By Akporobomemerere Atunyota
First things first, I know some of you will say this is uncalled for. Some will even say, we already know. But for those who know, it’s important you also know that so many don’t know. So please if you have the time, read it. It’s really not a piece I should be writing, but in the face of thousands of lies being told in the name of justifying their false convictions, some people just believe the wrong things and pass on same as truth which is then circulated. And when you keep quiet, it’s often taken to mean the truth.
Every so often, I am forced to explain myself or rebut some issues that bother on my integrity and dignity. I have worked hard for my ‘fame’ and with God; I still manage to remain relevant. Until now, or to be sincere, recently, people did not know that comedians earned as much as they did. Mohammed Danjuma, Yibo Koko, Tee A, Basorge Tariah Jnr and a whole lot of the first generation comics, tried to keep our new found goldmine under the radar. Not until the second generation came, started the ‘laau laau’ spending, and blew our covers. Till now, I still try to advise my younger colleagues on the gains of prudence.
This explained why, initially people thought comedians were paid peanuts. But clients, who had paid for our services, were quick to correct you anytime you tried to cheapen our services. Some clients call me, offer some amount and are shocked when I refer them to younger clients who charge within their budget. But to be fair, those who use our services these days know TALK IS NOT CHEAP!
Anyways, if you know me by now, you would already have guessed that this piece is not going to be about what we charge per se. But I had to mention it to give you a background to what the write up is about.
Back in the mid 90s, I earned my first million as a comedian, at that time, as a young graduate, you only can run into such wealth through the corridors of ‘419’. But I got mine through the help of Satzenbrau. So by the end of the 90’s, I was coasting home with between 100 and 200k per show. I already was living in a 5-bedroom duplex, which used to be Regina Askia‘s residence, in Ilupeju.
Then I moved to Lekki phase 1, in 1999. In 2000, I was introduced to the presidency and I moved into the 1 million (Naira) per show bracket. No be GOD?
I married Patricia Leon about that time. She was at the time working in Multichoice and lived in a 2-Studio apartment on Opebi, behind Niteshift. Without being specific with figures, let’s just say her monthly take home was below 100k monthly. Now this was at the time when I had started charging between 500k and 800k (depending on negotiating skills). Don’t also forget that besides Mohammed Danjuma and maybe two others, I was the first call for events. I WAS BUSY.
I was therefore able to give my wife, without breaking a sweat, a monthly salary. The same with what she got as a staff of Multichoice. She cashed her cheques at the UBA bank on Aboyade Cole. That was besides other bills at home and her wardrobe. That is what a husband is supposed to do and I did it well. I must add that even after we parted ways, I still provided for her… Up until a point. Now that was when I read an interview that painted me like a gigolo. And I stopped being a nice guy.
I know some of you are going, ‘who cares whether you took care of her or not?’, apparently some people do. Those who undermine my hard work and prefer to believe I lived off Patricia Leon. Usually when I try to set the records straight, friends will say, let them say what they want to say. Sadly, the lies are taking on true colours. Some now say it was Pat that made me. You had better not give God’s glory to any man. Or else you will answer for it.
If I may ask, if Ay, Tee A, Baskethmouth, Julius (Agwu), Basorge and Gbenga had married ‘socialites’, would they have been considered as living off their wives? I’m very sure if any of them had married a banker, lawyer, businesswoman or socialite, none of the affluence they exhibit now would have been from their hard work. It would have been because they married their spouses.
As much as I agree that it’s nobody’s business how I live my life, I also believe that when that life I am living is now given a reputation of someone who lives off women, I also owe myself the right to state it clearly that it is not true.
Don’t go thinking Pat and I are not friends. Far from it. This piece is not about making her look bad or me looking good, but it is to put it on record that I stated the facts and in these days of FOI law, to have it documented, because, anyone who writes anything to discredit my hard-earned reputation and professional integrity would pay for painting me in bad light.
But like I was told by one of my ‘big broses’, some spread the false tales because it justifies their present states. ‘I heard you and Alibaba graduated the same year’ and am sure you can predict the next line… ‘Yes o! The guy don hammer. Na Patricia Leon money he dey spend!’ That way it’s easy to discount my hustles and imply that if it were not for Pat, he and I would have still been on the same level. Guess what? Pat is still alive, go and let her spend on you too.
This was the point I tried to make in my note ‘THE HILARY FACTOR’. And my point then and now, was and is, that when Obama decided not to pick Hilary Clinton as VP, I knew why. People would have said he rode on her wings to win. He didn’t pick her and he won. In my case, there was nothing wrong in riding on my wife’s wings or financial edge to succeed. If there was but there wasn’t. And in truth, my marrying her cost me my Multichoice account because I stopped doing events for them once we were married. You can clear that with JSP Communications.
After saying all these, my point is… Give God credit when he deserves it. Or else you would be bearing false witness against your neighbour and offending God plus the small fact that you also are robbing me of some applause.