cum writer Etcetera attacks Nigerian entertainers and exposes how they
lie about their wealth. He particularly called out D’banj, Iyanya and
Wizkid.
Again, I’m going to go out on a limb here to talk on a subject
that may not be very popular or nice to Nigerian celebs, especially the
guilty ones. I have said it severally that just because someone is a
celebrity doesn’t mean they are smart. They may have a talent or skill
but many of them are not smart especially when it involves their
finances. The old saying, “your lies will come back to haunt you” has
never been more true than the recent cases of D’banj, Iyanya and Wizkid
who are being kicked out of their homes after lying they owned the
properties. The residents of blogosphere boulevard were stunned when the
news broke that D’banj got an eviction notice from his landlord and was
also said to be highly indebted.
Yes, it is hard to believe that someone of D’banj’s status could
actually be thrown out of his house. But for those who know that the
Nigerian entertainment industry is built on lies and more lies, it
didn’t come as a surprise or a case of a cranky landlord. Entertainers
are well rehearsed liars. They are not what they make you believe they
are. Even the upcoming artist with just one song on radio issues a press
release that they’ve bought a mansion in Lekki Phase One and a Range
Sport SUV?
There was a time when it was strongly whispered that Don Jazzy and
his crew owned Club Jonzing until the truth came out. You must have also
heard that D’banj owns Koko Lounge. My brothers and sisters in habit of
believing everything you hear, I wish you all knew how your favourite
celebs laugh in their closet seeing you swallow the lies like fufu and
draw soup. Let me give an example of how some artistes can be terrible
liars, we were on a tour of five Nigerian cities with Basketmouth and
his then Humour Unlimited monthly show sponsored by BAT. When we got to
Enugu, a certain artiste was snoring like a broken trailer exhaust pipe
in the bus on our way from the event centre to the hotel. I tapped him
hoping to stir him up to reduce his noise but I was shocked when he woke
up immediately swearing that he wasn’t snoring, that he was only trying
to get our reaction. Our reaction? After snoring for about 20 minutes
with a trail of saliva from one corner of his mouth to his shirt collar!
O’boy some people can lie in Africa.
Did you hear it on breaking news when Iyanya bought a house in
his dreams? His management must have thought it was a fantastic promo
strategy then. If only they knew that not far into the future, Iyanya
would be dragged by his balls across the floor of the internet, and that
his aggrieved brother would take to twitter to inform everyone that
Iyanya had been evicted (not from Project shame) from his dream mansion.
Yes, it is double wahala for deadi-bodi and the owner of deadi-bodi but
won’t it be tripple wahala for Oritsefemi and his management when fans
eventually discovered that the N200m mansion he purportedly bought some
months back was actually bought in his dreams and not in the real world?
How much does he charge per gig and how long has he been playing
these gigs to be able to afford a mansion of that amount? Isn’t it
wonderful how naija entertainers think their fans and everyone else is
shallow and gullible? Common sense should tell every artiste that these
lies won’t achieve anything but hurt their careers in the long run when
the truth is eventually revealed.
Like it was revealed this week that Wizkid’s car hasn’t been
paid for. True, some naija musicians make a lot of money, but not the
kind of money they want you to believe. Does Oritsefemi look the part of
a N200m house owner even with all his body cream? The telco brand
ambassadors who are being coerced into lying about their endorsement
fees can’t make such a preposterous claim not to talk of someone with no
endorsement deal. I shivered when I saw in some blogs over the week
that Genevieve just bought a house in Ghana for a whopping $4m. This
will go down as the grandmother of all lies told so far. Genny baybay,
you should have asked yourself if there’s any house worth $4m in the
whole of Ghana, except you bought the Ghana National Theatre which by
the way may not be worth $4m.
These lies are getting dumber by the day. The worst thing that
can happen to any man is believing his own lies. If we had a system
where entertainers are taxed for their acquisitions, the ridiculous and
unnecessary lies will stop. They will speak the truth and nothing but
the truth or so help them God.