ITS JUNE 12!… HAPPY BIRTHDAY KASI! I have said it before that I am very unlikely to do anything for money that I will not do for free. Work for me is the essence of living which is probably why about 80% of my time I spend doing things which I cherish for which nobody pays me a penny. A good example is “Saturday Breakfast with Tony Okorojiâ€.
For more than eight years, I have written and published about 1000 words on Saturday Breakfast every Saturday, come rain come sunshine. While the column is syndicated widely, nobody has ever paid me a penny to publish or read Saturday Breakfast. I have written Saturday Breakfast on my sick bed, written the column on many flights, written with candles when NEPA refused to show up and the gen refused to crank up. I cherish all of you who read this column. It is like we have a pact. I simply cannot imagine a Saturday in which you wake up and I have failed you. In far off places, I have had to conjure internet connections every which way I could to make sure I post SB on Saturday mornings. When I am done, I get such satisfaction, no money can buy. I have said time and time again that I verily believe that the true worth of a man is not in what he takes but what he gives. For several years I labored like you cannot imagine, to make PMAN Nigeria’s greatest trade union in the history of the creative industry. I was an unpaid President but I know that there are many who did not believe it. They thought I was doing it for money. I used to sleep on the floor of the National Theatre, sometimes for 2 weeks before presenting to Nigerians every edition of the unforgettable and celebrated Nigerian Music Awards which revolutionized events presentation in Nigeria and brought presidents and the high and mighty to entertainment events. There are many people who thought I was doing it for money. Such people really do not know people like me and what motivates us.
Though I live in Lagos, I have spent six non-stop weeks, beaten by big mosquitoes from the swamps of Opebi at the old COSON office at Awuse Estate as I worked towards the COSON Week which played no small role in making COSON the very envied organization it has become. For six weeks, the COSON staff would leave at the end of each day and come back next morning to see me still at work. The sacrifice worked. It made COSON the most envied CMO on the continent and a great ambassador for Nigeria and made many enemies for me. I could not have subjected myself to sleeping on the bare floor of the COSON office and being attacked left, right and center by the vicious mosquitoes through the night because of money. What kind of money? One of the most respected accounting firms in the world has just completed their nine-month forensic audit of COSON on top of eleven years of consistent statutory audits of the organization in which every transaction at COSON has been examined with a microscope. Each of the auditors would have found that despite my dedication to the COSON cause, I have never earned one naira as salary at COSON. Last December, they sent five hefty guys to come and abduct me and take me way at night on a journey to Armageddon. In the last three months, every bank account associated with me has been frozen including my private bank accounts and my private company accounts as those who chase after me deploy the agencies of state to try to break me.
Presently, I cannot write a cheque, do ATM, withdraw one Naira or do any bank transfer. I have to beg for money to survive every day. The agencies of state have access to all my accounts. If they are looking for big money or stolen money, they will be so terribly disappointed because they will find none. What really is my offence? In a Nigeria that has become totally lawless, I have stood firm that the law be respected and that scammers in and out of government do not mess with the rights of Nigerian creatives. In present day Nigeria, you are a criminal if you hold the view that the law ought to be respected! Have you noticed that I do not comment or react to comments on Saturday Breakfast no matter what they are? I simply give the keynote address and let you the readers say your piece no matter what it is. That is called freedom of speech. In these days of ‘ban this, ban that’, should I be surprised if Saturday Breakfast is banned as the powers that be, look for every way to break me? But you know something? You cannot break a man if the Almighty says no.
Please, try writing a thousand meaningful words every week for free, with all the hassles of living in Lagos, the challenges of leading an organization as complex as COSON and going to court every day, the needs of the artistes and staff at TOPS, the requirements of a large extended family, etc. And please do it for eight years and see how easy it is. No kind of money can make me live the life I live. That is why the people who chase after me in their belief that I am driven by money fail and fail woefully and will forever fail. I have nothing against those whose lives are driven by the love of money. That is what they have chosen. I am just not one of them. Let me repeat that I am very unlikely to do anything for money which I will not do for free. You might consider me foolish but I know that the Almighty has been there for me in my foolishness. Today is June 12. Ordinarily, at TOPS, the Entertainment Headquarters, my team and I would have hosted friends, family, media and fans of KASI, the multi-talented June 12 Gal to celebrate the release of her new song, “OTO EGBU†which we believe will shake the dance floor. Everyone in Nigeria knows that this is a June 12 with a difference so please pardon us. Identifying gifted young people and giving them the wings to fly is an important labour of love for me. It is the same principle that has driven my work in the creative industry.
The young lady called KASI is gifted in so many different ways. She is a great songwriter, a fantastic singer, a very creative painter and graphic artiste and an exceptional fashion designer. She handles this bundle of talents with so much calm, incredible humility and that infectious smile of hers. She is at that age when most women tend to go wild but KASI is not distracted. Like me, she is a workaholic, completely committed to developing the great talents that God has given to her. KASI lost her father when she was barely ten years old. Not long ago, she also lost her dear mother. None of these tragedies has slowed her desire to be the best she can in her chosen field. I am determined to continue to support her. I pray to the Almighty to continue to give me the where with all to provide the wings for this extra-ordinary young talent to fly. Have you heard KASI’s new bombshell, “OTO EGBU�
You have to check it out! Please join me today in saying, “Happy Birthday!†to KASI, the extra-ordinary June 12 girl.
See you next week.
7Seyi Allen Unplugged, Peter Asiegbu and 5 others13 comments118 sharesLikeCommentShare
