or anybody. It might be that people say negative things about them so invariably they feel that I’m the one instigating it. Personally, I’ve never insulted any actress on my blog. I just write a gist or put a picture and people start insulting them. You can’t blame me for that.

But they get offended by this…
They should try not to take it too seriously because first and foremost, these people are anonymous people, so anonymous shouldn’t bother you. If somebody you know comes and insults you, that is different, but these anonymous people are having fun most of the time. Some of them don’t mean what they say, it’s just fun.

What has been the most gratifying response you’ve gotten from a reader of your blog?
I have something called ‘Dear LIB readers’, and I have ‘Question of the day’ where I put up sensitive issues. I’ve gotten quite a number of mails from people saying what I wrote and the comments they read changed their lives; that they were going through similar issues and when they read the comments, they were able to get some advice.

What future plans do you have for your blog?
I’m looking for ways to take it to the next level, I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do but I plan to take it to the next level.

"Limpopo is Divine" kceee.

My pepo, no be small dance I they dance since, as I dey write this post so, I they Limpopo for here, as tolotolo wen get swagger (adjusting collar), you already know my aje butter friends call me (TL), anyway as the matter be so, I bring you interview with the Limpopo master, na my friends for 'the nation' coduct this one, oya make una enjoy!!!!!!!


WHAT is it with KCee and white trousers?
It means nothing but fashion to me, just a clean boy.
How many of those white pants do you have?
Too many, that I have lost count. I can’t deceive you.
Honestly, you look rich from your head to your toe. How rich are you?
Haaa, I wouldn’t want to say that. The truth is I’m a very simple young man. I work hard, trust me. I don’t like settling for less. And I don’t want to beg. Everyday of my life I work towards being successful. I don’t even have time to rest. I work so that I don’t get to beg because I have suffered. I have tasted both worlds. I have tasted poverty when I was in Ajegunle and right now, I’m out of poverty. I am where I am right now and I don’t want to go back down there. So every day of my life I work hard and I strategise to keep moving higher.
It’s almost unbelievable that a clean boy like you has tasted poverty…
I was born in Ajegunle. I was in Ajegunle when I won Star Quest. I left Ajegunle like twelve years ago. I grew up in AJ.
What was it like growing up in AJ?
In Ajegunle there is hustle. You need to fight for yourself. In the ghetto you need to hustle for yourself. My parents tried training me in school, but of course it was beyond that. I saw other young people hustling and I had to join the trend. It is either you hustle or you die in the ghetto and like I said I didn’t want to beg, so I had to hustle for myself and today it’s paying off.
You sound like you were driven more by comfort than passion?
Of course, it’s passion, that’s why I had to fight. And of course getting to where I am today, I don’t want to go back to where I’m coming from. If you ask me, what is your phobia? Or, what do you fear? I fear poverty. I have phobia for poverty. And what I do is what I do and I don’t want to take it for granted. In the cause of not taking it for granted, I’m making the best out of it. And I’m trying to do the best that I can do.
If you were to choose between your years of being a group act and years of being a solo act, which is better?
Honestly, if you ask me, I wouldn’t say my years of being a solo act pays better. I wouldn’t say that. If I say so it’s not going to be too fair because as a group we won Star Quest which took me out of AJ. As a group we made several hits. We made Siopon, Segemende, we made so much money. We made so much fame. We travelled far and wide. But I’m excited because I’ve been able to prove to Nigerians that I can stand as an individual. I’m excited. Each time I remember my journey, it gives me joy.
Was it your desire to prove to your fans that you could stand alone that made you split with your half?
Not really. It just happened. We never saw it coming and when it happened, the only thing you had to do was to fight and make sure you get your own ground.
It was a major split in the industry. Did you take your fans into consideration at all before you decided to split?
Yes, our fans may have liked us as a group but they didn’t know what God has in store for us. We all are young and God has plans for everybody. He has time and season. This season, we never saw it coming. Each time when they interviewed us we said we were going to be together forever. We said our children are going to take over from us but we never say it coming. One thing people should know, life is not about you, God has a plan for everybody and I think His plan is what has happened.
So it is a blessing in disguise?
Yes, it is a blessing in disguise. I wish and I pray for my partner too that he gets his feet back.
But how do you feel that you are the one being ‘heard’ right now?
Me, I can’t be comfortable if I’m not making my own impact. I can’t be comfortable. And for the records, my success today didn’t come easy. I dropped eight singles before Limpopo. Limpopo was the number eight and it was the sixth video I did. Some came out and some didn’t come out. I’ve been hustling. I’ve been working. At a point I had to go look for fund. I ran out of funds. I wasn’t comfortable. I needed a breakthrough. Sometimes, it is about the individual, it is about your hustle, your dedication, your passion. So for me, this is my life. This is what I love to do. This is what I pray to do every other day. So my success story is about dedication, passion and commitment.
Did you ever envisage Limpopo was going to be the ‘highpoint’?
No, but like I said I have been working. One thing about Limpopo is, it’s a sweet music. When I recorded Limpopo, it took me less than 40minutes.When we were done with the beat and the song, I started partying in the studio with my crew. We popped champagne. I gave everybody food and all.
You said you didn’t know it was going to be a hit, so why were you merrying after you did the song?
As an individual I felt the song. It sounded different and immediately I finished it I travelled. I sent the song to my brother, E-money, who is the president of Five Star Music. When he heard the song he was like hmm, we need to start travelling to shoot the video. We went to SA and we shot the video. In less than four days we came back and we released the song. The song blew up like two days after the release and before we knew what was happening, it became an anthem.
Tell us about the gains of Limpopo
Limpopo has proved itself as a good song and for me Kcee, one thing I know is Limpopo is one of those successful songs because I remember I’ve performed in the Villa like four times. And I will be performing in the Villa on Thursday for the President and the First Lady. I’ve done wedding for about four governors’ children, I’ve done big events in and out of the country. It’s amazing. It shows the song is good, people love the song. I did a show on Saturday in Port-Harcourt, a very big one with some Makossa troupes that came in from different parts of Africa. I did Limpopo twice, everybody was on their feet. They didn’t want me to leave. I did it over and over with my band, it was massive. Even the Makossa troupe, they were all like who are you? They even know the song. When we boarded the flight to Port-Harcourt, they were singing Limpopo and these are people who don’t speak English. And I was like wow! This song has travelled far and wide. When I got on stage, it was a ‘statement’. Every show I do right now the love is massive. They want me to do Limpopo over and over and I give praise to God.
What inspired the song? And what is the meaning of Limpopo?
It is divine. I say that everywhere; I can’t explain it. I just say it means ‘let’s have fun’ because that was what I meant when I was singing the song, “baby make we go Limpopo”, “let’s go have fun”. It’s about fun, let’s have fun. But away from the fun thing, when that word dropped into my heart, when it came in, I was recording in the studio, it just came, it sounded very nice. I put it on the song and that was just it and the title of the song became a hook.
Most of your titles are very unique and different. Is it deliberate?
Yes, it is deliberate. That is the way I want people to perceive me, the way I want people to see me. I love my culture, I love Africa, I don’t want to be like every other person. Most titles here are mostly English and that is not me. More is definitely coming after Limpopo. Already there is Okoso which I dropped last week.
Tell us about Okoso
Yeah, that’s the single I dropped last week. Okoso is what we played with then, if you remember. It is about winding and dancing.
So, what is it about you and winding your waist?
I’m doing what I know how to do.
How do you handle your female admirers?
Well, I’ve been able to handle it. I’ve been handling it for so many years, I’m still handling it the way I can. But the truth is this people show you love. They get excited when they see you, so the least I can do is to show them love and make sure they are happy anyway I can.
Now that the love is massive, what more can you ask from God?
What else can I ask for? I’m just praying for long life, prosperity and more songs to come that will make people dance. I just pray that God gives me more inspiration that will take me to a higher level. As far as I’m concerned I’m just starting and I will never relent. I will never stop playing good music by the grace of God. I just pray that God should just take me from one level to another.
How is the home front?
Yeah well, most times I like to keep the home front away from business because they are two different things. I’m exposed already, so I need my privacy.
Do you believe in the maxim ’till death do us part’?
Of course I do, and having a partner is important. You need to share your life with someone and share ideas together and grow together. It is important.
When was the first time you fell in love?
Haa, e don tey. I remember then when I fell in love I used to buy a lot of short bread. I tried to make sure she was happy. You know, it feels good to be in love. Everybody knows when you are in love. It feels good. Sometimes some people don’t know when they are in love. Some people don’t know who loves them. Some people take love for granted. Some people love you deeply but you don’t know because you are carried away and that is because you have specie of the kind of girl or guy you want. You need a guy with big car that has all the money and you forget that that guy can cheat on you, do anything to you and get married to ten other women. But there is the other guy who loves you, maybe he doesn’t have that big car but he can give you happiness for the rest of your life and you guys can be happy together. Sometimes people misunderstand love for lust. They don’t know their left from their right.

Nija!!! make una meet Ikehina, the boy wen folow plane travel inside tyre hole.

My pepo, wonders shall never end o!!!  one small boy wen dem dey call Daniel Ikena for Benin, follow Arik Air plane travel from Benin to Lagos, the boy hide inside the hole wen dey the tyre (this boy get mind) na wen Ikena reach Lagos na them take catch am, come arrest am, me as my neck long reach, I don see boys wen dey jump for back of lorry, and pick up, without the knowledge of the driver, but I never see aroplane own, boys no dey smile o! this na wetin oyibo dem dey call 'taking things to the next level' Kweke!!!!!!!

Ese Walter and pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo of (COZA)

My pepo this na one of the hottest tory wen I don hear, one girl wen them they call Ese, and her Pastor, Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo, of (COZA), the thing wen she rite for her blog plenty well well, I no one talk plenty story about the thing wen she yan, I just copy am give una,( as a copycopy master), I never fit reach pastor sha, but I thy wait to hear wetin him go talk, oya make una read!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


"
WARNING!
This article contains stories that most ‘church people’ don’t want to address. So, if you are one of those living in denial and covering up crap going on in the church, this is where you should stop reading. Thanks for stopping by.
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Now, for the rest of us, please sit down and switch on your open mind. I want to talk about something I have kept bottled up inside for longer than necessary. I have also decided to use real names, as my defense for any accusation of slander is justification. I tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but. However, feel free to throw your doubt around but know that I am past the shaming game (where victims of abuse are shot down by blame) I am no longer a victim but a survivor who is sharing her experience to help others caught in same web of abuse, guilt and shame. We only get to live once right? So here, it goes…
I recently came to know this event too was abuse (recently here means about 6 months ago). It has literally been eating me up having to drive by another billboard advertising preachers, or hearing his name, or even trying to ask about the validity of the entire salvation story and whether or not there is a God that truly watches over his people. That being said, I’m just going to say it as it is. This is a recap of my affair with Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo of COZA (Common Wealth Of Zion Assembly) Abuja chapter. This affair I have come to know as a form of abuse as you would see the different elements of abuse very present.
I met Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo many years ago. I was getting bored of the church I was attending and someone suggested COZA. At the time, I had never heard about it. My friend said, go there, I’m sure you would enjoy the word. But he also gave me a strong warning. He said he would advice that I remain a member only and not join the workforce. I agreed. The first time I attended COZA, I felt it was my church and decided I was going to plant my ass there. About eleven months had gone by and I was still attending the services quietly and faithfully. I really did like the church. One day a worker in the church approached me that the senior pastor wanted to see me.
Me? I thought. Why would the senior pastor want to see me? Not the second man but the head nigga in charge? Ok na! I started to think my sin was oozing so bad the pastor could tell I needed Jesus. (Poor old me.) I saw him at the end of the second service (they had two services at the time) and he said to me that he would like me to work with him. I knew I had no intentions of becoming a pastor so I had to ask in what capacity. He said he’d like for me to join a department, preferably the Pastoral Care Unit (PCU).
A few weeks later, against my friend’s advice not to join the workforce, I was a PCU member. All of a sudden, I had some status in church. I was ‘somebody.’ Dress had to be on point, hair, shoes and what not… As workers, we were literally trying to outshine each other or so it seemed. Anyways, I felt like I was a privileged member of an elite circle. Hehehe. (It did feel good though, for the most part.)
About a year after joining the workforce, I was on my way to London for a Masters degree program that would last two years. As was the rule for workers travelling, I wrote to say I would be away for 2 years and Pastor Biodun Fotoyinbo asked that I keep in touch by sending him my number and email when I had settled in London so he “makes sure I continue in the faith” because according to him, people loose their faith when they leave home and he wanted to make sure I didn’t. So, on that note, as soon as I got a phone line in London, I was sure to call ‘my pastor’ to say I arrived safe, had settled in and also gave my phone number.
We had spoken a few times especially when COZA started to stream online. I always watched and would give feedback on quality of production and share a little bit on the challenges I faced settling in a new land. One evening, Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo called me that he was coming to London and needed me to help him make some hotel bookings as the person who was meant to do it couldn’t get it done (this was rather strange as I had never been involved in his travel itinerary) Later that day, he said it had been sorted and my help would not be required but that he would like me to arrange a cab to pick him up from Heathrow. I was happy to help my pastor from Nigeria and even saw it as a privilege. (I would later come to learn that all of this was a calculated attempt to hatch a plan that I suspect was set in motion when I was asked to join the workforce.)
The cab guy was there to get him the next day and when he arrived, he called to ask why I didn’t accompany the cab to pick him up (again, this was strange but I stopped my mind from overanalyzing the situation as I knew I had no business with his visit to London) About two hours later, he called me and said he would like to see me. When I arrived his hotel, I called from the reception but he asked that I come upstairs. I got to the room and tried to stop my mind from thinking why I was going to his room. As he opened the door and invited me in, I had to speak to my heart to stop its palpitations. My better judgment asked me not to go into the room but the kind of reverence I had for Pasotr Biodun Fatoyinbo bordered on fear and I steeped into that room.
“Care for a drink?” Asked Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo.
“No sir,” I said.
“You don’t have to be shy Ese, even if it’s alcohol, feel free and order what you want.” I wasn’t sure I heard my pastor asking me to order alcohol. I imagined it was a test and ignored the voice inside that was saying, “I’d have henny and coke please.” He proceeded to ask how I had been coping in London and if I was a committed member of any church. He also said he thought there was something special about me and wanted to know that I had not strayed from my faith. I really thought he had heard I was doing something I shouldn’t while in London but tried my best to focus on the conversation instead of my straying thoughts. He kept telling me to relax and feel comfortable with talking to him. After a few minutes, he asked that we go to the roof of the hotel as his room was a pent suite and had a connecting door to the roof.
While there, he sat on a reclining chair and asked me to come sit on his laps. This was a bit awkward for me and I froze for a moment as I asked why. He said he had told me to feel free with him and loosen up. I found myself strolling to sit on his laps. At that moment, I felt like a little girl who was experiencing something her mind couldn’t fathom. He asked me to kiss him and all I could think about was seeing him preach on the pulpit back in COZA Abuja, Nigeria, which was my home church. He again said ‘feel free Ese.’ And asked again, that I kiss him.
A few hours later, let’s just say, we were rolling under the sheets. It felt as though my mind had paused. I am not saying I was jazzed, (although it’s possible I was in some trancelike state and didn’t know it but I just was so afraid that I couldn’t say or think otherwise.) That was the beginning of this affair. A sexual affair that went on for a little over a week, DAILY!
I can hear somebody’s mind thinking, ‘well, you weren’t raped.” And I remember a pastor I opened up to when I couldn’t take all the mind games asking if I seduced him. No, I didn’t seduce him and no, I wasn’t raped but I felt trapped in this affair. Come to think of it, how could I have seduced him when I wanted nothing from him? I mean, I was too busy minding my business in London trying to get through with my masters program and I was overly comfortable. And even if I wanted to seduce anyone, it wouldn’t be a married man, not to mention a married pastor.
What I couldn’t reconcile the whole time, was how the same person who preached against the very things we were doing (i.e drinking in pubs, fornicating, committing adultery) was the same person endorsing and encouraging it.
At some point, I got really confused about what Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo and I were doing that I had to ask how he handles it. I will never forget what he said to me. He said and I quote, “I will teach you a level of grace that you don’t understand.” My mind couldn’t fathom that somehow grace was enough covering for not just fornication on my path, adultery on his path and the many lies that was bound to follow what we were doing that was clearly abominable. I somehow dealt with the thoughts and fears that followed on my path. He had said to me that he wanted me to be his girlfriend and he would take me around the world and spoil me with money and things. Somehow, money had never been one of the things that motivated me (I am from a home where all my needs have been adequately met) In all my ‘badness’ through finding myself, I never did things I did for money but more of rebellion against rules and authority.
Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo also said to me that he had a dream where I exposed what was happening to the media. Said it was all over the place and that people were calling me the girl that caused chaos in COZA. He also said I should remember the bible said to “touch not God’s anointed.” I immediately started to rebuke the devil and said I could never do anything like that. I was almost swearing with my entire family as I thought really I had touched God’s anointed by submitting my body to be used. Little did I know at the time that all of these were ways to mess with my mind and even manipulate my thoughts.
Fast-forward a few months later, I was back in Nigeria and my church had become uncomfortable. Anytime I sat in church and listened to Pastor Biodun preach, I felt shame. I finally sent him a message saying I wasn’t comfortable anymore. I was confused and needed to talk about what had happened. He said I should meet him to talk and I did. It was a really weird meeting for me especially when he tried to kiss me at our meeting. I finally realized at this point that he couldn’t help me. I thought God was angry with me and I couldn’t pray so I decided to withdraw completely from COZA. This was the beginning of my mental torture. I couldn’t talk to my family because already, I was the only one attending a different church and somehow my mom never liked the idea. As the days went by I tried to use drinking and smoking to cover up the deep shame and guilt I was battling with. But as soon as the high was over, the thoughts came back and I felt stuck like I couldn’t move forward.
I felt I had to talk to someone and I decided to speak to my then good friend, Ernest Akale but unfortunately for me, Mr. Ernest did not have the capacity to hold what I said to him. He broke down completely the days that followed and I found myself having to pause how I was feeling and what I was struggling with to help my friend be strong. After a while, he withdrew from not just me but his then fiancé and friends. I had to then tell the fiancé what had caused it (she suspected we were having an affair so I had to clear the air) To my surprise she was a lot stronger than her man and told me to suck it up (I’m paraphrasing). She said if she were me, she wouldn’t leave the church but stay to torment Pastor Biodun and collect money from him. Ok! That sounded extreme for me, as my intention was not to blackmail but to heal my broken self. Anyways, I finally found the courage to speak to my then unit head who said he was going to talk to Pastor Biodun but didn’t have the liver to do so. Before long, the story was spreading and naturally getting twisted.
I went to a new church and it seemed like the COZA bug had chased me there. The pastor would always refer to COZA as some example and each time that was done, it seemed like a spear was thrust through my chest. One day, I broke down in the service and started crying uncontrollably, as I couldn’t take another mention of COZA and the pictures it painted in my head.
Very long, boring story cut short, for the last 5 months I gave the whole church thing a big space and break. I wasn’t sure I believed in God. I wasn’t sure I understood what it meant when people said ‘Jesus saves” and I definitely wasn’t sure how to deal with the mental torture that was affecting not just me but my relationships with family and friends. I was very unstable, fearful and worst of all guilty. I got a chance to talk to Pastor Folarin of COZA Lagos Chapter, popularly called Pastor flo about everything. I made an effort to reach out to him because I realized the right thing to do was talk to an elder in the church and seek some sort of remedy to a wrong I believed had been done me. Instead, Pastor Flo said, Pastor Biodun had confessed to him and they had ‘talked’ about it and somehow that was supposed to be Ok. He asked what it was I wanted coming to talk to him about it when I did, I told him I realized what happened between Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo and I was wrong and not just that I felt abused and manipulated. I also said I thought it was wrong for Pastor Biodun to go on preaching without taking time to deal with his personal character flaws. I said I thought he was danger to all the young women that attended the church. Come to think of it, maybe he meant if I wanted something monetary or material (as someone had suggested when I opened up to her) but the truth is, I never wanted his money (or is it the church member’s money.) All I wanted was to meet with him and have him accept that he misled me, betrayed his wife and the church he pastors. I wasn’t the only lady in COZA who had been a victim of his sexcapades and manipulative patterns but I was the one who could come back after months of struggle with not just my faith but also my affair with him. And I wanted to set things right. I wanted to talk to Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo maybe for closure and I felt like I needed an apology because he played the “touch not my anointed” card to keep me locked in guilt, shame and fear when all along it was a calculated plan and I dare say, it started when he asked me to join the workforce.
Not to mention the audacity to talk about teaching me a level of grace I didn’t understand. I had no intention of understanding a grace that would permit me to go on doing things that were wrong and what’s worse having to carry the burden for almost a year.
Different surprising advises came up in the weeks that followed the rumour making rounds. I was told to hush because Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo had been a cultist in the past and could send people to shut me up. All my so-called friends in COZA withdrew from me and treated me like I had the plague. What was worse was Pastor Flo finally saw my then pastor to ‘talk’ about what had happened with Pastor Biodun and lied that it happened once and was a mistake. My question then became, ‘do these people even care how broken I had become?’ ’do they care about the emotional and spiritual welfare of the people they were pastoring?’ The sad answer was NO. Most of us old members of COZA kept leaving but they couldn’t care less. What was important was to keep growing the church and having more and more cars with stickers that read “More than enough.”  Back then, I always felt horrible when I saw another car drive past me with the sticker. I was breaking, I was struggling but no one could help. All they could do was ask me to hide so Pastor Biodun’s goons don’t hurt me. And then the interesting one was if I had evidence to prove my claim. Let me just say here that, it isn’t a claim, it’s a confession to free me from all of the guilt and shame I have had to live with for no reason at all. (That being said, I have evidence to prove all I have said here, the latest being a 58 minutes recording of my meeting with Pastor Flo a few months back)
This is my confession and I cannot begin to describe how much weight has been lifted off of my shoulders just pouring the truth out about what went down. So, to all my ex COZA friends gossiping about me, get your facts right. To those who said they’d help me deal with the pain but didn’t, I forgive you, I have learnt how to deal with it and I am doing just fine. To those who fear for my safety saying Pastor Biodun would send people to shut me up, I really have gone past fearing for my life. To live is gain and to die is Christ (or how does Paul say it again?) And to the only person who ever supported me through it all, thank you, I am learning to be brave. Please don’t think I am perfect in all of this but in line with living my authentic life and putting all forms of abuse behind me, this is where I press the stop button and stop the bleeding. This is where I break the silence and call the church to stand up for what it has been commissioned to do. If you will not enter the Kingdom, please don’t stop others who are trying to enter.
I still remember when I used to nurse the idea of digging up emails, text messages, hotel billings (as once I used my card to pay for his room when his master card failed to work) to prove there was an affair. It was pathetic. Why for the love of heaven was I trying to dig up evidence? I am satisfied setting the record straight. I am ready for any shaming or bashing that would follow because the truth is, because of what I have suffered and come through, I am really not moved by what people say or think about me anymore. I am a stronger woman and a damn abuse survivor seeking to connect with other victims of abuse to show them how to deal with the shame, hurt and guilt and how to come out stronger. Turning their mess into their message.
I am Ese Walter and I have gone through all forms of abuse from family, boyfriends, my ex pastor and some strangers not to break me, but so I stand and so I qualify to help victims. My scars have qualified me and when all is said and done, I will still be standing. I AM WOMAN, I BEND, I DON’T BREAK!
Cheers to the freaking weekend!!!"

"Burna Boy you can lie o"

Every body wen know me, know say I dey feel burna boy, I no be homo, I don fix month and day for my marriage to my girl fren for 30yrs, na only the year I never fix, as I fix that one finish I go let una know, I go invite una come, anyway back to the matter, my friends them for bella naija been follow burna boy reason, for the interview him yan many things, of how him take stat the music for port harcourt with him record label, before them come reason to enter lagos for the whole matter, him talk say him grand father na fela manger those times, and one person wen him dey feel na Shaba ranks, him still yan say him like to own oil block,  but the one thing wen him talk wen I take know say him dey nack  akpako, na wen he come say as e dey hot so, say him no they smoke again, my pepo make una help me reason wether na nock out him hold for this picture, abi na abisco.........because I copy say this picture neva tail.

Which of this rapper food you like chop?

'Who no know me oluwa burn am' ‪#‎Burna‬ boys voice. Yes I am Tolotolo long neck, the aje butter girls call me TL for short, I am a fine boy, every body no, small pickin sef know, (adjusting collar)  I am still your blogger in the lord. okay! imagine all this oyibo rappers they get all this kin corn flakes, and cereal(reason the photo them).........see how everything just follow, make una tell me the one wen you go like buy chop.

Me sef I they tidy my own, the name na Tolotolo long necktar juice.

 

Lady Gaga: Naija una fit follow una girl friend waka for road like this?

Mkae una see wetin Lady gaga wear commot wit him boy fren, the world thy go back to the time of adam and eve, craze dey this girl head dey waka o!, well, person say her name na lady Gaga wetin you expect? Omo see gobe!!!!!!